We have just returned from the UK, where we spent Christmas and New Year with our family. All of my wargame and campaign is on my desktop, so I have to go “cold turkey” when we are in the UK.
It is lovely to visit the family, and we always have a very enjoyable time with them. But after a few days I find it quite difficult to find things to do. Christmas in Northumberland can be quite a shock after spending the rest of the year in the Costa Blanca. It is often wet and cold, though this year we were very lucky with the mild weather. And we returned just as the heavy snow arrived.
It made me realise just how much I rely on my computer, and how difficult it is to replace it. My IPad and mobile phone makes it easy to keep up with news and what friends are up to, but it does not replace the couple of hours each day I spend on joint hobbies of Wargaming and my Monday Ramblers walking group.
You will all know about my 1813 campaign, and that I spend a couple of hours most days either Wargaming, updating the campaign or writing the two blogs. Some years ago, when it was a PBEM campaign, I transferred everything on to my laptop and took it with me. However I found it impossible to concentrate without appearing unsociable, and of course I could not fight the battles as a wargame. Now I just switch off until we return to Spain. Fortunately I can keep up with wargame blogs and forums, but it is not the same.
I miss my walking group just as much. It is a U3A group, which I have run for the past ten years. We started as a hill walking group, but as we got older we found the hill climbing too much of a challenge. A couple of years ago I converted it into a more gentle valley walking group. There are 30 regular members, and we meet each Monday for a three hour walk. I am fortunate to live in the very popular walking area in and around the Jalon valley. I have created 30 walks, including a few easier hill walks, which we do in sequence. We are all friends, and we miss them a lot when we are in the UK.
In addition to walking each week, I also do a blog post of each walk. I have always recorded my walks by taking photographs and started the blog 20 years ago to keep friends and family in touch when we moved to Spain. In recent years I have also started a group Facebook page to recruit new members. Two years ago a friend suggested that I do a YouTube version of the blog, and I now post a video about once a month. All of this requires an hour or so each day.
So when I return after two weeks in the UK there is a lot of work to catch up on. All of this is a work of love, so I am not in any way complaining. But it does explain why I have not posted for two weeks, and why I have to find a non wargame subject whilst I try to catch up on the wargame campaign.
Happy New Year to you all.
