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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
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Out and about yesterday, for a couple of hours, to escape the doldrums of electronic conferencing applications, Project politics and a growing ennui:
We're going on a long walk
We're going on a long walk
I've got my wellington boots
I've got my waterproof coat
I'm not scared
Zigg's not scared/pic6941937.jpg)
Ooh, look at that deep, rippled pond
It's so wide
We can't go over it
We can't go under it
We can't go through it
We can't go before it
We're just gonna have to go around it
We're gonna have to go around it
Splish, splash, splish, splash!/pic6941938.jpg)
We're going on a long walk
We're going on a long walk
I've got my bluetooth headphones
I've got my downloaded 'casts
I'm not scared
Zigg's not scared/pic6941943.jpg)
Uh-oh, there's a fallen tree
Ooh
We can't go over it
We can't go under it
We can't go around it
We can't go before it
We're just gonna have to go through it
I hope it's not too spiky
Swish, bash, swish, bash!
We're going on a long walk
We're going on a long hike
I've got Zigg's savoury treats
I've got my bottle of water
I'm not scared
Zigg's not scared/pic6941939.jpg)
Eww, look at all the anthills
Ugh, so ants-y
We can't go around them
We can't go under them
We can't go behind them
We can't go before them
We're just gonna have to go over them
Ugh, if I have to:
Squish, crush, squelch, squash!
We're going on a long walk
We're going on a long hike
I've got Zigg's retracting lead
I've got my full-charge Fitbit
I'm not scared
Zigg's not scared/pic6941940.jpg)
Uh-oh, what's that?
It's a lane
We can't go over it
We can't go under it
We can't go around it
We can't go inside it
We're just gonna have to go through it
Are you sure?
Step, step, step, step...
It sure is murky here
What's that round the corner?
I hear two loud beeps
I hear two loud beeps
I see two bright lights
I see two bright lights
It's coming quite fast
I know what that is!
What?
It's a car!
Let's get outta here!
Let's run back up the lane
Step, step, step!
OK, quickly, back through the ants!
Squish, crush, squelch
OK, let's clamber thru the tree!
Swish, bash, swish!
And, quick, through the cool pond!
Splish, splash, splish
And, quick, through the yard!
Up the stairs!
Into the house!
Close the door!
Whew!
Uh, we're safe
That was a close one
Let's not go long walking anymore.../pic6941945.jpg)
...at least not for a day or two./pic6941942.jpg)
One letter makes all the difference.
Everyone Needs A Shed
Life and Games (but mostly games) from Tony Boydell: Father, Grandfather, Husband and Independent UK Game Designer.
Archive for ShedLife
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
-
Yesterday (Saturday) morning, I nipped into the Post Office to 'Drop & Go'* a couple of small packages to the US/Canada - they were Snowdonia: Isle of Mans with an extra 'exclusive from Tony' promo card.
Just barely scraping the Royal Mail's pretend letter box, they were pronounced too large for the usual £5 postage fee and would need to be at the £10.80 level instead. Caught somewhat off-guard by the doubling in price, I mentioned how previous items - no more than a couple of weeks back - had gone through at the £5 level...it turns out that the 'Drop & Go' service had, in fact, been charging me the £10 all along.
Given that absorbing the cost increase would make this entire transaction 'Net Zero' to the Museum, I scurried away, with a pounding heart, in a cloud of surprised indignation. It took me a while to bring my heartbeats down to a normal level - breathing away the panic attack.
Alerting the recipients of the situation, one was happy to 'top up' the postage fee while the other requested a refund (duly provided). Now, of course, I feel that I cannot realistically offer Isles of Man or, indeed, the Museum goodies overseas because the price point is ridiculous: neither do I have a distribution 'deal' with anyone nor a "special deal" with the Royal Mail to smoothen the process - it's just me with a roll of sellotape and a sharpie.
I hate surprises because, most of the time, they feel like an ambush!
*leave the item(s) with the staff and bugger off - they will sort it when they have a quiet moment, debiting your online account accordingly.
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
-
The best part of being me, by the longest margin, is the privilege of being a Father; the stages of our childrens' lives have offered - and continue to offer - challenges and rewards in a stew of all human emotion. Those five fabulous, joyous, talented, loving and generous individuals are what gives my life meaning; YMM, of course, V.
After the rains of Saturday, Sunday - Fathers' Day - dawned warm and bright and, with it, came roast dinner and presents. It also gave us a chance to try out one of my UKGE bring-and-buy bargains -DropMix:/pic6924434.jpg)
Laying down some beats and racing to 21 points...
Arty and I used the pre-built decks that come with the core system - Crown, Controller, Sweets and Axe - for 45 minutes of pumped-thru-the-Bose groovery. I am re-assured (after first exposure at the last Gathering of Chums), by guru of this kind of nonsense Mr Matt Green, that with a) more cards and b) some proper deck-building techniques, there is even more Joy to be wrung from this hidden gem!/pic6924435.jpg)
Just after this, we were throwing shapes like The Chemical Brothers at Glastonbury 2019!
During the day, I was also notified of a home-crafted gift inspired by The Museum: Tuffley regular Jack, entirely enamoured of the Museum's older exhibits, took it upon himself to build a version of Tiddly-Golf for his Dad:/pic6924386.jpg)
Seeing this makes me very proud indeed.
The wider World forgotten; a day spent in the company of (almost all of) the best people I have ever known!
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
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No it's not - this is utter and total bunkum.
Sat Jun 18, 2022 6:10 am
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
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Press <PLAY>:
There is no better time than when the Sun is shining to get out of your lazy bed / work chair and stride out into the wide,bluegreen yonder; this was my long*, Thursday lunchtime:/pic6918755.jpg)
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*two and a half hours: conference calls be damned!
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
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Found this on the eBays.
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Comes as s as single, lasercut sheet./pic6910336.jpg)
(Yes, I know the chimney is on the wrong end)
Working on sourcing them in bulk and making something cool for the Museum gift shop.
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
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Here it is: after 11 years and a bit, I have arrived at my 4000th blog post!
For those of you who are relatively new to 'the Shed', perhaps you could go right back to the start and catch up?!Quote:Angel Number 4000: see here - https://angelnumbersmeaning.com/4000-angel-number/ - for a lot of old shit about how "magic" it is #utterbollocks
As Fate would have it, this lands on the very same day that I am chairing a UK Games Expo seminar about Blogging on BGG: what a co-inky-dinky, eh?!:strip_icc()/pic6861980.jpg)
So, 4000 posts with:
a couple of 'breaks' - one enforced (naughty Trump image) and one voluntary (under pressure); almost 200 shitgamerpuns fourteen uses of the word 'Cunt' (including this one) 720-ish Session Reports 3900 uploaded images four posts forcibly-deleted (currently) 869 subscribers*
It's traditional that I provide something promo-ish at these milestones, so:/pic6862085.png)
Pay 1 Coal to get your 3rd worker for the Round PLUS (at the start of resolving action C)
gain one iron/stone for each 3rd worker coming out of the Pub this Round
With:/pic6862135.png)
(?=the number of liverymen on this Guild when it resolves)Right, then; another post bites the dust!
*phew*
Here's to making it to 5000!
*it fluctuates depending on my dirty mouth and/or after I have a pop at Stonemaier Games
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
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I've been remiss in my exercising over the last couple of weeks; oh, I've been getting a good set of 'daily steps' in - make no mistake - it's just that I've not been out on a proper trog to really get the blood pumping. Yesterday, with a blank meeting schedule in Outlook, I determined to swig the last of my morning coffee and get the Hell out there! Through the lanes and into the crop-laden fields - the worst of the dark clouds had already scudded away - Ziggy the dog and I took ourselves off toward the shadow of May Hill: the orchards, the grains, the lily-padding ponds and eye-level swathes of broad beans:
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Despite a few recent showers, the bare earth was cracked and sturdy underfoot; still being before Noon, dew soaked into my trainers and trouser hems. I met an old family friend at the apogee of this expedition and we stood on a slope of hip-high wheat, chatting. On the return leg - trudging, aching-ankled, down Culver Street toward the Market Place - we stopped at the indie printer to get some 'thickest paper' copies of this Jubilee Weekend Museum Souvenir:
Later, having early-suppered and watched the last two episodes of Season 2 of Raised By Wolves*, I borrowed the fuel-economic Nissan Micra from Mrs B and nipped over to Tuffley for a long-anticipated Date with Ark Nova:/pic6894045.jpg)
Yes, indeed; after many weeks of carping, moaning, ranting and general disdain for this "Terraforming Mars-killer", Nick patiently explained the wrinkles - it's entirely familiar if you know TM already - and we began our three hour exercise in zoo-building and animal conservation./pic6894044.jpg)
My 24 points...to Nick's 21 and Dale's 3.
I have spent the arse-end of 2021 and the front-bottom of 2022 getting my knickers in a twist about a game that everyone's been peeing their pants over but, for the longest time, was almost impossible to source. Something about the dribbling anticipation of the 'Have-Nots versus the sanctimonious gloating of the 'Haves' had me figuratively sitting in a corner, crossing my arms and hurrumphing; not so this evening, however, as the three hours whizzed by without a single moment's boredom:/pic6894046.jpg)
It's as good as Terraforming Mars - and shares much of its mechanical DNA - but it is a different experience within the same space. Card frustration still persists but the solution is less cumbersome than the round-upon-round TM drafting: "snap" a card from the display OR just draw a handful and see. Most importantly (like TM), you shouldn't get fixated on one path: get several icon-based plates spinning and enjoy the ride.
Time for a hat-based breakfast...
*What? The? Hell?!
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
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For the first time in 32 months (that's almost THREE years, people), Arthur and I ventured out of a cool Sunday morning to seek out a local Car Boot Sale:
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The crowd- (and cloud-) busting event that was the Ledbury gathering - regularly over 200 stalls - melted into nothing during the pandemic and we had to travel a little further afield to find a field. The Coleford boot, where we met up with Gerv, was a piddling nothing in comparison; however, Arthur found some comics and I found a biscuit tin in the shape of a bus and a small, plastic chair-stacking game so it wasn't a total wash-out.
All done and dusted and still to be regarded as 'early morning', me and the lad nipped over to Gerv's to see his decorating progress, grab a cup of coffee and play a game of Res Arcana:/pic6889574.jpg)
A first run for Arthur, he seemed entirely comfortable in the processes and nabbed the Sunken Reef from under Gerv's nose; this gave Gerv no time to pivot his strategy before I'd Monument-ed and Dragons' Lair-ed my way to thirteen points!
Providing some of the background soundtrack was the Village Peacock - they're ever so posh on the outskirts of Cheptsow, you know - who flapped into an adjacent field of brown, inquisitive lambs to cause a bit o' trouble:/pic6889577.jpg)
How a peacock tells someone to 'Fuck Off!'
It wasn't even brunch-time when we explorers returned to find the household emerging from a long, lie-in; the rest of the brightening day was still ahead of us!
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
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Some things wholly represent a modern commercial phenomenon* we 'grown-ups' face: the appearance of something for which we have no justifiable need but is utterly-essential once we find out about it: "FOMO" just doesn't cut it**
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*de-dooooooo de-do-wop
**suggestions, please
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