Stepping out

We went up to the Royal Academy of Dance HQ on Saturday afternoon for what looks to be the last ever ‘watching week’* for the youngest of the youngest. TYOTY has been going to RAD for a number of years now to do ‘vocational classes’ in parallel with the normal grade classes at the local ballet school. It looks like the last watching week because, subject to passing them, she has both grade 8 and Advanced 2 exams this week. She’s not confident of getting the required Distinction in the Advanced exam to qualify for the final vocational stage ‘Solo Seal’. Confidence took a hit with a foot injury which curtailed practice. Considering this all happened in the run up to A-Levels, she showed admirable resilience. Anyway, the degree of difficulty and the work undertaken was impressive. How people can remain balanced, whilst spinning around and bouncing on one foot is beyond me.

* watching week is a period close to the end of term at dance schools, when family/friends can go along and watch what the lessons consist of and see the progress the young dancers have made.

The building it’s in is pretty new, with up to date facilities. If you’re interested in that sort of thing, here’s an article on the topic:

https://www.architectural-review.com/awards/w-awards/2024-w-awards/royal-academy-of-dance-in-london-uk-by-takero-shimazaki-architects

There were some interesting items on display in the reception area. See pics below.

All of this is in stark contrast to the reputation of the housing estate that we walked through to get there. It may be because it was a nice Summer’s day and there was lots of greenery everywhere, but it didn’t feel like a no go zone. That’s London for you I guess.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winstanley_and_York_Road_Estate

Later in the evening, the Margravina and I stepped out again for a perambulation in the royal park, a meile from der Schloß. Here are some views across the Thames valley from one of the high points.

You can see Woking mum! The faint, towers in the distance are a vanity project that contributed to the bankruptcy of the Conservative led borough council (since voted out).

Romans finished

Since painting and basing them I’ve been slow to finish off the Romans’ bases. I finally got round to it. Here they are on magnetised bases in their chocolate box.

Part of the delay has been painting in 1:1 scale. I had to sand down and repaint the shed due to peeling of the top coat. Disappointing as I only did it a year ago.

It’s that time of the year again

Time to get those rugs out and washed. If you have this equipment handy:

https://youtube.com/shorts/c2uWRuUnVaw?si=6qbE_dSiLq9Y39Oj

ECW Podcast

My listening list is getting too long for my commuting. One podcast that has pushed its way into my list is The World Turned Upside Down. It’s towards the academic end of the spectrum, so don’t expect details about tactics at Marston Moor or the colours of Prince Rupert’s regiment of foot. But it is well worth a listen if you’re into the wider picture. I’ve just listened to the episode on Basing House and it’s a belter.

https://www.worldturnedupsidedown.co.uk/

National Army Museum

I finished work early, for a change, on Thursday, and headed over to Royal Hospital Road and got there for the last hour of opening time. It felt somehow appropriate on that day. I hardly saw another visitor and virtually had the place to myself (and the staff who work there). This meant I was free to move around and linger as long as I liked at any exhibit. I took a few photos, most of which are below. Hope you enjoy them.

I always liked these

Rifled muzzle-loaded field gun. It looked smoothbore, but if you look closely at the picture below, you can just about make out the rifling.

Hot weather shako cover from the West Indies

Fort in Guadeloupe, 1759

Sepoy. Late 18th C?

Balls from Plassey, IIRC

Tipu Sultan's headdress

Officer's uniform, Bengal Lancers, late 19thC. One of my favourite exhibits.

Lightweight suit for servicemen flying on civilian aircraft to the Far East. c.1950. something I never would have expected.

Beret and smock of WO1 'Dia' Harvey, SAS, c 1982. Did part of a 4-man patrol that was inserted behind Argentinian lines, 3 weeks before the British landings on the Falkland Islands.

7.62mm SLR (late 1950s) and (disposable) AT rocket launcher (1970s)

Doglock (flintlock) pistol from the ECW period.

Sorry this is off-centre but I wanted to capture the caption. General George Monck.

General Hugh MacKay, opponent of the Jacobites in the Williamite War.

George Hamilton, Earl of Orkney, of Marlburian War fame. Painting from c 1724, when Orkney was a Field Marshall.

No prizes for guessing who this full-figured young prince is.

Humber 'Pig', in a section on the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Remote controlled bomb disposal robot.

SLR, 'riot gun' with baton round, home-made SMG (used by the Ulster Volunteer Force - 'Loyalist'

 terror group).  Just off picture, top-left, is an 'Armalite' rifle used by the PIRA terrorists.

British Army's rules of engagement

A big jump back in time this. Coehorn mortar from 1790s.

6 pounder. Again 1790s, despite the picture in the background.

Dragoon pistol. Can't recall the details. c 1760 I think.

Samples of the figures from Sibonne's Waterloo model

La Haye Sainte from the Siborne model

Hougoumont

Collection of headgear as seen from underneath a helicopter!. Another of my favourite pieces. This reminds me of a day I spent at Bovington Camp in the 90s on a work thing. We did a presentation to a roomful of officers from various cavalry/armoured regiments and the range of uniforms on display was amazing. A fitting representation of the rich history of the British Army and the varied origins of units. 

It lives!

After a gap of over a month, I finally return. Things have been pretty quiet on the wargaming front here at the Schloß. Only today did I get down to any painting. In my defence, it hasn't all been down to lethargy. I did do some work in the garden (with the emphasis on some) towards the new veg planting area. Also, the Margravina caught something nasty in the chest and still isn't fully fit.

In that time I did take part in a couple of remote games hosted by Jon. Fornovo and Bassignana. Fornovo was a win with my co-commander Prometheus in Aspic himself, Tony (aka Max Foy). I won't give a plot spoiler on the Bassignana game, other than to say it was a dramatic finish in a close contest. This time it was England v the Auld Alliance (the Two Daves and myself being based in England, and Tony & Mark in exile in Scotland and France respectively).

The Punic War Romans have now all been painted. I just need to texture their bases. Then I'll look to get started on the Carthaginians. I had a day's leave today and cracked on with the second legion this afternoon. The paint job is rather simple, and I've gone for a uniform look for each legion (I don't know what the degree of uniformity was in this period) but adding variety would really slow things down. One thing that discouraged going for more detail was the fact that I found these figures harder to paint than the H&R SYW range. Anyway, here is the result.

The second legion. Colour scheme red clothing with white shields

Both legions

Couple of gratuitous pics from recent walks. Walks have been rather limited in number and length recently due to the indisposition of my companion. I did a river walk last month with Lincolnshire Tom and Mrs Lincolnshire, and might post some of the pictures later. This was a route I last did about ten years ago, so it was good to go back and see how things had changed.

Isabella Plantation, Richmond Park

As above

Clearing in woods at Wimbledon Common

A bientôt!