Badger's Burblings

In genealogy I am currently re-writing my book and working my way through the Watts family. Specifically I am researching an Australian branch and a family of ten children. Many of the sons ended up in the Second Australian Imperial Force during the Second World War. As a Brit I am obviously aware of the allied efforts in Europe, in a general sense as my father was in the Royal Navy at the time. However, I had very little knowledge of the Australian, and New Zealand, battles against the Japanese in the Pacific arena. Two of the boys ended up fighting in Timor and New Guinea and ended up as Prisoners of War. On their release and return to their home, neither of them married and they lived with their widowed mother until she died leaving them just each other. In the book I can't comment on how they might have felt, but I'm just glad not to be them.

One of my daughters bought some books and posted her purchases on FB. Looking at the post I suffered book envy as Peter Robinson has a new book out and, somehow, I completely missed it. Anyway, It's ordered now and I shall soon be devouring another Inspector Banks mystery. Unfortunately, I got carried away with my shopping and also ordered Simon Collins' new album Becoming Human and a collection of Bob Seger's hits. Seger is an artist I've not listened to much before, but I sometimes listen to the Sonos station Rock Road Trip and they play quite a bit of him, so he's got under my skin. I guess it's a form of marketing, but I'll take any opportunity to uncover a new (to me) artist.

I've also taken a punt on pre-ordering the forthcoming D&D Adventure Begins game. I was massively into D&D back in the day and had the original Basic through Immortals sets. This is back when Games Workshop was a single store on Tottenhamcourt Road and I travelled to London especially to buy the AD&D Dungeon Master Guide from the first shipment that came into the country. So sad. Anyway, I'm trying to gently ease my grandsons into the idea of RPGs. My daughter and I had a discussion, at cross-purposes, about this. She was thinking board games and I was thinking pen 'n' pencil. I tried one of my grandsons on Warhammer (WFRP) and he walked away after the character generation as it wasn't what he expected. After clearing up the confusion, I realised that my daughter was recalling us playing Heroquest. I still have it, in the original (battered) packaging, although I did paint all the figures inside. Such a geek. They don't make it anymore. It was replaced by Advanced Heroquest, and they don't make that anymore either. Both are available as collectors items for about £180! I should have kept the box in better condition. I did some research on what D&D type board games are now available, which is how I stumbled across the Adventure Begins. When that arrives, and our bubble next comes together, we'll give that a bash. Meanwhile, I've dispatched my copy of Heroquest for them to try out.

Tea last night was a smoked haddock risotto out of my Masterchef cookbook. It used cider but the bottle I bought was too much so Mrs Badger and I split the remains into two small glasses and it was really delicious. Neither of us has drunk cider in its normal form for years so this was a nice surprise. For anyone interested, it was a Morrison's own. Ah, the risotto. It was flipping amazing. Restaurant quality I would say, very impressive. Of course the recipe served four and we ate it between the two of us, so we were a bit full afterwards, but happy tummies!