Tactical Pith Helmet

Decided, for the first time, to try the January sales and it's doing my head in! Went to Boots, they don't sell boots.. Went to Currys, they don't sell curry.. Went to Selfridges, they don't sell fridges.. As for Virgin Megastore, what a let down that was!

Went to a New Years party dressed up as a load of breadcrumbs. The birds were all over me!

What he said!!! I have planter fasciitis, tarsal tunnel and arthritis in my slightly deformed, very narrow feet. Insoles from my local NHS podiatrists every 18 months or so and supportive, correct sized boots are key, as is pain management. I have accumulated almost a lifetimes supply of size nine army surplus narrow fit boots from Germany (the best), Sweden, and loads from the UK. Civvi US boots come in a myriad of fitments too. You can also go the private route and have your feet and gait measured and insoles made commercially. I have to use pain killers to play. I also train in a soft floored gym at least twice a week in bare (bound and taped) feet. The exercise cuts my pain meds by at least a third. Support, exercise and dealing with the minimised pain that remains is all that you can do. Good luck and don't worry, you can get there in the end.

I went to Poland on holiday. Bloody useless. Not a Tellytubby in sight!

The phrase 'cuntish' springs to mind.

In this season of celebration, Jesus was born weighing exactly 8lbs 6oz. How did they know that? Because they had a weigh in a manger.

I have barrel C-clips, D-clips, a spare hop unit for AK and M4, a few hop rubbers and nubs in different grades, E-clips, D-clips, shims, electrical connectors, gas o-rings, a battery tester/multimeter, wire, self annealing, gaffer and electrical tape, screwdriver with hex, torx, flat, Philips etc, non-contact connection tester thing, plus all of the various bits that I've taken off of rifs over the years. AK butt plates, mag-wells and the like. Being an engineer on call, I carry a fair bit in a big van. Your best bit of kit is sometimes the mobile phone and the University of Youtube instruction video! All the airsoft kit fits in two shoe box sized boxes. Another well useful bit of kit is an anchor magnet. It's worth its weight in gold recovering lost bits, especially springs.

It may be nature (Darwin). It may be nurture (Locke). It could also be Nietzsche though. Maybe he has the will to power to be an arsehole. Given his bigoted nonsense, anything's possible. He doesn't deserve the oxygen of publicity, nor the oxygen of oxygen to be frank.

Got a great book about shipbuilding for Christmas. It's riveting.

I hate Christmas. Whoever invented it should be nailed to a bloody cross...

No new rifs for me this year, but I've invested in kit. 1950s Belgian Congo era stuff that will genuinely hold or improve its value. Bought an unissued Afghanka too. I don't think that I really need three sets of Afghan era kits; and my Berezkha fixation seems to be getting worse. Thing is, I've had some kit for 30+ years, worn it a fair bit and its still worth far more than I paid for it. Still using the bulk BBs I bought last year, did buy a couple of new Li-Pos at £7 each on offer. Bought the AFUK classic recommendation Bulle MLE webbing, not actually worn in game yet in favour of archaic Soviet gear/Chi-com 56 crap. Think I must have spent £1300 odd on tickets, at £225 per game weekend for the three of us. Diesel and scotch and a new tent probably add up to a fair bit, but I've had the best airsoft year ever. Operation Paramount was particularly stunning. Saturday night post game, I ate steak and new spuds almost too tired to chew. Stunning amount of fun. I've memories that I think I will value as long as I'm coherent so bollox to the cost. Bloody good post @Gunboat Diplomat, we've sat here for a couple of hours reminiscing about what a damn good airsoft year its been. Here's to the next!

One way to deter mammals is to hang an old pair of tights up, and regularly put the hair from your/the misses' hairbrush in them. The smell of human will be strong enough to make the fox etc think that a human is hiding unseen. Hair has to be changed regularly. May attract human knicker sniffing perverts though. Rattling a few rounds off a metal sheet will frighten things away too. Chap I knew kept a fox away by blatting a sheet of corrugated iron with an airgun. Another friend did similar with sheets of steel plate placed about his farm in Nigeria. The Fulani herders would occasionally try to graze their stock upon his crops, and he would shoot the plates with a .416 Rigby or if at distance, a scoped LM .338. There's never a need for cruelty. Being 50 yards away from a plate hit with 6375J of energy probably caused a few brown trousers though...

You have Gunman Tuddenham, Combat Thetford, Battle Stations Snetterton, Combat Action Games Norwich and Battleground at Necton. Gunman is my favourite by a margin due to the quality of gameplay, but I've had good games at all of the rest. Battle Stations is CQB and very intense fun.

The Proclaimers own two pet dogs; 500 Miles and 500 More.

I just logged in to Zero One to check... My CM16 was £124.95 on the 17/09/17. The few places that have them in stock, hold them at £220-30ish according to a brief online peruse. Even with the 20% Brexit dividend that's quite mental. Having said that, I've spent far more on far worse gnus. I expect even if I'd paid today's silly money, pound per BB the G&G would be ahead on value. The challenger on price per pop would be my trusty CYMA RPK, and that has left half of it's inessential bits strewn across eastern and southern England.

'They're fucking anodised...' ?

Those are the ones. I second Rostock. We're both fans of them, but a bit of something sticky on the reflex site models doesn't go amiss. The round ones for scopes are fine installed dry.

I just read about a way to make cheese and wine parties much more appealing. Apparently you do away with the cheese, and the guests!

My wife wants a 'spa-day' for Xmas. I'll tell her it's pronounced 'spade' when she unwraps it next week.

I got the same response. Given the week she's just had, I predict a possible change of heart though...

Named my Christmas tree Amy Winehouse this year. Well, it's going to die and leave needles all over the place...

These work well with a bit of practice. Or make your own as Enid describes. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132131973156 The best bags are made by a chap called Denn who sells at Gunman occasionally. You can find him on Farcebook as Denn Sews Surplus.

'We found him sacrificed on an alter made of antlers Sir.' 'Dear God! Sergeant.' 'That's our guess too Sir...'

Just fell off a ladder getting some of my Hitchcock collection down. Managed to grab a DVD though. Think I got Vertigo.