Mr. Anderson?

I have been inundated over the last couple of days with people desperate to save me money on my electricity bill and several have taken umbrage at my attitude on explaining I have money coming out of my ears and want to spend more not less on my magic fuel and that I wouldn't impart information pertaining to who I actually do get my electricity from. They all seem to know who is on the phone, hence "Mr. Anderson?" But the last one today was unexpected and luckily he wasn't from the other side of the world and he said the magic words "Gamemat?"

My long awaited portable wargaming table arrived. I hurriedly unboxed it, at 3' x 4' folded up, it is just on the cusp of portable, my main reason for getting it though was that it should be sturdier than the pasting tables I normally use and it will take up less room than two tables and a board.

It felt a bit wobbly and tinny but once I opened it up, extended the legs and locked them in place it was perfect, I think it should also hold up my larger 7' x 5' board with no problem. The only thing I could moan about although there is nothing you can do about it is the centre strip is slightly above the surface, this is obviously for strength etc. and will not have an effect on my War and Conquest battles or some of the skirmish games I play. If you were putting houses etc. on it then it would be easy to keep them off the centre.

 You can just see the raised centre line in the photograph above, but for me I am more than happy with the table.

I have had problems with varnish before as you will know, and I decided to get a new bottle of Winsor & Newton as the one I am using is years old and most times gives a slightly satin finish rather than pure matt. I phone up a local artists supplier and asked if they had any Winsor & Newton Matt Varnish, yes was the reply. Later on in the afternoon I made a trip to Lancaster, parked up and made my way to the shop, "Winsor & Newton Matt Varnish please", I got a blank look from the salesman, and although my telepathic powers had been stumped by some Green Kryptonite in the area I twigged and said "Acrylic". No we don't have that, but I phoned this morning, yes and you asked for matt varnish for oils, NO I DIDN'T! I don't paint with &^%$£* oils! Well we have Dale and Rowney but Liquitex is the best, then I'll have a bottle of Liquitex, we only have it in a large bottle, aaaargh! No wonder we shop online.

I found I had thrown out my plastic glue weeks ago before I decided to jump into Bolt Action, so I ordered some from eModels yesterday and it arrived today, now that is service. I have now built the first plastic kit I have bought since I was a teenager, the little Warlord Universal Carrier. I am more ham-fisted than I remember but I managed fine until I got to the mudguards, they simply did not fit. They fit fine on the box art but they didn't on my machine, not even close, so they are a bit of a botch job but I think I will get away with it on a wargame table. I am a little concerned for that top Bren, it seems to be begging to get broken off.