You know that this, as every year, you are going to be making resolutions that you don’t have the faintest intention of keeping, don’t you? Lose weight, take more exercise, reduce the lead pile, learn to shoot a longbow, shave off the beard. Ordinary stuff. Well this year, here is a list of resolutions that I will NOT be keeping.

One: Finish at least one project. No! Why? Isn’t that tacit admission that the project is over? The beautifully finished army will now sit in its box for at least ten years, never to be played with. I cite Trebian’s beautifully complete Burmese DBA army as a case in point. It had its first outing for absolute yonks, only because I borrowed it. This is not a criticism. If Graham’s collection had not been more organised and finished than mine, I wouldn’t have had anything to play with. My projects will be finished when I’m dead!

Many books from thomastthomas.com, used without permission.
Two: Reduce my book pile. Nope! I genuinely struggle with this one. The floor hasn’t collapsed upstairs yet and there are still so many books that I want to read. It’s a pile because I keep pulling books out and reading them. I used to be able to borrow reference books on inter library loan, but in these straitened times it takes forever for a book to make it seventy miles from London to a county that bankrupted itself through the corruption and mismanagement of its members and officials, then had to start slashing services to keep the vanity projects that it had started, going. Just Google Chester House Estate, The Cube and Knuston hall, Northamptonshire, before googling Northampton Football Club, and again here, then read between the lines – it’s not hard. For the record, any book with pictures of Giant Stompy Robots in it is not a reference book, but I’m still not throwing them out!

Three: Buy fewer tools. Nuh-uh! Tools save you money. When our decorative light tree stopped working, and my soldering iron packed up, I spent £8.00 on a new iron. Replacing the light would have cost £80.00, so I believe that I am £72.00 in the black with that purchase. Doesn’t everyone have a scaffolding tower and cement mixer tucked away in the workshop? The sledgehammer is my favourite! 🙂

How on earth would we know that it was a face shield if the label wasn’t there?
Four: Buy a 3-D resin printer. Nein, nein, nein! That way lies madness! I have probably spent the price of a printer on models this year, but I don’t have a room full of unpainted prints that I won’t get round to painting. Also the fumes: I would need a decent extractor fan for the workshop, and some PPE. I’ve had enough of working in full PPE in clinics with no temperature control. Also I don’t have to be consistent with resolutions that I am NOT going to keep. See resolution three.
Five: Finish Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time. Not this year, maybe next. I am currently at the “Trousers of Time”, so a while to go yet. If I have understood it correctly, then it doesn’t really matter when I finish it. Perhaps I’ll just watch a YouTube post from someone with a PhD in Astrophysics.
My favourite Blog award this year goes to Lazerpig (Sorry, Guru Pig). If he is new to you, think of a cross between Father Jack of Father Ted fame and Colin Black of Black Books with Tourette’s Syndrome. Put the children to bed and listen to him through headphones because he is VERY sweary, and apparently Irish. He is particularly amusing on the topic of tanks. I can only take about ten minutes of him at a time.
So thank you for dropping by to read my ramblings over the last year. Thanks also to the Bloggers that have kept me amused and inspired. Happy New Year to you all!