Ho,Ho, Hum!
WOW! I just passed 150,000 views of this blog, so before I begin, let me say thank you to you all...
I was reflecting on how lazy I've been this last week, but at the same time, so very busy as we adjust our plans from going out for a 5 course Christmas diner at the Royal Victoria hotel here in Sheffield, to having a quiet (if the presence of 5 terriers can be called quiet) Christmas lunch at home.
The acquisition of a fifth Scottie pup last month meant that although he'd be safe and relaxed if we left him at home for a couple of hours, we would miss the joy of seeing him experience his first Christmas day with presents and a chicken dinner (turkey is a bit too rich for the chap yet). No doubt he'll join the other 4 mutts in staring out the oven for 7 hours straight, although the oldest Scottie also tries to cadge a bit of after dinner mint every year because, he thinks he's a human.
Anyway, as I said, we've been busy with buying everything, waiting for deliveries and have not left the house much. That said, the weather here has been awful so it's not much of a let down.
Reflecting on Christmases past, it was a lot different back then. Of course there was the obligatory school Christmas party and then freedom for a couple of weeks, which meant that there was a lot of time for painting, buying and gaming with figures.
Christmas Eve was traditionally a day for a mooch around the games and model stores with which our city was blessed - and that was a lot of stores.
Christmas Eve saw the Games Workshop staff (this was the pre-corporate bullshit era) in fancy dress, and just a tad more tolerant of the Limpets for a few hours. The girls would generally be dressed as rather magnificently tarty fairies - much to the pleasure of the majority of the Limpets, whilst the lads would do something fun, such as create Ghostbusters outfits with home made proton packs, that could fire 'beams' of the spray streamer in a can that was all the rage back then. Do they still make that stuff? It could be fun if used irresponsibly...
Before I found other gamers than my school mates, we'd not be in the store all day, but once my social circle went ballistic, I'd be there until about 3PM.
Lunch would be a french stick, stuffed with chips and tomato ketchup from a tiny little sandwich kiosk in the base of the multi story carpark behind the legendary 'Redgates' a toy shop for which Shefield was famous and was destroyed by London toy emporium 'Hamleys' which opened just down the road, killing Redgates before finally disappearing up it's own arse after a fraction of the time that the local store had served Sheffield. I and many other gamers will never forgive Hamleys.
Redgates had RPGs before GW ever came to the city (as did Beatties of London), the best selection of models (including the first Macross kits we'd ever seen), Action Men, Star Wars figures, and... Well listen, if it was a toy, they stocked it, and did so in bucketloads.
Dear readers, we are talking 4 floors - A goddamn department store which was packed to the rafters with toys. When I was much younger it was where I went for my dressing up costumes, Pelham puppets and teddy bears. At 13 and beyond, it was everything above, plus paints, Britains soldiers, Cyborg & Muton, Mobile Action Command, Micronauts... I could go on, but my heart is racing.
We generally took lunch up on to the roof of the car park and sat eating the ginormous carbohydrate boost we'd need to get through to the evening (more of this later) looking out over the city. Then it was over to Redgates, up to Beatties, down to Hopkinsons and then a final whistle stop visit to Woolworths to look at the latest music we'd found, taking our lives in our hands passing the assorted punks and skinheads who gathered outside the back entrance. Yes, I know that we could have gone a safer route, but there were big staircases between the floors if you went in the back way that you could use to ricochet a rubber ball you'd picked up for 10P in Hopkinsons, test the latest 'high impact' dice that Lisa had convinced you you needed when you were in GW (previous blogs have covered the testing we gave our dice in car park stair wells) or just test your mettle by leaping down entire flights to the spacious landing below with a satisfying slamming sound that echoed up and down the stair well, as the flashing lights left your vision and the pain left your knees.
On the matter of chip butties (thats a a sandwich of well buttered bread product filled with fried potatoes and tomato ketchup) it was the cause of the worst indigestion I've ever had one Christmas, which lasted from Christmas Eve until the 28th of December, ruining my track record for consuming multiple plates at the Christmas and Boxing Day lunches. It was also the reason I had two of my lanternas sunk by Alan Staniforth on Christmas Eve as we stuffed our faces with comestibles and listened to Peter Gabriel's first album 'Car' in my bedroom.
Christmas Eve at our house was a big buffet for the family and assorted friends of mine who were 'wise' to the wide selection of foods that my Mum had spent 8-10 hours preparing, and who, had tagged along, knowing there'd be a good spread and a warm welcome, in that way that only a teenage boy can truly can.
After we had stuffed ourselves, we might play a game or go out onto the quiet streets if the weather was suitable cold and clear, perhaps to meet other friends male and female and maybe 'get off' with one of the local girls who were curious of our long hair and denim jackets covered in patches declaring our allegiance to 3 dozen rock bands, and who it turned out years later were competing to see who'd snogged more of the local rock fraternity at a time when it was considered to be an edgy and daring pastime.
Then, it was a series of declarations of friendship and 'merry Christmas' before going our separate ways and 2 hours (at the most), sleep because we simply could not wait to see what was under the Christmas tree in the morning.
At this point, the memsahib insisted I go downstairs and do 'normal things'. So, here I am picking up the narrative on Christmas Eve...
Christmas Day, rarely brought me anything gaming related, because my parents didn't understand or wish to waste money on RPGs, but I did get loads of stuff such as Adam & The Ants albums, Aramis, tabletop and handheld electronic games - certainly more loot than my school friends (what few I had) ever did. But D&D and my growing collection of historical miniatures, were never provided by my parents.
In 1984 I was asked what I wanted for Christmas and when I was handed the requested 'Armies Of The Vietnam War 2' by Osprey, my parents played merry hell with me for unwrapping it and disappearing into my bedroom with it, leaving whatever else they bought me untouched. Don't get me wrong, there'd be some great gifts there, but that single book was the only thing I wanted that year. After Christmas dinner, my prize was confiscated as I'd buried my head in it for a second read through.
And 33 years later, here's that very book:
Between Christmas and New Year, there could be a lot of gaming if we got our acts together, and if the school holidays fell right, we could get the 'family days' out of the way and focus on the important stuff, as we saw it.
A trip into the city centre with parents and grandparents on the 27th of December could get you some really god bargains as, back then the sales started the day after the UK's Boxing Day holiday and boy were the bargains great!
Even GW could be relied on to put out a few wire bins of old stock, often containing some real gems, but Beaties and Redgates were the places to hit at 10AM sharp, because you were going to have to fight for the stuff you wanted, such were the reductions on the rrp - and they were genuine reductions on the 'rest of year' prices.
And then, all of a sudden you were back at school, the drabness of January eating away at your soul and reminding you why you chose to dive into imaginary worlds 6 days per week.
As I type, it's 14:00 on Christmas Eve, and I am thinking of Roger, Darren, Pete, Chris, Pete, Paul, Paul, Lisa, Josie, Martin and a host of others, some of whom are no longer alive. It makes me wonder if they ever existed, or were they just characters in one of my games. I'll never get my head around the whole mortality thing.
In fact, only last night I was watching Bill Murray in 'Scrooged' and was really enjoying the film immensely, until it got to the cremation scene at the end, whereat I had a panic attack, covering my eyes and ears. It really is that bad.
I've not gone for a traditional Xmas Eve 'mooch' around the city today. My wonderful and attentive memsahib raced me almost to the doors of the local wargames store, where I bought the Cruel Seas miniatures game and then in a fit of festive spending madness, I bought a U.S fleet pack because it looked fun and was very nicely priced. Then it was back to the car, and straight home, my wife pushing me from the car and (after forcing me to take a saving roll versus tarmac with a -2 modifier because I was clutching a carrier bag full of toys and paints) racing off to see her mum and brother for a day of festive family joy.
I've done my ironing, made some toast and coffee, fed the pup and written this blog post, but I'm not really feeling festive.
I wonder what my friends of old are doing right now, at this very minute?
Oh, don't get me wrong, I'l have a very good Christmas, I am sure, but the buzz that I remember on Christmas Eves of yore just isn't the same. Add to this, that it's the first Christmas that my mum's not been there to wind me up all through the month of December.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go and take a cold cure and have a hot bath whilst reading the Cruel Seas rulebook and listening to a few Christmas tunes, or the Audible Christmas story on the iPod before an evening of peeling vegetables and preparing joints of meat for the morrow. Then it's off to bed to listen to M.R James ghost stories with a slice of pie made from some rare and exotic meat and a glass of 1991 vintage port.
And with that dear readers, I would like to thank you for following my ramblings for another year and wish you all the very best for Xmas and the coming new year.
TTFN
M
I was reflecting on how lazy I've been this last week, but at the same time, so very busy as we adjust our plans from going out for a 5 course Christmas diner at the Royal Victoria hotel here in Sheffield, to having a quiet (if the presence of 5 terriers can be called quiet) Christmas lunch at home.
The acquisition of a fifth Scottie pup last month meant that although he'd be safe and relaxed if we left him at home for a couple of hours, we would miss the joy of seeing him experience his first Christmas day with presents and a chicken dinner (turkey is a bit too rich for the chap yet). No doubt he'll join the other 4 mutts in staring out the oven for 7 hours straight, although the oldest Scottie also tries to cadge a bit of after dinner mint every year because, he thinks he's a human.
Anyway, as I said, we've been busy with buying everything, waiting for deliveries and have not left the house much. That said, the weather here has been awful so it's not much of a let down.
Reflecting on Christmases past, it was a lot different back then. Of course there was the obligatory school Christmas party and then freedom for a couple of weeks, which meant that there was a lot of time for painting, buying and gaming with figures.
Christmas Eve was traditionally a day for a mooch around the games and model stores with which our city was blessed - and that was a lot of stores.
Christmas Eve saw the Games Workshop staff (this was the pre-corporate bullshit era) in fancy dress, and just a tad more tolerant of the Limpets for a few hours. The girls would generally be dressed as rather magnificently tarty fairies - much to the pleasure of the majority of the Limpets, whilst the lads would do something fun, such as create Ghostbusters outfits with home made proton packs, that could fire 'beams' of the spray streamer in a can that was all the rage back then. Do they still make that stuff? It could be fun if used irresponsibly...
Before I found other gamers than my school mates, we'd not be in the store all day, but once my social circle went ballistic, I'd be there until about 3PM.
Lunch would be a french stick, stuffed with chips and tomato ketchup from a tiny little sandwich kiosk in the base of the multi story carpark behind the legendary 'Redgates' a toy shop for which Shefield was famous and was destroyed by London toy emporium 'Hamleys' which opened just down the road, killing Redgates before finally disappearing up it's own arse after a fraction of the time that the local store had served Sheffield. I and many other gamers will never forgive Hamleys.
Redgates had RPGs before GW ever came to the city (as did Beatties of London), the best selection of models (including the first Macross kits we'd ever seen), Action Men, Star Wars figures, and... Well listen, if it was a toy, they stocked it, and did so in bucketloads.
Dear readers, we are talking 4 floors - A goddamn department store which was packed to the rafters with toys. When I was much younger it was where I went for my dressing up costumes, Pelham puppets and teddy bears. At 13 and beyond, it was everything above, plus paints, Britains soldiers, Cyborg & Muton, Mobile Action Command, Micronauts... I could go on, but my heart is racing.
We generally took lunch up on to the roof of the car park and sat eating the ginormous carbohydrate boost we'd need to get through to the evening (more of this later) looking out over the city. Then it was over to Redgates, up to Beatties, down to Hopkinsons and then a final whistle stop visit to Woolworths to look at the latest music we'd found, taking our lives in our hands passing the assorted punks and skinheads who gathered outside the back entrance. Yes, I know that we could have gone a safer route, but there were big staircases between the floors if you went in the back way that you could use to ricochet a rubber ball you'd picked up for 10P in Hopkinsons, test the latest 'high impact' dice that Lisa had convinced you you needed when you were in GW (previous blogs have covered the testing we gave our dice in car park stair wells) or just test your mettle by leaping down entire flights to the spacious landing below with a satisfying slamming sound that echoed up and down the stair well, as the flashing lights left your vision and the pain left your knees.
On the matter of chip butties (thats a a sandwich of well buttered bread product filled with fried potatoes and tomato ketchup) it was the cause of the worst indigestion I've ever had one Christmas, which lasted from Christmas Eve until the 28th of December, ruining my track record for consuming multiple plates at the Christmas and Boxing Day lunches. It was also the reason I had two of my lanternas sunk by Alan Staniforth on Christmas Eve as we stuffed our faces with comestibles and listened to Peter Gabriel's first album 'Car' in my bedroom.
Christmas Eve at our house was a big buffet for the family and assorted friends of mine who were 'wise' to the wide selection of foods that my Mum had spent 8-10 hours preparing, and who, had tagged along, knowing there'd be a good spread and a warm welcome, in that way that only a teenage boy can truly can.
After we had stuffed ourselves, we might play a game or go out onto the quiet streets if the weather was suitable cold and clear, perhaps to meet other friends male and female and maybe 'get off' with one of the local girls who were curious of our long hair and denim jackets covered in patches declaring our allegiance to 3 dozen rock bands, and who it turned out years later were competing to see who'd snogged more of the local rock fraternity at a time when it was considered to be an edgy and daring pastime.
Then, it was a series of declarations of friendship and 'merry Christmas' before going our separate ways and 2 hours (at the most), sleep because we simply could not wait to see what was under the Christmas tree in the morning.
At this point, the memsahib insisted I go downstairs and do 'normal things'. So, here I am picking up the narrative on Christmas Eve...
Christmas Day, rarely brought me anything gaming related, because my parents didn't understand or wish to waste money on RPGs, but I did get loads of stuff such as Adam & The Ants albums, Aramis, tabletop and handheld electronic games - certainly more loot than my school friends (what few I had) ever did. But D&D and my growing collection of historical miniatures, were never provided by my parents.
In 1984 I was asked what I wanted for Christmas and when I was handed the requested 'Armies Of The Vietnam War 2' by Osprey, my parents played merry hell with me for unwrapping it and disappearing into my bedroom with it, leaving whatever else they bought me untouched. Don't get me wrong, there'd be some great gifts there, but that single book was the only thing I wanted that year. After Christmas dinner, my prize was confiscated as I'd buried my head in it for a second read through.
And 33 years later, here's that very book:
Between Christmas and New Year, there could be a lot of gaming if we got our acts together, and if the school holidays fell right, we could get the 'family days' out of the way and focus on the important stuff, as we saw it.
A trip into the city centre with parents and grandparents on the 27th of December could get you some really god bargains as, back then the sales started the day after the UK's Boxing Day holiday and boy were the bargains great!
Even GW could be relied on to put out a few wire bins of old stock, often containing some real gems, but Beaties and Redgates were the places to hit at 10AM sharp, because you were going to have to fight for the stuff you wanted, such were the reductions on the rrp - and they were genuine reductions on the 'rest of year' prices.
And then, all of a sudden you were back at school, the drabness of January eating away at your soul and reminding you why you chose to dive into imaginary worlds 6 days per week.
As I type, it's 14:00 on Christmas Eve, and I am thinking of Roger, Darren, Pete, Chris, Pete, Paul, Paul, Lisa, Josie, Martin and a host of others, some of whom are no longer alive. It makes me wonder if they ever existed, or were they just characters in one of my games. I'll never get my head around the whole mortality thing.
In fact, only last night I was watching Bill Murray in 'Scrooged' and was really enjoying the film immensely, until it got to the cremation scene at the end, whereat I had a panic attack, covering my eyes and ears. It really is that bad.
I've not gone for a traditional Xmas Eve 'mooch' around the city today. My wonderful and attentive memsahib raced me almost to the doors of the local wargames store, where I bought the Cruel Seas miniatures game and then in a fit of festive spending madness, I bought a U.S fleet pack because it looked fun and was very nicely priced. Then it was back to the car, and straight home, my wife pushing me from the car and (after forcing me to take a saving roll versus tarmac with a -2 modifier because I was clutching a carrier bag full of toys and paints) racing off to see her mum and brother for a day of festive family joy.
I've done my ironing, made some toast and coffee, fed the pup and written this blog post, but I'm not really feeling festive.
I wonder what my friends of old are doing right now, at this very minute?
Oh, don't get me wrong, I'l have a very good Christmas, I am sure, but the buzz that I remember on Christmas Eves of yore just isn't the same. Add to this, that it's the first Christmas that my mum's not been there to wind me up all through the month of December.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go and take a cold cure and have a hot bath whilst reading the Cruel Seas rulebook and listening to a few Christmas tunes, or the Audible Christmas story on the iPod before an evening of peeling vegetables and preparing joints of meat for the morrow. Then it's off to bed to listen to M.R James ghost stories with a slice of pie made from some rare and exotic meat and a glass of 1991 vintage port.
And with that dear readers, I would like to thank you for following my ramblings for another year and wish you all the very best for Xmas and the coming new year.
TTFN
M
First Xmas we hired a couple of Santa outfits and myself and Pete manned the back till most of the day. I remember we even asked if they wanted the figures gift wrapping. Most fun was taking the cash to the Nat West in the middle of the day. Two big guys, in Santa outfits complete with fake beards ... that's a robbery waiting to happen. :-)
ReplyDeleteThe year after we had the Ghostbuster outfits. 3 of them that year as Paul C. was with us. Silly string all over the place. Great fun, until Mr B. made us clean it all up before we left.
Great times looking back on them. Too many no longer with us, though.