Best Christmas Haul. Ever.

Far be it for me to sound materialistic (what me ?! ) but I have had a great Christmas and probably some of the best Christmas presents ever. First off I'm writing this Blog Post on my shiny new Tablet PC which my lovely wife bought me. I knew I had this as we went and bought this a few weeks ago and I have been patiently waiting to get my hands on it. I needed something I could easily take away with me when I'm away on business or on other trips such as Tankfest in June next year. This tablet comes with a docking keyboard which extends the battery life and makes it easier for me to 'Blog on the move'.

My wife also bought me a copy of Donald Featherstone's Solo Wargaming. Again not a surprise as I had prepared a 'Christmas List' (on Amazon) some time ago and dutifully handed it over for inspection. I suspect that this book will come in very handy over the coming years.

 

My Brother and Sister in-law bought me another book from my Amazon wish-list, Walking D-Day by Paul Reed. But as an added extra Ray took the book to his friends at the Normandy Veterans Association and got it signed by five men who landed on D-Day itself! They also bought me the excellent book, German Tanks of WWII. I have several other books by George Forty and they are always interesting to read and full of unique and rare photo's. This volume is no exception and will be a valuable addition to my library of reference books on WWII armour.

  

My Mother and Father in-law also took advantage of the Christmas list (see, it was a good idea) and bought me another Donald Featherstone book that I had been wanting to get for some time. Battles in Miniature Vol 1 focuses on the Western Desert Campaign of 1941-42 which is perfect for my current Micro Armour project. I've already started reading this and I'm getting some good ideas and much needed inspiration from it. The in-laws also bought me a special Crusader Tank mug with my name on it. I think they got this at Duxford back in September although I'll be buggered if I know how they managed this as I was with them all day!

 

Even my Boss got in on the act this year, buying me this excellent book about the missions to capture the German Enigma Machines. 

Probably the strangest (but also the coolest) present I received was this lump of rusty metal that I got from the in-laws. Its a track link from a Second World war German Tank! I need to hit the books and look through some pictures to confirm which type of tank track it is and what vehicle it might have come from. I suspect its from a Pzkfw II or III but that's just a guess at this stage based on its size. 

I'll give it a clean up and then oil it to protect the metal from further corrosion before putting it on display next to my models. 

All in all a pretty darn good haul of presents, and the best bit is that every one fits me and I won't be taking anything back!