I am not working at the moment so I have had the chance to spend a little extra time in bed. Now even though I’m off I still wake up at virtually the same time every day, the only difference being I don’t have to go to work. This has led me to lie there some mornings recently allowing random thoughts and feelings to enter my head and today was no exception and I started thinking how as child I was fascinated by war and fighting. I expect this is a period every young boy might go through and I was certainly no exception. I remember reading Sad Sack comics and going into the local paper shop to buy war comics such as Commando for a couple of pence or maybe a shilling I can’t remember the price.
Commando magazine was still being published even as late as 2007 when it reached the milestone of 4000 editions and it’s hard to imagine how they can keep filling page after page of brave English ‘Tommies’ fighting the evil Nazi empire after all these years. I avidly read books on great military battles and military uniforms but my absolute favourite playthings were Airfix toy soldiers and miniatures. Now somewhere up in my loft I still have a large plastic bag full of Airfix soldiers and these are one relic from my childhood that I could not be parted from. They remain there gathering dust but when I was young I played battle games with them nearly every day. My Grandad used to paint them and when I saw the film ‘Waterloo’ which Christopher Plummer as Wellington and Rod Steiger as Napolean I was hooked again on the Napoleanic and Spanish Peninsular wars and I would often spend hours recreating the defence of the Hougoumont Chateau at Waterloo with figures all painted by my Grandad including the kilts on the Scottish Regiments.
Happy days
Enjoy
