There is Always Time for a Nice of Tea

The lock-down has brought me a greater appreciation of seemingly unimportant common items of life I took for granted, that makes life better in some small and really helps me get through lock-down (see below, a very well used birthday present!):

There are other benefits to lock-down (see below, homemade biscuits): 

Also good to have a back-up cup too (see below, this one a classic "Horrible Histories" WWII - appropriately enough full of coffee as it features a Yank on it):

Moral of the story: There is always a place and time for a nice cuppa [tea or coffee]! Especially when the cup also makes me smile ;) 

2016 off to great start start with a new Horrible Histories cup!

Replacing the MIA enamel WW2 British Army "tea" cup (suspicion falls on the wife as she didn't like putting it in the dishwasher or me leaving it some remote corner of loft/shed/ garage [delete as applicable]) I splashed out and bought myself to an impulse 'January sale item' when visiting the Scottish Museum in Edinburgh (see below):

Panther tank on the front (see above) and a "Screaming Eagle" US 82nd Airborne on the rear (see below):

I shall be happy with my hobby-time brews in 2016!

:)

Essential Wargaming Equipment ...

I went, retro WWII enamel (see below)

I says what it is on the tin ;)

Gardening with Tomatoes, Tea and Xenophon

This may seem a curious combination but it seemed to work well for me:

• Pop into the greenhouse to check up on the tomato plants
• Take along a cup of tea
• Help 'bimble' along with Xenophon by taking in a small chapter (3-4, 5-6 and occasionally 7-8 pages)
• Pop off to work or back into the house at weekends

Yes, the 2014 growing season is upon me and I have pinned my hopes on a bountiful crop from six young tomato plants. They proudly stand in a "L" shaped formation growing in my garden greenhouse, the 'see-through man cave without plastic models' (see below):

Grow boys grow! Make daddy proud of you!

Xenophon's "The Persian Expedition" was a much easier read than I had expected, but perhaps after Herodotus and Thucydides, anything is lighter. I also had pulped up on some fictional primer and historical narrative beforehand so I had  in my minds's eye a scripted history of the chronology of what to expect. Nevertheless I enjoyed it and there were some unexpected interesting bits pop out of its pages. If ancient Greeks are your thing (or cup of tea) then don't be intimidated by going back to a famous historical source (translated).

In summary when Greeks go roaming "there and back again" they are a rowdy crowd. The moral of the story seems to be, if you are going to be a nuisance abroad then do it in a huge mass. You are much harder to hurt and the native people will eventually pay you to go away. 

PS Leave your morals at home as they seem to just get in the way of business. Just refer to people you are about to commit a crime against as 'barbarians' and you should be able to get away with it at least in the eyes of your fellow Greeks (and they are the ones who you only care about!). Do I sound cynical?

Well another one down, how many are there still left? That is, translated "Ancient Pre-Roman Classics" still to read on the list:

• Sun Tzu: The Art of War (to read again)
• Arrian: The Campaigns of Alexander
• Quintus Curtius Rufus: The History of Alexander
• Plutarch Greek Lives

Don't know if I am up for Homer and the Iliad (a book which I don't yet possess) as my poetry reading may not be up to scratch ;)

Back on the Caffeine

Tea or Coffee I care not but I am back on it (see below):

On the caffeine wagon and loving it so the late night modelling madness can resume.

Remember: Drink responsibly!