I'm Back

 Holiday over, it's raining and I had the heating on last night, the country continues to slide into the abyss, and yes, I miss the beautiful Aegean weather and the only worry I had was choosing oysters or smoked salmon for starter.

My first impression was of a building site, dozens of half built buildings litter the island, some kind of tax dodge I found out, there is also a lot of fly tipping, abandoned cars and even buses in parts, usually the parts away from the tourist areas. It quickly became apparent that there was not as much history on Rhodes as I had thought, a few seriously ruined and dangerous castles, the Acropolis at Lindos and Rhodes Old Town and that's it. The last two were impressive, especially the Old Town inside its protective walls and Lindos is simply a picture postcard village.

Walls of Rhodes.

Inside Museum of Archaeology.

Galley of the Knights of St. John.

Archaeology Museum.

Street of the Knights.

Grand Masters Palace (rebuilt by Italians).

Walls of Rhodes.

Knights castle.

Hotel.

Fake Beatles.

Acropolis fortifications at Lindos.

Acropolis.

We took advantage of the local buses to get around which were cheap, 7 euros as opposed to 180 to get to Rhodes in a taxi, for instance. We spent more time than we normally do at the hotel, this was first class with amazing food and amenities along with a beach, best of all was the friendly and helpful staff. They also had entertainment every evening and our first taste of this was a Beatles tribute with two Italians and two Brits with the worst wigs I have ever seen, thankfully their act was far superior and a highlight of the holiday. I partook of my first Turkish massage and it is not for the faint hearted.

So in the end we took it easy for two weeks and enjoyed losing the real world for a time, a real treat. Landing back in Blighty it all now seems like a dream. Rain, cold, doctors appointments to be made, new glasses to source, supplies to get in, normality hits like a punch in the stomach, until next year.

On the wargaming front not much of course, I had ordered the new Chain of Command V2 while away, I had timed it to arrive the same day we got back from holiday, as obviously it would not have gone through the letter box. Postie put it in our wood store, half an hour from home it started raining, by the time I arrived the envelope was soaked and the rule book ruined. I have had to order another, grrrrrr.

I still managed to get a good look through the undamaged parts and liked what I have seen so far, I also saw that I needed replenishment markers so I have sorted a few out over the last day or so. I have a game at the club on Tuesday, I have been co-opted into a four player game, so I suspect it will be more of a learning experience for all concerned than a fight to the death.

Replenishment markers.

I have also managed to finish off half of the troops for the vexillation from XXX Ulpia Victrix, so I will be starting the second half soon.

My wargame calendar is beginning to firm up, club on Tuesday, Italian Wars next Saturday then ACW and more Chain of Command the week after.