Alex's even longer post thread.

[Alex]

So my bank card is a few days from its expiry date. A couple of weeks ago I went to a localish branch (I was out of town on a visit and check-in while I was there anyway) to check a new card was being sent out as normally they arrive a few weeks in advance. Generally, it isn't something I'd worry about, but since at the moment, most places are only taking card rather than cash I thought I should chase it up. The bank said it was on the system for me to be sent a new card, but this hadn't been done yet and wouldn't happen until at least mid-month. I was specifically told that no card as of yet had been sent out (something I considered important to note from an anti-fraud point).

Ok, I thought. That is potentially cutting it a bit fine, but I do have backup accounts that I can transfer money between so we still have access to my funds.

Called up their helpline today and got told that a card had been sent out in February. I said well I've not received it and when I checked up this is what I was told. So, my bank details have been out there floating around for over a month and I could have done something about this sooner if they'd told me this when I first asked. The card we do have has to be shut down now (which is stupid because we know the one we have is fine, it is the missing one that is the problem).

I should still be able to access the funds online, and still transfer them to another account, but I am standing by to find out on Tuesday when I get paid that the account is frozen or something until we get the new card, at which point I think I am going to grant myself the rare indulgence of actually losing my temper with someone. Normally I consider that reaction to be pointless and counter-productive but sometimes, it is worth it just to let off steam. Trouble is the nearest branch of that bank isn't the one I'd went to, to I'd be shouting at the wrong person and dealing with people has to suck for a job at the best of times.

Oh well, time to heard into work. Stay safe and healthy everyone.

[Alex]

So last night there was this thing where at 20:00 everyone went to their front door, opened it and started clapping. It happened all over the country and it was to show thanks to all the healthcare professionals out there. Many people have filmed it and uploaded them online for the doctors, nurses and whoever else in the field so they can watch it and know they are being appreciated.

I like to think that goes out to all those fighting this pandemic and all the other medical conditions across the world, not just on our own shores. I know there will be those out there who say it is of no practical use, but sometimes even a little thank you can be a big morale boost and help keep you going when times are tough, so to all those out there saving lives, I'd just like to add my own personal thanks. Keep doing what you are doing guys and gals. Being awesome.

Things are still staying quite calm and stable around here. Joe's isolation will finish today, so should I fall ill now there is cover (well there was cover before for work, but Joe is a fellow specialist, whereas the other guys are trained in our stuff, but normally do a different job).

Ash is still merrily singing away in his cot. He has been there for over an hour now. When he gets upset, I'll go get him up for 10 minutes, put him back in his cot and he will settle down to sleep. Just the way he is.

Reading that some preacher who said that Covid-19 was all just mass hysteria has died of complications from it. I do not wish anyway to die of this disease (although there are plenty that I wouldn't shed any tears for if they did), but if anyone does die, then it would seem appropriate that people putting others in danger should be amongst them. I'd have to research more into the specifics of this guy and what he has said to count him as one of them though, and to be honest I doubt I will take the time to do that. Wither he was a good man or a bad man, google his name 10 years from now and doubtless, this is what he will be remembered for. Seems odd that a lifetime can boil down into a couple of tweets or posts. Then again, one particular politician (who I have never cared for myself, found him too oily), did once say something I've always agreed with. "Too many tweets makes a twat."

[chefzombie]

what was ash singing? just curious...
as for the preacher, may i just mention that ron paul called the whole thing a hoax, and his son rand has tested positive? karma is an amazing thing, and CAN happen in the present life...

[Alex]

Mostly he sings the letter 'E' in a variety of pitches and tones.

[chefzombie]

well, that's not too bad then. when syd vicious was that age, hers the word you. she has always had a fabulous voice, but boy howdy that got annoying, lol!

[Alex]

Watching a show you might like Barri if you haven't seen it already. It is called Nekrotronic and is an Australian sci-fi horror-comedy.

[Alex]

We had another family walk today, staying away from other people and washing our hands when we got back in.

I am seeing a lot of stuff now being posted about looking after peoples mental health suddenly over the past day or so. I would imagine the old folks who are being told they need to stay indoors for 12 weeks will be most seriously affected there. I can't imagine many people not leaving their house for three months. Watched some news today. New York looks like it is coping with the aftermath of a major battle.

Gave my mum a call yesterday. Our Mothers Day cards finally arrived a week after we'd posted them. I know they said that the post would be running slow just now but that is a lot slower than we expected. Normally if I post something before 5 pm, I'd expect it to arrive the next day. Anyway, I let Ash gabble away on the phone to her. I know hearing his voice cheers her up. Then again, that isn't so surprising. He rarely sounds anything but happy himself.

Working on D&D stuff. I have the time to write and am hopefully getting plenty ahead of the group. Since I know what they will be doing for the next several sessions it makes it nice and easy to plot things out.

I've heard nothing on the news recently about South America or Russia. I wonder how they are doing currently?

[chefzombie]

i think we've seen that, i'll ask the old guy.
some of my ebay friends have been posting pics of reno and vegas..it's positively eerie to see no lights, no cars, no people...apocalyptic is a good description.

[Alex]

From the gradually lessening number of people (still 99% women), that I've had to chat to and help calm down it seems like people are adjusting. General reports seem to be that folks are mostly listening to the correct advice and that in the next couple of weeks the numbers of people getting infected in the UK should reflect that. They think they have successfully flattened the curve. Be interesting to see how that plays out and I have every hope that it has worked out.

Finally got to see 'Underwater'. Struck me as being a very standard horror film. Decent enough cast, but the movie wasn't engaging me and Kristen Stewart spends a fair chunk of the run time running around in the worlds least sexy underwear. She seems to display a single emotion for most of the movie, but its at least a different one from Twilight. TJ Miller plays pretty much the same character he plays in Deadpool. Tonight, Kristi wants to watch Tiger King. I've heard of the guy they made that show about. Doesn't really appeal to me, but if she wants to see it then I'll give it a go. I am still trying to summon the enthusiasm to watch Breaking Bad.

Had a Roxy Music kick yesterday. No idea why I suddenly wanted to listen to a whole bunch of their songs, but I went with it. Today, I am listening to 'Bad Magic', Motorhead's final album before Lemmy corked it. Although I've listened to other Motorhead stuff since he died I haven't listened to that album. There are a few times when you can hear his voice is weaker. The first time I saw Lemmy on stage was in '92. He just looked like he did when I saw him on TV in the early '80s. It wasn't until the last time I saw him live that he looked any different, but by Hel did he look older. He was having to cancel shows because of illness and I figured then he was on the way out, although he still died earlier than I expected. Or maybe I just hoped he'd last longer. I do miss going to see him play every November. Still 'Bad Magic' is an album you could slot into any time period of Motorhead's career and it would fit in well. Not that there was a huge variation in the kind of songs they put out. They knew what they wanted to play, what the fans wanted and they gave it to them.

Was chatting to the manager of the largest local shop. He was saying his employees are getting an extra £100 in their next wage as well as £50 to spend on stuff from the shop. Nice to see employers looking after their workers. His staff have been getting abuse from some customers when they can't get what they want and he has just started banning those people from coming in his store now. It seems to be people coming in from out of town that have been causing problems though. Hard to believe there are smaller and more remote towns around here than Lossiemouth.

Planning our next Bolt Action game. Going to give my Japanese a run out against Kristi's American's. Last time I played the Jap's I had real problems destroying her Sherman tank. I managed to disable its tracks so it couldn't move and I damaged the turret so it couldn't rotate, but the damn thing just wouldn't die. I do have some more troop options this time, but the Japanese really did not have a reliable tank killer. Whereas in Europe where the Sherman was only adequate thanks to the numbers, it was available in, in Asia it was a monster. Shame that the nature of island warfare meant it didn't see many tank on tank battles, because if it had, it would have been the god of the battlefield. Anyway, since the companies I normally order stuff from have shut down for the duration, I've ordered some terrain stuff. We have plenty of houses to fight urban warfare scenarios, but we lack things like trees (surprisingly expensive), hills, walls and hedges. The stuff I've ordered in will help address that a bit (no trees but I did order a river, MDF walls and stuff that I can make hedges from). Gives me some stuff I can work on since we won't exactly be travelling far in the current climate. I am going out to the next town on Saturday to buy some stuff and I am going to do my daily exercise while I am there and pop up to the cemetery. I like Lilly-Beth having fresh flowers regularly.

Prepping our next game of Bolt Action. While Kristi is getting used to the rules she is sticking to her American army, but this time I am going to field some Japanese against her. We'll be fighting a skirmish from the battle for Guadalcanal. Hmm. I used to play a computer simulation of that battle when I was a kid. Always played as the US Navy.

2nd Lieutenant. A mandatory choice here at this rank. Made him a veteran and had given him a bodyguard, but I later had to drop a few points to get under 1000 so he is now on his own, but he does have a submachine gun.

IJA Infantry squad. 12 men. Armed with an LMG this squad is the core of my firebase. They will pour rifle fire down on anyone out in the open. These are regular infantry/
IJA Infantry squad. 12 men. I gave this unit anti-tank grenades. Guess what their job is? The Japanese did not have a great choice of anti-tank weapons to play with. If Kristi brings a Sherman, then this is my best bet against it and not a good bet at that. I expect them to charge up the field Banzai style and true to most charges in the face of good defensive fire, die horribly. Still, this was a tactic used by the Japs. As a suicide squad, I've left them as regulars.
IJA Grenadiers 6 men. Early to mid-war, the Japanese equipped infantry squads with multiple light mortars. This squad will try to force the enemy out of any cover I want for myself and support the anti-tank squad. I want them to hopefully find a good spot at the start of the game and just not move from there for the rest of the game. These too are regular troops as mortars accuracy isn't affected by combat experience.

MMG. Another part of my anti-infantry arsenal. This army is going to be heavy on that. I made it a veteran unit as smaller sections normally get increased training.
Anti-Tank Rifle. Despite its name, this isn't much good against anything other than the lightest kinds of tanks. It is however perfectly fine for taking out other armoured vehicles like half-tracks, armoured cars, tankettes and the like. And if there are none of them in the enemy force then it makes an acceptable sniper unit.
Flamethrower. Capable of wiping out anything it hits, this is my other option should Kristi bring along a Sherman.
Sniper Team. For dealing with enemy officers, support weapon crews or just denting the enthusiasm of enemy infantry units who are trying to get places I don't want them to go. As is usual for my snipers, I took them as veterans.
Chi-Ha tank. Great for dealing with infantry but vulnerable to heavy machine guns and any gun bigger than that. I took this as a regular unit as I don't think Japanese tankers had a long life expectancy, but by this point in the war they would most likely have seen some action.
Type 92 70mm Infantry Gun. The lightest of light howitzers, this is more like a glorified light mortar than a true gun. Still, it fits in my overall plan.

Ok, so my LMG infantry squad, Grenadiers, MMG, Anti-Tank rifle, Snipers and howitzer are my firebase. My aim with them is to force the enemy infantry to stay back and pepper them with lead if they poke their heads out of cover. I don't want them to move much during the game (not at all if possible, but that rarely works out that way). The Chi-Ha is a mobile bunker. If I am pressed on any flank I'll have this rollover there and lay down a withering fire from its two MMG's. It does have a howitzer in its turret which does more damage than the 70mm. I must not however let myself get caught in a duel with any other vehicles with this tank. It just won't stand up to them. My officer will back up the anti-tank grenade squad and lend his short-ranged firepower on any banzai charges. If that squad gets near to any enemy armour, then I'll try an assault. Otherwise, I will just have to ignore any heavy armour opposing me and take any damage that comes my way from it.

Part of me hates playing as the Japanese because of their lack of decent equipment, however, it does make the game more of a challenge.

[Alex]

Sitting with Ash while he goes on a rampage of Kaiju-like proportions and destroys the living room. Ah, the joys of our nightly tidy up after he goes to bed.

Windy weather today, although it is supposed to be nice over the weekend when the winds switch around and come up from the south instead of blowing from... well we normally have a choice between northern Canada, Siberia or the Arctic. All places famed for their warm weather.

Going to try to find a film to watch tonight that I can't guess everything that is about to happen in. Kristi is doing a nightly update of all the local shops that are doing home deliveries and various other bits and pieces that are helpful for the local community, all on the local village FB page. A lot of people find it handy, but it takes a couple of hours to get all the info in and type it all up every night and by the time she'd finished she didn't feel like watching her tiger show, so we ended up just watching some B movies I came across. Someone sent her an article from Sky news that says the local council has asked if it can borrow a hanger to use as a temporary morgue should the local facilities get overwhelmed. No idea how true or not the story is, but she decided it wasn't something the local community would find useful to know.

Just looking at my book collection. I think I need to buy in some more horror novels. although part of the problem there is that I am very picky about my authors there. Sci-fi or action I'll pretty much give anyone a read, but I like my horror to be atmospheric. How the hell I ended up with 5 Shaun Hutson novels is beyond me. Got a full James Herbert & Lovecraft collection, a fair bit of Clive Barker, some Dean Koontz and after that it all kind of breaks down into authors I've tried one or two books of, or short story collections that were mostly either bought when I was a kid or were picked up for long train journeys. Only one Stephen King book and I haven't even read all of that one. Used to have a few of his. Wonder where they've went to over the years? I think comedy is the hardest genre to write in though. I've read very few books that had me laughing out loud all the way through. Terry Pratchett's The Light Fantastic did that, but afterwards, he moved more into social commentary and was never quite as good again.

After it taking a week for letters I posted to make it to the other side of Scotland, one of the packages I ordered from ebay went and turned up today. Well, we now have a river for our games. I am actually more hoping that one day we will get to role-play around a table once again and I can use all this stuff for it.

[chefzombie]

you might try some of esther friesner's books for comedic fantasy, and she edited the chicks in chainmail series of short story collections, they're great too.

[Alex]

Up early this morning to deal with Ash and let Kristi get a lie-in. I went to put on some music on Youtube while I did some online reading, but he climbed up onto my lap and watched the music videos so intently. I ended up just letting him sit there, and we watched them together.

It's those little moments really.

Anyone else think that Eric Clapton is vastly overrated as a singer/songwriter/guitarist? I've always felt Mark Knopfler is superior to him in each of those departments.

Sometimes you'll meet a soldier who you just know is going to make it through a war and while they might be injured, there is no way they are going to be killed. Ancient Celt's described such people as having an aura, or battle light around them. I would imagine this guy was one of those men.

Maniacs of World War 2.

Sgt Audie Murphy.

Murphy had always wanted to be a soldier. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, he tried to enlist, but the Army, Navy and Marine Corps all turned him down for being underweight and underage. After his sister provided an affidavit that falsified his birth date by a year, he was accepted by the U.S. Army on 30 June 1942.After basic training at Camp Wolters, he was sent to Fort Meade for advanced infantry training. During basic training, he earned the Marksman Badge with Rifle Component Bar and Expert Badge with Bayonet Component Bar.

Murphy participated in the September 1943 mainland Salerno landing at Battipaglia. While on a scouting party along the Volturno River, he and two other soldiers were ambushed; German machine gun fire killed one soldier. Murphy and the other survivor responded by killing five Germans with hand grenades and machine gun fire. While taking part in the October Allied assault on the Volturno Line, near Mignano Monte Lungo Hill 193, he and his company repelled an attack by seven German soldiers, killing three and taking four prisoner. Murphy was promoted to sergeant on 13 December

He returned with the 3rd Division to Anzio, where they remained four months. Taking shelter from the weather in an abandoned farmhouse on 2 March, Murphy and his platoon killed the crew of a passing German tank. He then crawled out alone close enough to destroy the tank with rifle grenades, for which he received the Bronze Star with "V" device.

fter landing on Yellow Beach near Ramatuelle, Murphy's platoon was making its way through a vineyard when the men were attacked by German soldiers. He retrieved a machine gun that had been detached from the squad and returned fire at the German soldiers, killing two and wounding one. Two Germans exited a house about 100 yards (91 m) away and appeared to surrender; when Murphy's best friend responded, they shot and killed him. Murphy advanced alone on the house under direct fire. He killed six, wounded two and took 11 prisoner.

Murphy's first Purple Heart was for a heel wound received in a mortar shell blast on 15 September 1944 in northeastern France. His first Silver Star came after he killed four and wounded three at a German machine gun position on 2 October at L'Omet quarry in the Cleurie river valley. Three days later, Murphy crawled alone towards the Germans at L'Omet, carrying an SCR-536 radio and directing his men for an hour while the Germans fired directly at him. When his men finally took the hill, 15 Germans had been killed and 35 wounded. Murphy's actions earned him a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster for his Silver Star. He was awarded a battlefield commission to second lieutenant on 14 October, which elevated him to platoon leader.[59] While en route to Brouvelieures on 26 October, the 3rd Platoon of Company B was attacked by a German sniper group. Murphy captured two before being shot in the hip by a sniper; he returned fire and shot the sniper between the eyes. At the 3rd General Hospital at Aix-en-Provence, the removal of gangrene from the wound caused partial loss of his hip muscle and kept him out of combat until January. Murphy received his first Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster for his Purple Heart for this injury.

The Colmar Pocket, 850 square miles (2,200 km2) in the Vosges Mountains, had been held by German troops since November 1944. On 14 January 1945, Murphy rejoined his platoon, which had been moved to the Colmar area in December. He moved with the 3rd Division on 24 January to the town of Holtzwihr, where they faced a strong German counterattack. He was wounded in both legs, for which he received a second Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster for his Purple Heart. As the company awaited reinforcements on 26 January, he was made commander of Company B.

The Germans scored a direct hit on an M10 tank destroyer, setting it alight, forcing the crew to abandon it. Murphy ordered his men to retreat to positions in the woods, remaining alone at his post, shooting his M1 carbine and directing artillery fire via his field radio while the Germans aimed fire directly at his position. Murphy mounted the abandoned, burning tank destroyer and began firing its .50 caliber machine gun at the advancing Germans, killing a squad crawling through a ditch towards him. For an hour, Murphy stood on the flaming tank destroyer returning German fire from foot soldiers and advancing tanks, killing or wounding 50 Germans. He sustained a leg wound during his stand, and stopped only after he ran out of ammunition. Murphy rejoined his men, disregarding his own injury, and led them back to repel the Germans. He insisted on remaining with his men while his wounds were treated.

Murphy would go on to have a successful acting career but was troubled with post-traumatic mental health issues. Despite this, he did try and get assigned to a combat post during the Korean war.

Well, Ash has been eaten his breakfast and is now back in his bed. Did not seem ready to be awake. More than half tempted to go back to my bed myself.

I wonder if this is the worlds most uncomfortable looking music video. The singer looks like he has been dragged in off the street at gunpoint and been told to be in the video or get shot and is maybe having second thoughts about which option to take.

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[indianasmith]

Audie Murphy is our hometown hero!  Our local museum is named after him and exhibits his uniforms, medals, as well as a lot of his film memorabilia, and there is a 16 foot tall statue of him out front. 

The Museum is actually called the Audie Murphy American Cotton Museum.  (It was originally the American Cotton Museum when I worked there, but when Murphy's family donated all his stuff, one of their stipulations was that the museum be renamed in his honor.)

[Alex]

I did not know he was from your neck of the woods. Another place I'd need to visit if we ever make it to Texas.

[indianasmith]

It's ten minutes from my house - so we'd have to have a good visit!!
I worked for that museum for a couple years, actually helped build the place they currently occupy.  It was a fun job.