A Week In Freefall...

 

 

 

Well, that was an 'interesting' week...

It began pretty well, with working days being longer than expected, but equally they were very productive. So far, so good.

Then the Macross kits arrived and I was forced to put on an industrial filter mask because the boxes were literally made of gloss printing and black and brown algal growth and fungal spores, which as anyone who has been on the wrong end of them will know, are rather toxic. So, back went the lot and a refund requested.

Taking this as a 'sign', I added the cash to my slush fund for the latest project - namely Ultra-modern 28mm firefights. It was only really a matter of time before I went down that road, because I had been hankering after some War On Drugs, 80s era gaming, but the models available are a little sparse on the ground. So I thought I'd buy a little Middle East set-up and some Mexican Cartel troops, opposed by U.S Special Forces and C.I.A assets.

I sent an order for £150 to a premium-rate miniature company and sat back to await delivery, whilst I put together a follow up order for a sum in excess of £350. I was literally just about to click on the 'commit to buy' button when an email dropped in, saying that DHL had been unable to deliver my parcel.

Really? Well, I called them and had a good rant, and when I looked at the transit record, the seller had sent it to a totally different address which explained why I had not been there to take delivery.

Another sign? Well the result was I told the supplier to stick the order where the drug mule stuffed his packages, because frankly, I am not doing business with companies who don't read the shipping address details on orders. I left a message on their mobile number, and then got an email demanding to know where I'd got the number, which it transpired belonged to an ex member of staff. Well, I was quite quick to point out that it was on the Paypal details for the company - Another rather stupid error.

So, I wasted an hour or so of a very busy day and then had to go to the hospital for a rheumatology check up, prior to re-commencing my biologic treatments.

And again, the Foo Bird Of Fate crapped in my museli, when I arrived to be told that the hospital had screwed up and despite telling me I had an appointment, failed to actually book it. So, in total, I was 2 and a half hours behind on the working day, resulting in a very late finish on Friday night, leaving me burned out.

Over the week, I noticed a slight swelling of my feet and legs, but as we set off to do a bit of essential shopping on Saturday, followed by a light lunch at Piazza, a favourite of ours which due to the pandemic has been off the radar for 16 months, I noticed that the lower left leg of my jeans was almost painfully tight.

Uh oh...

Both Kayte and I were concerned that I may have a Deep Vein Thrombosis and so I was instructed to go to the medical walk-in centre. I agreed, on the understanding that I had a last meal beforehand. The upshot was that it was 18:00 on Saturday (we'd left home at 09:30) when I was given the all clear on the DVT, after some brilliant treatment at Sheffield's Northern General Hospital. The swelling still needs investigating by my own G.P, but I hopefully it'll be treatable.

How the staff in hospital put up with the antics of the Great Unwashed, I'll vever know, but as I sat in the various waiting rooms, there were some prime examples of evolution needing a ehthanasia optionsometime soon.

And so, today was a busy day indeed. At 07:30 I was at the sink cleaning 20+ palettes that have been neglected over the last two months (I can hear the sarcasm of my old art teacheras I confess this crime). Then it was a rock 'n' roll hour of buying 4 new dog beds for the pack here at Fackham Hall, home for a fast breakfast, before sitting down to ut together an order for U.S and Afghan forces.

The loss of the nameless company who screwed me about, was transmuted into a gain for Antonicitis Workshop, Eureka (UK) and Empress Miniatures. The resulting order was as follows:

14 man MARSOC (Marine Raider)  team

2 x 14 man SEAL teams

Around 20 PMCs and C.I.A types

80 Afghan Mujahideen / Taliban

2 Afghan bikes with armed riders

4 dismounted figures for the bikes

Afghan 'Dicker' on off-road bike 

Afghan Mortar and crew

Afghan AGL and crew

Afghan 12.7mm AA

Afghan sniper

12 Afghan civilians

4 ISUZU pick-up (one with .50 cal MMG)

3 Toyota Hilux

1  wrecked Mercedes saloon

1 Victoria Taxi

1 Ford people carrier  

16 body bags

I'll add a few more refinements in the coming months and of course I have a pretty god terrain set-up for Afghanistan already, although I want about 8 to 10 more buildings.

I think I'll also add some of the Airfix Operation Herric kits, a few Afghan National Army and perhaps a few air assets. Then, I'll turn to building a Mexican Drug Cartel set up.

Work commences this week on the conversion of an old garage on our driveway, into a nice little wargames room with a 12x4 foot table. Pics will follow of course.

And so, if you will excuse me, I need to go and watch an 80s comedy, drink some wine and try to unwind before a 7AM start on Monday morning.

TTFN