Folks,

Dux:

Heads-up! There should be something vaguely resembling the lovely lady "M" spinning in your frosty, golden flecked mailbox. I hope that you like it.

I hope that you and yours have survived the rigors of the holiday season and that you and your mates will soon be tramping about the rural areas of the UK in search of obscure trains and rarely seen birds.

Gents,

JRT, Jens, C51, PV1 and the many friends and visitors of recent times and long ago....Happy New Year!

Aha! You spoke. You lose!

Seriously, friends, because you are my dear friends, I wish you and every poor soul who wanders in to this HWH mess a very happy, prosperous and safe New Year.

But especially so, my trusted fellow squadron mates Roger, and OldDux.

Might I take this opportunity to direct your attention to some fine videos being posted by NineLives in the Video Parlour, because what else is there to do on this very evening but watch some quality viddy ?

documentary

Folks,

C51, Dux, Jens,PV1, Readers, and others like me also in desperate need of professional help:

I've been busy taking photos of the grandchildren today and processing them through PhotoShop( processing the photos not the children). Then I took the kids to the park conveniently located behind the house to shoot a few baskets with them. They got a new basketball for Christmas. Naturally I meant to show off for the kids.

Once I was quite good at basketball. To my amazement I found I'm a bit rusty today. My hook shot is non-existent as far as accuracy within ten feet of the goal is concerned but I'm still fairly good at lay ups and free throws from a reasonable distance. Getting older is still taking some getting used to. My grand children seem to have a knack for bringing these otherwise unnoticed short comings to my immediate attention.

I wish for you all a prosperous, healthy and a very happy New Year. As for me I will definitely be ringing in the New Year tonight with high hopes for 2012. We may or may not stay in tonight.

In any event I will not be drinking any water this year. Last New Years Eve ignoring the warnings from SWMNBN I got plastered and so I suffered greatly on New Year's Day. It wasn't so much the nausea and pain as it was the glee with which SWMNBN took in tredding loudly across the floor and closing doors loudly not to mention shouting and shaking me awake every hour or two.

Why no water this year? Well it has just occurred to me that last year I drank water with a few glasses of good Scotch and I got a bit tipsy. I drank water with a tumbler or two of aged Bourbon and I got a tad higher. Then I took a good, long slug of 100 proof Wild Turkey with just a thimbleful of water and soon I was completely blotto. I'll stick exclusively to Spillitt & Blott's Champagne this year. Water must be the most intoxicating drink on the planet...

Roger, thank you for your fine card for the momentous occasion last night. The card was well received and not is placed proudly on the mantlepiece, hiding a stain on the wall.

Folks,

Jens:

You are more than welcome.

That the card was put to such practical use pleases me greatly. Usually it is my photograph that people find so useful. My photo has been reported to keep away rodents, insects, lizards, arachnids and, when placed in a prominent window, it is said to chase away pesky door to door salesmen, unwanted relatives and representatives of one or two proselytizing religious sects. OK. Before we are deluged with requests for my photo let me add that, in my case at least, that never worked for me.

I cannot wait to read what Dux and C51 did with the cards I sent to them.

Folks,

In ontopic news I flew an interception mission ner Duxford last night. The sky was filled with aces on both sides. I was involved in two swirling, twirling scraps myself that ended poorly for both my oponents. It was a lucky New Year's Eve for moi. Then I snuck up on a departing member in good standing in the Hermann Goering fan club. He never saw it coming and down he went smothered in a hail of .303s from close astern. Three!! I was exhillerated but also out of gas. I did not have enough to make it to Biggin so thankfully Duxford was just a few miles away. I made it and pancaked successfully. As I taxied up guess what was waiting for me? Two lovely Moths. I have not seen more than one before at a time. That was at Manston.

Folks,

Does anyone know if RoF is available for the XBox console? The kids got an XBOX 360 for Christmas and they have it hooked up to the plasma TV. I am almost totally unfamiliar with consoles. I have always left the consoles to my son and the grand kids and they mostly leave game play on the computer to me. If the title were available I might get it and a joystick controller if there is one.

JRT,

Nice Duxpics!

You can get a free RoF download and skins and buy extra planes and mods, but PC only I should think.

My current ace is Captain Lewis Gunn, DSO, MC&Bar, DSC and CdeG with 52 victories.

All cards thankfully received and 'M's sent on as a New Year greeting!

My gift bottle of JD has miraculously survived unopened over the last eight days, believe it or not - and no...I have not undertaken an oath of temperance.

Folks,

Dux:

Gunn has Fifty-two!! No need to get RoF then for there must be no more Bosh planes left to fly. Your man has cleared the skies. Serves 'em right too for keeping you awake with all that blasted singing Christmas Eve night.

I have never been a fan of console games. The flight sims I've seen for consoles were more arcade-like than those for the PC. I know that some PC flight sims like IL2 have made their way into console titles but I have not had any experience with playing them. The console games seem deucedly expensive to me as well. Considering the cost of the darn games MS could give you the console free and still make an excellent profit.

I don't much like the controllers for flight though like everything else I might be able to get used to using them. At least they are cordless but that means extra batteries and added expense. Using rechargables help some with that.

There is no hope of running RoF on this computer so when and if RoF becomes available for the XBox 360 I might be tempted.