Snapper

I have just finished Attack State Red about the Royal Anglians in Afghanistan. It is one of the best books to come out of the war thus far. I don't mind admitting there was one moment when a soldier was killed that I had to stop, I was so upset. I recently finished a book about the Norwegian campaign of 1940 called Hitler's Pre-emptive War. It is a superb translation into English but it becomes a little hard going. Another recent gem was Long Rifle by Joe LeBleu, a US sniper in Iraq. Not gung-ho and easy on the eyes when you don't want to be overly challenged after a long day in the saltmines. Sniper One and Eight Live Down are superb books. I've been trying to mix in and out of periods but there is a proliferation of Iraqistan books at the moment. As you know, we have The Pathfinder under way and I welcome reviews of new/very recent books. Olaf has helped with the next edition, which is out in October. I want to resurrect the book reviews thing on the forum and this would mean appraisals of classic/old/unknown/favourite books. I've got quite a number I never got round to posting up due to other tasks including several from Tony B which all need to be sorted. So let me know if you'd like to get involved with the forum books or to be inprint. MB

Richard, Welcome to the Friendly Forum, Great to have you with us.You have come to the right place. There are some good Fox and Ferret brains on here to advise you when required. Love the MiG! Cheers, Mark

It'll be like a seen from a Hammer horror movie. Lord Beckethead will ascend to his throne on a carpet of petals sewn by a throng of hand maidens especially bussed in from the foothills of Gelderland. A choir of centaurs hum dutifully from the Chas and Dave songbook as a ray of golden light bears down upon him. All of a sudden a demented doctor in a Tiger Moth swoops down and cleaves his head off with the prop. A lake of Daddies sauce spreads out across the vista. It must be time for me to get my train home.

never a truer word spoken in jest, mon General. Now you've passed ten thousand posts it must surely be time to unveil the ivory tower on the back of the clubhouse! I'm sure i've seen it on an episode of Grand Designs....or was it the Apprentice? Come back down and mingle with us plebs, my liege Lord. You might find you like it. But keep your hands off my biscuits. MB

Welcome to the Friendly Forum, Bob. Why not post up some snaps of your machinery for us to enjoy? Cheers MB

If you subtract the posts that are completely senseless, the bloke would be a corporal.

I still do a lot of money in LSD. Ten bob etc. Can't help it. Chocolate bars are definitely smaller...as for Waggon Wheels. I used to get sent down to Woolworths, which for you youngsters, was a popular 20th Century store; to buy biscuits by the bag. They charged less for broken biscuits - the Malted Milks were top class. But my mother insisted only "common people" bought broken biscuits, not the done thing for bus conductresses. When I used to leave the house during any date between 1972 and 1982 in the company of my mate Mike he would always say "Head, Brain, Money,Keys" because he knew what I was like. Now James does it! So maybe I was already senile at that age. I am not yet on the Saga mailing list. But I get lots of invites for cheaper house insurance since I hit the old Hawaii 5-0. MB

Welcome to the Friendly Forum, Pascal. Please post some pix of your models for us to admire. Best wishes, MB

Welcome aboard, Richard. MB

That's a pretty truck, Adam. Welcome to the Friendly Forum. MB

TfatC! - good name. Welcome to the Friendly Forum. Cheers MB

Welcome aboard, Sam. MB

Welcome to the Friendly Forum, Matt. Good to have you with us. MB

Welcome to the Friendly Forum. We would definitely love to hear more about the A7V. Best wishes, Mark

Welcome (back) to the Friendly Forum, Ron. Good to have you with us. MB

Agreed. This is a must. MB

Welcome to the friendly forum. What a fantastic truck. Just been in Canada and saw something similar. But yours is really, really nice. Good luck and enjoy your time with us on HMVF. MB

This is amazing. Keep it up, lads. Cheers! MB

Matilda methinks. Waiting to be corrected.

Welcome to the Friendly Forum. I hope you get a lot out of being part of a great site and make some good mates like we all have. Mark

I've heard some horror stories about some museum vehicles being welded up and cut about to fit displays in the past. I believe in living motorised history. While there are people who can make things run and the resources to do it, then static is not my cuppa. I am a spannernumpty so I bow to the brains.

Good stuff.

Been wanting to get out to them for the best part of twenty five years. Never managed it. The man involved with the building and operation was the father of the famous Spycatcher author Peter Wright. MB

Welcome to the Friendly Forum, I've had the pleasure of meeting Mark Smith and interviewed him for HMVF. I am a picture librarian by profession. You're doing a job I would love. I am working in an archive of 15-20,000,000 images dating from the turn of the century - and we have a management who only care about Peter Andre and Jordan. What Katie did next will never appeal to me. But it pays the bills. Have fun. MB

Now you know why I don't use JB for subbing. :-D