A November Retrospective on October 2014.

“He cosplays a fur-covered swing seat and awaits mini-skirted school girls…”
The First Thursday meeting for October at the Melton Mowbray had a very healthy turnout, in spite of there being neither birthday celebrations nor wardrobe malfunctions taking place at that particular point in the space-time ( Read more... )

An October Retrospective on September 2014.

“It’s probably not the lyrics to Gangnam Style...”
Reason notwithstanding, the Monday night gaming sessions at the Penderel’s Oak in Holborn carried on, unabated. The flow-through of new staff continued to complicate matters more often than not, and booking issues did not help, although they did remember ( Read more... )

A September Retrospective on August 2014.

“Women are not allowed the honour of combat. Unless they are insanely hyper girls in state-of-the-art combat suits, armed with paralysis whips, firing volleys of missiles, demolishing all in their path...”
Reason notwithstanding, the Monday night gaming sessions at the Penderel’s Oak in Holborn carried on ( Read more... )

An August Retrospective on July 2014.

“SMOF, SMOF, SMOF-ity, SMOF…”
The First Thursday meeting for July at the Melton Mowbray had a healthy Trufan presence. There was a whole lot of SMOFing going on, and talk of Loncon 3 (Worldcon) training events. Based on my own experience of corporate training, I hoped the Fhannish version would cover important ( Read more... )

A July Retrospective on a Needlessly Messianic June 2014.

“We have to kill Tom Cruise’s character repeatedly, and then we kill Emily Blunt’s character, which should break the loop…”
Reason notwithstanding, the Monday night gaming sessions at the Penderel’s Oak in Holborn carried on, unabated. Unfortunately, the flow-through of new staff continued ( Read more... )

A Needlessly Messianic June Retrospective on May 2014.

“The Sprout on high, the beer is freely flowing...”
No-one would have believed, at the start of 2014, the extended controversy that was to arise from Jonathan Ross being asked to present the Hugo Awards at Loncon3. Few would have anticipated the resulting Apocalyptic Twitterstorm. Yet, in ( Read more... )

A May (or May Not) Retrospective on a Foolish April 2014.

“Protecting the Interests of the Scum of the Universe…”
My new job at the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had a challenging start due to some computer problems on the day we went live - April 1st appropriately enough - which dogged us throughout the month. My job description had ( Read more... )

A Foolish April Retrospective on March 2014.

“You have Friends and Timber, but I have a Car and the Chainsaw…”
Reason notwithstanding, the Monday night gaming sessions at the Penderel’s Oak in Holborn carried on, unabated. The food, prices and variety of guest ales remained pleasing and we still had enough space to get all the gaming groups back ( Read more... )

A March Retrospective On February 2014.

“The Sprout on High, The Beer is Freely Flowing...”
No-one would have believed, in the first days of February, the controversy that was to arise from Jonathan Ross being asked to present the Hugo Awards at Loncon3. The most notable thing about the First Thursday meeting for the month at the Melton Mowbray ( Read more... )

A February Retrospective On January 2014.

“I have the record collection - I win!”
Les’s New Year’s Eve party was of modest size and enjoyable. Admittedly, it was not as exciting, adventurous or really wild as some parties of ZZ9 legend - the stains having mostly been removed by now - but the important ingredients were present. There was copious ( Read more... )