Night fever, night fever, watch out for goblins!

 After all the fussing over bases l set them aside and painted something. I found these Goblins from Black Tree they gave me years ago as a freebie because my order was somewhat delayed.  I’ve always like the pantomime villain nature of Night Goblins and had many , many moons ago. So here’s my little gang. The terror of the town streets after dark …

Two are armed with nasty spiky halberds ready to lop off heads and limbs.

Three are armed with bows and arrows to bring terror from the shadows, if they actually don’t miss!

The netter with net and club accompanied by his enthusiastic but small apprentices. Watch out you don’t get entangled !

The Crimson Night Goblins fight best against pets, children or anyone outnumbered by at least five to one. 

I really enjoyed doing these fun miniatures and hope to get them on the table. I have some other Black Tree freebies, might paint them up too…

The unexpected visitor

 Got more than I bargained for with my milk delivery on Monday!

Scourge  of my gardening l wage a never ending war against them !

Roman garden at Chelsea

 There was a terrific Roman garden at Chelsea-

A beautiful garden taking you through space and time in your imagination.

It was by the Newt in Somerset who have the Roman Villa and museum l have mentioned before-

https://www.exploringbuildinghistory.co.uk/villa-ventorum-at-the-newt-a-roman-estate-reimagined-part-1-looking-at-the-exterior/

Chelsea Thursday, with apologies to Marillion

 The weather improved dramatically for our visit to Chelsea. We had a lovely day , it lived up to our expectations and more. There was so much to see and so much to inspire. Some photos-

We even saw Monty Don, a hero in this household. The catering choice was excellent and we chose after much deliberation this Lebanese van-

We spent most of the day at the show and still felt we had not seen everything. Some highlights were chatting to a man from a nursery in Cornwall whose nursery Anna passed in the bus every day going to work. Another highlight was talking to folk from the Glasshouse and hearing about their work-

https://www.theglasshouse.co.uk/

One thing is sure we definitely want to go back! A memorable day indeed!

Back 3 - Barbican

 After lunch in the British Museum l took Anna to see some iconic exhibits- the Sutton Hoo material, the Lewis Chess pieces and the Standard of Ur etc. Braving the rain ( again) we walked to the Barbican which was fascinating inside and out. I hadn’t been for numerous years and it was Anna’s first visit.

Interesting design on a building en route.

The Barbican looking great.

The 

Juxtaposition of the old and the new.

Wonderful use of water so enhanced the complex.

Tuesday and Wednesday were so rainy it was a tad disheartening. The main reason for going to London was to go to the Chelsea Flower Show. It was something Jan and I watched on tv (had hoped to go to one day but never got round to it) every year and the girls grew up watching it too. So at Christmas we got tickets as presents and with mounting excitement anticipated the show. It would be a first visit for both Anna and I. 

Thursday morning dawned, Chelsea Day, and imagine my pleasure as l looked out of my hotel bedroom at 06:00 am and saw dry pavements! We were so fortunate.

Big basing - another experiment

 Still trying to work out what I feel re big basing so set up this photo today-

What do you think in terms of numbers of figures and ranks? All thoughts most welcome.

Back 2 - that Roman exhibition

 Wednesday saw Anna off to the V&A and me to the British museum with a plan for her to meet me at the BM after our respective exhibition going.

I was there particularly to see the exhibition on life in the Roman Army. It was even better than I had hoped for. Now the pictures-

I find late Roman paintings like this fascinating and recalled the beautiful examples l had seen at the Flinders Petrie museum in London on a previous trip.

This was the item I was awaiting with excitement, the shield from Dura Europos . It certainly was the star item for me. I have seen pictures of it so often in books and it was terrific at last to see in the flesh, wood.

A shield boss showing great workmanship.

Armour and and articulated sleeve armour, adding to the  Legionary’s  protection.

The enigmatic, exotic crocodile armour. Ritual or practical use, no one is certain. I for one like to imagine it used as armour by some soldiers of the time…

Mounted archer carving. A lovely piece of carving, so animated.

Horse armour from Dura Europos. Again great to see in real life. I recall pictures in books showing a photo of the armour being put on a live horse to show how it sat on one. Another iconic piece.

Close up of the previous piece showing the scales.

That shield again , kept drawing me back…

Proof that Roman Auxiliaries used mobile phones, adds a new meaning to signalling in the Roman army.

Moving memorial to a woman featuring a child with pet.

An illustration of the person whose story we had followed throughout the expedition through his letters. This was painted on the temporary walls and one of a number of such illustrations.

Finally a document granting citizenship found in Pompei. Another evocative and moving item. 

Terrific exhibition, don’t miss it if you get a chance. Finally something I was unable to get to but might interest others-

P.s finding it increasingly difficult to leave comments on blogs , including my own! I really miss leaving commenting on other blog and enthusing about posts.

Back

 Just back tonight from a few days in London.

Having got soaked to the skin ( rain was torrential) we went in here-

https://baolondon.com/restaurant/bao-kings-cross/

Lovely food!

Not expecting rain we were both ill equipped. Sensibly my daughter bought a £3 emergency poncho! I decided not to bother and got soaked as we walked from kings cross via Farringdon to Liberty’s.

Interesting mural very near Liberty London.

War memorial in Liberty London. I was interested how some folk get Mr, Miss or Mrs by their name others did not. I can only summarise that it was management and workers?

Returning to Kings Cross we enjoyed the meal shown above. This was Tuesday, Wednesday would bring my visit to the British Museum and the current Roman exhibition..