Hark the Herald

The Cathedral filling up

(click to embiggen)

This year my rest days fell across the holiday and we were able to spend Christmas together which was brilliant.  There was a lot of tooing and froing in the run up, but all that nonsense faded away when we went to the Saint Patrick Nine Carols and Lessons. The service is very well attended, so we had to turn up an hour early to get seats. This might seem irksome, but it was actually really pleasant, because it meant that we got to sit together for an hour with no phones, nothing else to do, but talk and enjoy each others company.

The service itself was magical, with reading from the choir and the school.  The carols were a mix of old and new, ending as always with a resounding "Hark the Herald Angels sing" with half a dozen trumpets.  We don't get to go most years because of work, but when we do it's a memory we cherish the rest of the year. 

After service was spent catching up with family and friends, before bolting out of the Cathedral and seeing the senior Kinchs.

We also ran into Dom, who was certainly festive. 

(click to embiggen - but exercise caution, excessive exposure may cause blindness)

Ghost stories at Christmas are something of a Kinch 

tradition and there are few better than these. 

We spent Christmas Day with Mrs. Kinch's family which was a wonderfully relaxed day filled with good food and good company.  Rare roast beef and yorkshire pudding and my father in law's vintage port meant that my waist band will be a little tighter come New Year. A new dressing gown and smokeables kept me entertained while I painted a few Prince August Guardsmen and listened to some MR James Ghost Stories. The above recording is a good one and I recommend it unreservedly. 

And lest there be any scruple about listening to audiobooks on YouTube, the recording is in the public domain was made to be distributed as widely and as freely as possible. 

One of my mother in laws cribs

(click to embiggen)

So we spent Christmas day with the inlaws, during which time I had a look at some of my mother in laws cribs.  My mother in law really likes cribs. These figures are about 1/32 in scale. 

How much does she like them, I hear you ask? 

She has thirty of them. 

And another

The figures were picked up on a family holiday to Italy in the 1960s, the backdrops were both made by Mrs. Kinch's great uncle.  These slightly smaller than the previous lot, around 1/48, I'd hazard. 

A table of Christmas decorations

My mother in law was going to decorate another family members home and had put a little collection of things on a table in the living room.  A number of things caught my eye. 

Including this little chap

This crib, with a frame made by Mrs. Kinch's great uncle, is really surprisingly small. About 1/300 scale I think and made with German flats I picked up in Hanover.

My keys for scale - It really is teeny. 

(click to embiggen)

But lastly, this stuck out amongst the Christmas decorations. If I had any doubts as to the essential soundness of Mrs. Kinchs parents, they were put to rest.  What home would be complete without a Christmas Bismarck? 

Nothing says the anniversary of the birth of Our Lord and Saviour quite like Eisen und Blut!

But seriously, we had a wonderful, peaceful day and I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, however belatedly, and share this video with you. It is a very simple idea, but beautifully executed by some very clever people in a German supermarket.

Rarely does Wordsworth's phrase "surprised by joy" seem so apt.

See you all in 2016. 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Mrs. Kinch has been organising the elves and setting them at their brushwork this evening. Fortunately I locked the drinks cabinet before I left for class. 

There is nothing more crazy or depraved than an inebriated elf. 

Christmas Holidays & a touch of Dutch.

Mrs. Kinch really did an excellent job didn't she?

On the 20th, I handed in my last two essays and began two weeks of glorious time off from school. I will be working over Christmas, but to be honest, only working one job is going to be a wonderful relief. All the better, on the 21st we had the annual gathering of friends of the Kinchs. Mrs. Kinch did a wonderful job making sure everything was ready and it was great to see everyone.  It was just a wonderful convivial time and the company were in such good spirits. It was the best. 

A picture stolen from the Internet. Much like my bicycle.

I indulged in some unmanly winging in my last blog post - something of which I am too often guilty, but I was well and truly browned off having had my debit card and my bicycle stolen.  I managed to cancel the card, though whoever ended up with it attempted to use it some hours later. Just goes to show that there is no harm in taking that sort of action quickly. 

I was particularly miffed about my bike, mainly as I'd had some work done on it the week before and had some parts replaced. But lo and behold, I was in the library the following day polishing off my Constitutional Law essay when I saw a young fellow pushing a bike down the street. I looked a second time and then realised that it was very familiar. 

I think he realised he was for it when I let out a roar of anger and he took to his heels, dropping the bike, I'm lucky he didn't mount it or he'd have smoked me completely. So one escaped miscreant, but I got my bicycle back which was a huge relief. Cost me the price of a new lock, but on the whole, I count myself very lucky. 

You may remember this fellow from 2012, when I warned Alan that he would progress with glacial slowness. I was not wrong it would appear. This is a 17th century Dutch musketeer and a very fine fellow he is.  I despaired of ever finishing him and when Krisztian offered the services of a friend of his with an interest in large scale figures, I jumped at the chance. 

I must say Krisztian's pal has done a bang up job, really fantastic and certainly miles better than I would have done. Harry Pearson in "Achtung Schwinehundt" makes an argument that toy soldier collectors are a different breed to wargamers and he is no doubt right.  I am definitely a wargamer, but every so often I have a hankering for a beautiful thing for it's own sake and this Dutchman is the fruits of the hankering. 

The builder, I'm ashamed to say I don't know his name, has altered the model somewhat, but I think it makes it all the better. The animation of the face and the naturalness of the pose are just breath taking. 

 It is a bit silly that a material thing can bring me so much pleasure, but that it does so is inarguable. I'm still debating where I shall put him when I finally take delivery, but he really is fine. His brother, a trooper of the Lifeguards, sits on my desk and is very pleasant to look at. 

I think he may live on my desk as well or possibly the mantle piece in the War Room, but we shall see. Though going back to my previous blog entry on him - I realise that I never did finish "With Pike and Dyke" by GA Henty.  I must go back to that. 

Just look at that face and the delicate blending on the fabric.  There's a character to give King Phillip a sleepness night or two and no mistake. 

One of having a little time with nothing more strenuous then some desultory Christmas shopping was I had the chance to do a spot of reading. This presented itself by chance more than anything and I really enjoyed it. Christie is really more Mrs. Kinch's thing than mine - but this is probably the least Christie-ish of her books that I've read. 

The novel is a short one, more of a collection of short stories really.  The protagonist is an Englishman called Satterthwaite who meets a mysterious character, named Quin, who inveigles him into solving mysteries and righting wrongs. The stories have a strange almost dreamlike quality to them. There is a good deal of contrivance, but the thrust of the storytelling carries the stories along without you wondering too much about it. 

In many ways, the stories are reminiscent of the best of GK Chesterton. They have a curious fairytale logic about them that I found quite enchanting.  I had not suspected that Christie would be able to carry off that sort of thing, but she did and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I shan't write more, so as not to spoil them, but they are well worth reading and quite short. 

Merry Christmas

The aftermath of the carol service

Last nights party was a roaring success, everyone was very impressed with the War Room and how the house has progressed. It was great to see everyone and the drinking, chatting, dancing and merriment lasted long into the night.  There was also some very nice wargaming related loot - which will have to wait for another post. 

. 

Santa is on his way

I woke feeling slightly delicate - though Mrs Kinch who is made of sterner stuff had risen early. She advanced on the prostrate Kinch with eggs and bacon and list of jobs that needed to be done. We had a wonderful day. We took in the Nine Lesson & Carols service at Saint Patricks, where we got to see Mrs. Kinchs ten year old cousin sing for his first Christmas service. Then on to my parents where we swapped presents and had a rare old time.

All is well

I am reminded by Lee of what a pleasure it is to be part of such an electic bunch of bloggers. It has been a very up and down sort of year, but J&F has always provided me with somewhere to retreat to. It's been a pleasure reading you all this year and long may it continue.  If my rambling have offended, remember they are a story told by an idiot signifying nothing.

And if you really want to see how to write a Christmas blog entry - look no further. 

All that remains to do is to wish you all a very Merry Christmas from Mrs. Kinch, Flashman, Sissi and I.

May God bless us every one.

And to all a good night. 

Parcels & Progress

A surprise in the post from Young Master Gow

I was very happy to arrive home the other day to discover a parcel waiting for me from Young Master Gow, who took some time away from scrumping apples and skinning his knees on things to send me a surprise. This was a boxful of American Civil War spares in 1/72.  Now as it happens I have no intention of doing the War between the States in 20mm, however, I have learned from Carlo that there is an extraordinary number of mid 19th century European armies that can be produced using these figures and I will be sorting them with that in mind. 

Many thanks and the compliments of the season to Young Master Gow - I only hope he gets something just as nice underneath the tree. 

Which reminds me I still have pictures from Old John of some Danish ACW conversions to share with you. Must get weaving on that. 

A surprise for my father in law

My father in law told me a story while we were away about a particular cake that his mother used to bake that had white icing and that was always topped by an iceskating lady mounted on a small mirror. My father in law has been doing trojan work here at Chez Kinch and this seemed like a nice surprise and the least I could do considering all his hard work. The basic models is a ballerina from Prince August's Steadfast Tin Soldier set. Adding iceskates was actually the trickiest aspect of the conversion.  I tried wire, which looked odd, plastic card, which was far too big and then settled on paper, which worked. 

A hat and scarf were added with greenstuff and the base trimmed to sit an a small mirror. Mrs. Kinch sacrifised an old compact to provide the mirror and I gingerly levered it out without causing seven years bad luck for which I am very grateful. 

There has also been some more good news - 

- The War Room floor is finished. We have to wait 72 hours before the last coat of varnish can take "heavy traffic", but the long slog is finally over. Hurrah!

- Even better, there is a new addition to the extended family. Ed & Aoife have had baby Alexander, ten fingers and ten toes, all healthy and well. There is much rejoicing. 

The couple that paints together

So there are paintbrushes flying in the Kinch household

I hadn't actually anticipated that these would be as awkward to paint at they proved to be.  Unlike most normal flats they don't have a base, so there isn't really anywhere one can hold them that doesn't take paint. I'm just working in shifts and flipping them as needs be. 

Fortunately, Mrs. Kinch has her eye on something a little more sensible (to say nothing of easier to paint) for next year. 

And speaking of Mrs Kinch. 

Three coats of varnish done, one to go!

Christmas in the Kinch household

Floor completely washed and stained

There's been precious little time for blogging of late as Christmas is in full swing here at the Kinch household. Due to a minor miracle of rosters falling right, my rest days fall directly on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and St. Stephen's Day, so for the first time in seven years I won't be working in some capacity on Christmas Day.  Mrs. Kinch is really excited and we're hoping to make the most of what will be a very, very rare occurence.  My folks will be joining us for Christmas dinner and we're pushing to get a lot of things done in the house in the meantime. 

Amongst these are the floor in the War Room, which is awaiting it's first of several coats of stain.  I'm very happy about this and I think it's going to look very well indeed. With a bit of luck it should be finished in time. There is a lot of picture hanging to be done.

Mrs Kinch is very happy with how the kitchen is coming along (note new tiles in background of picture below) and it looks like we should have two rooms pretty much finished this year. 

Taking a leaf out of Ross's, Mosstroopers and many others books. 

One of the joys of clearing out is finding things that you've forgotten. I found my Prince August moulds the other day and I've started casting again.  It's funny how the old tricks of the trade, like venting the mould, warming it and using copious amounts of talc, all come flooding back after five minutes casting. 

Not Father Christmas

"I am not a Jolly Man"

And speaking of the Christmas spirit, I recieved this from JB over at Lead Plague just before we went to Germany.  It's an old Adeptus Mechanicus figure from Citadel.  JB is a fine fellow mostly usually found on the Oldhammer Forum and I'd picked this chap up on Ebay with some other bits and pieces. JB was looking for a figure that I had a double of, but found himself short of something to trade. I said that if he painted one of my figures that would be ample. You can see some more examples of JBs painting skills over at his blog. 

JB not only painted the figure I sent him, but also found something that was on my own wants list and sent that as well. I would have been very happy with my friend above, my lousy photography not really doing justice to JBs lovely paintwork, but to get another figure as well. The Freemasonry of the hobby is certainly alive and well in France. What a generous gift. 

There are no toys in this sack

This fellow will be stomping around the swamps and space stations of a certain Dark Future in the New Year. I've grown quite fond of playing Rogue Trader, just throwing a few figures together and coming up with a story. It's a very pleasent way of spending some time with friends who don't really care for historicals. 

Thanks again JB. 

What I've been casting

When Mrs Kinch saw these moulds she immediately started hatching cunning plans. As a result I've been casting like the Krupp iron works all evening.  I am pleased with the result though and painted examples will be gracing these pages soon. 

Phew! There's a lot of work in this Christmas stuff. 

He's been!

Signs of His coming all over the house...

...and he's not the only one! My Secret Santa keep the mystery going for those vital extra seconds. Mrs Kinch and Cousin Basil got great entertainment from my reaction to this at the breakfast table. 

British armour - thank you Secret Santa!

Kris Kindle

Our main difficulty was convincing Gorman to wear the suit - doesn't he look well?

Ian over at The Blog with No Name has very kindly offered to organise a Kris Kindle or Secret Santa amongst the wargaming bloggers.  Every man, let along every wargamer hears "You're impossible to buy for" at least twice a year - but Mrs Kinch in particular is on the warpath as I've short circuited her usual wargaming Christmas gift of the Wargamers Annual. 

The idea is that Ian will make a list of all those interested and randomly assign each chap on the list another chap until everyone is both buying and recieving a gift.  As Ian puts it,

" Spend is between £10-£15 plus postage. The idea is if the person lives in another country you buy from a on line retailer in their country. You blog post a wish list on your blog, either as a normal post or as an extra tab. I will randomly draw who your target is and let you know.

 

Simple really and a way of making sure you get something you really will like for Christmas. Of course you could leave it up to the buyer who can gain clue from looking on your blog."

 I won't be putting up a wishlist as I've taken part in a number of these, usually over at Yog-Sothoth.org, and the best part is the surprise. But if you do fancy taking part (and to be honest, I don't fancy my chances of a wargaming related gift otherwise!) drop over to Ian's blog and let him know.  I think this could be fun. 

You'll find him here. 

Merry Christmas

My favourite Christmas music

I've been off the radar of late as this is a very busy time of year.

This is our first Christmas in our new home and it's wonderful. Mrs Kinch has worked very very hard to make it as good as it can possibly be and I can't tell you how happy I was to arrive home to her, bearing our first Christmas tree over my shoulder. The cats have been enjoying a feast of low hanging baubles.

Another treat was being finally able to open a wedding present from my Mother in Law*, a beautiful hand painted Nativity from Germany, a country which celebrates Christmas very well. It's on the pianola in the hall and I'm eyeing it with definite plans for expansion. I forsee a sort of triptych arrangement for next year, with three painted backdrops. That said, thus far it is one of only three cribs in the house. Plans for expansion indeed.

It's been a very surprising year and I can't begin to list the things we have to be thankful for. I've weathered another year professionally, without being found out as the fraud I sometimes feel myself to be. Mrs Kinch (mainly her and her father to be honest) and I have managed to turn what was a real fixer upper into a home. Admittedly, a home that has some way to go - but a home nonetheless. There are a hundred and one other things, but I won't go into them now.

I'll be working over Christmas, but I'm due some time off afterwards, so you'll hear more from me after.

Firstly, Christmas is a wonderful time, but not for everyone. If like me, you're bad with money, I recommend thinking of a small discrete unit of money. For me it is the price of a gin and tonic, it could be the cost of a cup of coffee or a packet of chewing gum. Try and think of something that you buy everyday. There are twelve days of Christmas, try to give that much every day of Christmas. I won't advise you where to give it, there are plenty of homeless shelters, charities and other organisations that could find a good use for those few coins. There are some sacrifices so small, that it is shameful not to make them. Pick something different everyday. It's a good feeling.

I guarantee you'll get greedy for it by the end.

Secondly, for those you who like to drink at Christmas, I raise my glass to you. However, I would beg you to please stay off the roads. Delivering bad news at Christmas is never easy, it can certainly spoil the day of the deliverer. Receiving it is far far worse and can blight lives for years, if not longer.

I missed the Messiah in St. Patricks this year as I was working.

But this is still good.

Lastly, Mrs Kinch, Sisi, Sir Harry Flashman VC and I all wish you a very, very Merry Christmas, be it sacred or profane, and hope you all enjoy a peaceful and prosperous New Year.


*She and my wife are very much of the opinion that setting up the tree and the cribs are "boy jobs".