Ripley and Coventry

Well this weekend I started my Christmas shopping without the real intent to do so.

On Saturday I went over to Andy & Heathers Chimera shop in Ripley to play a 40K game with Dave.
Julie brought Dave up and we had lunch at my house before going to the shop full of kids all waiting to watch us play. Orks v Eldar, it took over an hour to set out the terrain and figures with kids circling us and terrain tables being knocked. Still we got a game in, and learned the latest rules as we went along, although we had trouble with a rulebook which had bad printing errors repeat and missing pages. By 5.30pm we decided to pack in and only one kid left, the rest had already returned home, he helped us pack away by heaping the terrain in a big pile.
While at the shop Saturday I also purchased a couple of games as Christmas presents.
After closing I went to local pub with Julie, Dave, Heather, Andy and their children, which wasn't a bad place, then went for a coffee, exchanged star wars ring tones and left for home.

Sunday on the other hand was a planned shopping visit.
I went to over to Coventry to Julie and Dave's to pick them up before traveling to the National Living History Faye at Warwick Exhibition Centre, where I hoped to be inspired to buy Christmas presents.
I was and bought a few unusual gifts as well as leather armour for myself, something I was not intending to buy, but Dave said why don't you try it on, and that was it, Julie suggested I try on tall grey wizards hat which suited me, and I nearly purchased that, but somehow resisted, which is most unlike me and hats.

Dave found a nice store selling children's crossbows, which he decided to test by firing a cork across the aisle at some armour, a risky move with passing pedestrians. The crossbow however had other ideas and not being designed for corks, the cork flew completely over the armour stand into midst of the exhibition centre landing who knows where Since people were selling delicate glass goblets the store holders looked very concerned, me and Julie hid behind Dave and pretended not to know him. The cork we found later in the middle of an aisle, I distracted people while Dave bent to tie his shoe lace and pick up the cork to return to the Crossbow stand.

While there we ran into Tom and Gail, Jeff and Lucy before returning Julie's home having spent few hundred pounds between us.

Another long day, I hit an accident which left what the matrix sign called congestion (I called stationary traffic) between junction 24 and 29 which made the hour trip some 2 hours.

Nice day and now have started my Christmas shopping at least one month earlier than usual; October is not a Christmas shopping month in my book.