Today Is My Blogiversary!

...and my wedding anniversary
...and my birthday
...and my brother's birthday
...and my mother-in-law's birthday

So cake all round!

But back to the blog.  

• 561 posts
• 102 followers
• 153,200 views
• 2263 comments

Thank you to everyone who has contributed!

Can't Wait 'Til Wednesday

Well, Dr Who Wednesday has come early this week with the news that Warlord Games have secured the licence to produce a Dr Who Miniatures Game.

To me the most significant part of the announcement is that

The licence covers not just the latest series of Doctor Who but encompasses all of the Doctors, their companions and their foes. So, expect to see Sea Devils as much as Weeping Angels, Leela as much as Martha Jones, and a long, brightly coloured scarf as much as a fez (fezzes are cool, by the way...).

There have been grumblings from those who ask what impact it will have on BTD or the others that produce NOT-Who stuff.  Well, BTD will presumably continue to have the licence to produce figures from their worn-out moulds and continue to be tardy in sending them out.  I won't weep to see them have reasonably-priced competition (especially as Warlord's figures will probably actually resemble the Doctors and Companions -  witness how good their Dad's Army figures are).

More interesting will be what happens to Crooked Dice and Hasslefree, who have been making decent Dr Who figures.  Will Warlord protect their investment and will those lines be curtailed?

Interesting developments indeed...

Last Chance to Vote!

I'll be home from my short break tomorrow, so will be winding up the little experiment on tackling the to-read pile and removing the widget over on the right there ----->

I will reserve comment on the poll until it's over, but the current standing is as follows.

But being an impatient sort (and a little bored last night), I have started a new book.  It's Harold Temperley, Frederic The Great and Kaiser Joseph.   I just wanted to quote a passage from the preface

the Bavarian Succession involved nearly all the typical elements of eighteenth century diplomacy: the intense personal influence of rulers, naked aggression veiled by genealogical pedantry, the struggle for the "balance of power." the assertion of raison d'etat as a plea for all crimes, the rapier play of contending forces, the ruthless crushing of small or neutral Powers by the military aggression of larger ones.

When I read that i couldn't help but smile fondly and remember the play-by-blog game of Diplomacy the Mad Padre ran last year!

A Mixed Day

I had quite an annoying morning thanks to a pharmacist who wouldn't fill a prescription for The Wife's meds (she takes about 15 a day).  This was on the grounds that said pharmacist "would be out of pocket" if she ordered a month's supply but only issued a week's worth.  She was therefore pestering my GP to issue a different 'scrip.  So what if The Wife ended up with more pills than she could take?  Never mind, the NHS would foot the bill...

So, resisting the temptation to go into The Eagle for a few glasses of something fruity, I decided to ignore my resolution to avoid the bookshops.  I picked up some interesting titles in the always-reliable David's (still going despite his perennial complaint that King's College is about to do something unpleasant about his lease) and later in the afternoon went to the second-hand bookshop the National Trust runs in the stables at Wimpole Hall.  The volunteer running the shop was a little taken about to encounter someone asking for a box to put his books in rather than a bag!

Nice stables

While on a Holiday Theme...

We continued our extended tour of A&E facilities in the East of England by spending three hours in Addenbrookes.

A truly delightful spot

It turns out that for the last week The Wife has been walking around on a broken foot (shades of Bert Trautmann but without the Iron Cross).  She's now been fitted with an NHS Boot.

On other fronts...

The 'What Shall I Read Next?' poll stands as follows

All I can say to those who have said that Mallowan's Memoirs is the only option that allows for any gaming is that they have obviously never played the 'Catch the Pope' scenario in Pulp Alley...

Tackling the Book Mountain

This week we're in Cambridge, staying with the mother-in-law.  It means long periods of sitting around doing nothing, but that means I've been able to get some reading in.  One downside is that for reasons of economy and trying to avoid adding to the book mountain, I'm having to avoid the many fine bookshops in the area!

Following the lead of Ian of The Blog With No Name I'm trying something different in an attempt to reduce the To-Read Pile,  I have chosen four books from the pile and am asking you to vote on which I should read next.  Feel free to leave a comment of course, but please vote using the survey widget. Votes will be counted on 18 Aug.

Andrew Cook, Cash for Honours: The Story of Maundy Gregory.  Gregory was the fixer who acted as broker in the corrupt selling of honours from the end of the First World War until his conviction in 1932.

Max Mallowan, Mallowan's Memoirs: Agatha and the Archaeologist.  Sir Max Mallowan was Agatha Christies' second husband.  An expert in the archaeology of the Ancient Near East, apprentice to Mortimer Wheeler and excavator of Nimrud, he's the reason so many of her stories are set on digs.

Tony Rennell, Last Days of Glory: The Death of Queen Victoria.  The title says it all.

Carol Rittner (ed), Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust.  A series of essays exploring the controversy over what Pius knew and when, and whether he deserves the reputation as 'the Silent Pope',