Tuesday, May 24, 2016

A Weekend Out to Partizan

 
Partizan Main Hall
This past weekend we had a wonderful time travelling up to Newark to see the sights and take in Partizan.


Sidney Roundwood acted as our chauffeur, whisking us from Roundwood Towers up to Newark - a drive in which I would have been highly stressed if I had to undertake myself, so thank you again Sidney for taking that on.

The British Civil Wars
We visited the newish National English Civil War museum located in the centre of Newark. I was initially struck by how relatively small it was, but this was aswaged by the quality of the exhibits. I particularly liked the special exhibit on 15/16th century medicine, especially the books and wheelchair of Sir Thomas Fairfax and the plague doctor's creepy regalia. 
Campaign Boots of Sir Thomas Fairfax
 
Sir Thomas' Wheelchair that he used later in life                
Curt the Plague Doctor
We stayed at a wonderful B&B called 'The Lions' and had excellent fair at both the 'Prince Rupert' pub and 'The Rushton'. All highly recommended.

On Sunday, after a leisurely English breakfast we meandered our way to the George Stephenson Hall which hosted the Partizan show. I really have nothing to compare it with but I thought it was a wonderful event - well attended, efficiently run and with many tempting things to see and buy.
The Bloggers' Meet-Up at Partizan
There was a bloggers meet-up in the early afternoon arranged by Pete (Panzer Kaput) - thanks Pete! I had the pleasure to meet up with a few old salts from the Painting Challenge and make some new acquaintances as well. I great occasion and a fine bunch of people.
Ian showing us his amazing 6mm Greeks

6mm Madness  
 After Partizan a few of us retired to 'The Prince Rupert' for a few drinks and excellent fair to match the company.
The Post-Partizan Pub Visit (Tamsin serving as Photographer)
Below is the results of my somewhat modest shopping from Partizan, including a few lovely pieces of 'Curtgeld'.
Some Partizan Loot to Ship Home  
Kara, Indy and 'The Obliterator'      
Lovely OtterHounds from Dave (which look very similar to our 'Oscar')
 
Great momentoes from a wonderful weekend in Newark!


Thursday, May 19, 2016

The 2016 Invasion of Europe

We're just packing up the zeppelin for our spring vacation so things may be a little quiet at Analogue Hobbies for the next few weeks.

Calling the Hanks-Campbell party...
We will be staying at Roundwood Towers for our first few days in the UK. Sidney and I plan to be in Newark for Partizan this upcoming weekend, for which I'm very excited about. I understand there is a blogger's meetup scheduled for the afternoon. If any of you plan to be at the show please look for a tall fellow with close-cropped hair and a silly-yet-strangely-fetching van dyke beard.  That won't be me - I'll be the guy next to him...  ;}> 


After the UK we're off to take Paris and after that we'll be heading south for a couple of weeks making a nuisance of ourselves in Provence. Our final leg will see us enjoying the Malaga/Granada region before a final few days of carousing in Madrid. 

I may try to blog a bit on the hoof. That is if I can figure out how to do it on my iPad without completely snapping my crayons. Wish me luck!