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Seeing as the thread has gone up over the weekend, I’ll also do my civic duty and point people towards the Year-Ender AwAARds, for which voting is ongoing now until the end of January. Take a look at your leisure and do get ballots in!

Next round of Cuba stuff will – I think – be up from @99KingHigh over the next few days or so.

Possibly not the best time to end an AAR after all, with hindsight...

Oh well, I shall put the word out to the CK3 section. Something something AARLAND segregation bullshit something something....
 
Possibly not the best time to end an AAR after all, with hindsight...

Eh, never a bad time considering how rarely it happens. There always used to be special awAARds open only to AARs completed over the previous year. Haven't seen them in a while mind, not sure whether they've happened for a few years.

Oh well, I shall put the word out to the CK3 section. Something something AARLAND segregation bullshit something something....

With any luck paradox will take a look at the surveys and at least realise it is a problem. But considering it doesn't even seem to have been acknoweldged so far... I suppose the only thing is to keep attention on it.
 
Some unexpected work cropped up this weekend, so I’m running a bit behind.

But yes, expect some crisis updates soon, and some fun stuff as we move from Schlesinger and LaFeber to

A57BAA7B-2043-4047-A052-390EB1B5A752.jpeg
 
Gradually working my way through at a stately pace. ;)

On "A False Dawn: Memories of the General Election of 1928 (January – February 1928)":
When I was five years old, my parents took me to see Jessie Stephens speak at the Portsmouth docks.
My Mum was a child in Portsmouth from the early thirties through to the end of the war and has mentioned the docks in her reminiscences - especially when they were being bombed and around the lead-up to D-Day (though well off limits by then, of course). A bit too young (and from a lower-middle class shopkeeping family) to have seen Jessie Stephens, however. ;)
Most infamously, Winston Churchill was accompanied at a speech given to constituents in Epping by seven rifle-wielding men and women in Fascisti uniform.
Boo, hiss!
A quarter of a century on, it becomes hard to recover any sense of the cautious optimism with which a large body of the working class met the formation of the new government. General opinion today is unsparing in its denunciation of MacDonald and his colleagues as Capitalist fellow travellers. This assessment, in large part, is warranted.
Spoken like a good Marxist. :D
 
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My Mum was a child in Portsmouth from the early thirties through to the end of the war

Such a long time ago now. Can't really imagine what it would have been like to have large parts of your home destroyed on a regular basis for several years...was she not evacuated at any point? They made a point to get as many children out of the southern cities as possible.
 
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Such a long time ago now. Can't really imagine what it would have been like to have large parts of your home destroyed on a regular basis for several years...was she not evacuated at any point? They made a point to get as many children out of the southern cities as possible.
They had their shop (which of course they lived above) bombed out. She was evacuated at one point, but it turned out the woman who took her and a number of other children in was running a knocking shop and using the ration cards (but nothing beyond that re the kids). So she went back.

Went to her ‘home’ air raid shelter rather than a closer one a number of her school friends went to (and urged her to come with them) when a raid began on the walk home from school. Friends‘ shelter got a direct hit, end of story. A different decision and no Bullfilter to write AARs 80 or so years later!

Was there for all the D-Day hoopla. Loved seeing the B-17s going overhead on their way to give the other side a return serve.
 
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That's quite intense! Amazing what sort of chances people take with things.
 
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Gradually working my way through at a stately pace. ;)

Thank you! All paces are equally appreciated :D

On "A False Dawn: Memories of the General Election of 1928 (January – February 1928)":

I remember writing this one. The idea to use Portsmouth came after reading an interview with the architectural and cultural writer Owen Hatherley, whose grandparents lived in Portsmouth and were active communists. He has such a charming way of describing how unlikely these 'communists' were that it struck me as an excellent jmp off point to write a little more about some unassuming people doing their thing amongst all the top movers and shakers in Westminster.

My Mum was a child in Portsmouth from the early thirties through to the end of the war and has mentioned the docks in her reminiscences - especially when they were being bombed and around the lead-up to D-Day (though well off limits by then, of course)

Considering how prominent a part WWII played in my education as a child growing up in Britain in the first years of the millennium, it came as something of a shock to me to realise a bit later on in life that I have absolutely no second-hand knowledge of the war through family and the like. I was born 53 years after the war ended, but being taught some new thing about British wartime life every school year made it seem a lot closer in time. My grandparents were born during the war, and growing up in the Welsh valleys they didn't have so much of a hairy time of it. And their parents worked in protected industries, so there are no accoutns of military service passed down either.

My grandad did always say that his first memory as a very young child was seeing the bombs coming down over Swansea, but we never knew whether he was just making it up to entertain us (not improbable). On the whole the war is this strange gap in my inherited memory which I only realyl became aware of when I grew up and met other people with family war histories. It's entirely alien to me in quite a strange way I feel.

A bit too young (and from a lower-middle class shopkeeping family) to have seen Jessie Stephens, however. ;)

Jessie Stephens was a fascianting character. Domestic servant who couldn't train as a teacher for want of money; became a suffragette and was the youngest memebr of the WSPU delegtion to Lloyd George in 1912 aged only 18/19. I'm glad you're taking the time to go through things like this, Bullfilter: it reminds me of eveything and everyone I included ages ago and totally forgot about :D

Boo, hiss!

An appropriate response! :p

(And not pure hyperbole. Churchill based his real-life strike breaking force on the organisation of the Fascists. And as I mentioned over when Talkin Turkey, he had quite a soft spot in the 1920s for Mussolini and his succeses against the Left.)

They had their shop (which of course they lived above) bombed out. She was evacuated at one point, but it turned out the woman who took her and a number of other children in was running a knocking shop and using the ration cards (but nothing beyond that re the kids). So she went back.

This really is like something from a story I'd've had to have read in primary school. Fantastic recollections, thank you for sharing :)

Went to her ‘home’ air raid shelter rather than a closer one a number of her school friends went to (and urged her to come with them) when a raid began on the walk home from school. Friends‘ shelter got a direct hit, end of story. A different decision and no Bullfilter to write AARs 80 or so years later

And in the moment no way of knowing either way, of course! Amazing looking back like this at all those 'There but for the grace of God' moments.

Was there for all the D-Day hoopla. Loved seeing the B-17s going overhead on their way to give the other side a return serve

Great way of putting it :D

That's quite intense! Amazing what sort of chances people take with things.

It's funny because my first reaction to this was "We've seen a lot of this this past year, too". Made me remember just how much of the UK's initial response to covid was shrouded very explicitly in a 'Blitz spirit'. Doesn't take long at all to realise just how gapingly inappropriate the metaphor is...
 
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Ironically at a time when the in-game world is in crisis, both me and @99KingHigh have run into various obstacles in the real world that mean things will be on hold for a little while. Hopefully not too long at all, but probably longer than would normally elapse between updates. If any of you out there have been meaning to catch up with any old updates, this is an excellent opportunity to do so.

Otherwise, whatever happens with regularly scheduled programming I am working on a special Christmas update involving some fan favourite characters. So some light on the horizon at least.

Finally, I will take a moment to let people know once again that the year-ender awAARds are now ongoing, very kindly overseen once again by @coz1. The awards are a great way to celebrate your favourite reads of the year, as well as give a nod to the writAARs who you feel have enriched your AARland 2020 experience. I encourage all of you to take a look at the voting thread, even if just to put down a placeholder.
 
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All:

Not to go on about it too much, but just to update you all: I’ve had the prognosis back from the technician, and none of what he had to say was good. As far as he can tell the problem is not with the screen, but is in fact some sort of grave issue with the machine itself. The upshot is that my shiny 2017 macbook is now a very fancy paperweight.

On the hard drive front, too, sadly it is not good news either. Due to the unique way Apple operate, the ssd is integral and so far as anyone can tell irrecoverable. At the moment it looks like my absolute best outcome is to be able to get a new machine on the strength of how recent my old one was; I have an appointment with Apple next week to look at last-gasp options, but whatever happens it looks like I will still be left without my files.

So it’s not a happy position I find myself in, although I do at least now have the clarity of knowing not to expect to be able to retrieve anything. My course of action now will be, so far as is possible, to recreate what I had completed for the last few years of Vol. 1. After that, I have plenty left to go on still for the foundation of Vol. 2, but as I’ll have to compile it all into a structure again things will obviously be delayed.

As always big thank you all for your patience and support during this ferociously trying end to the year. As promised, by way of light relief I do have a Christmas special well underway and hopefully ready for publication next week.

DB
 
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As every Bond film ended with a "James Bond Shall Return...", you too will return from this disastrous turn of events.
 
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As every Bond film ended with a "James Bond Shall Return...", you too will return from this disastrous turn of events.

Quite so. We’re down but not out. I may pare down what I’d planned a little, but I welcome the chance to change things up a little. We’ll get to the same place either way, and this volume only has four years of track left. And now I know the situation I can get to work again.

Anyway, on that bombshell…

Echoes of a New Tomorrow will return in…

REDADDERS CHRISTMAS CAROL

:D
 
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On the hard drive front, too, sadly it is not good news either. Due to the unique way Apple operate, the ssd is integral and so far as anyone can tell irrecoverable
I shouldn't be surprised at this point, yet somehow Apple always manage to be worse than I thought possible.

Good luck with your Apple appointment and my respect and support for having the fortitude to see off this particular arrow of outrageous fortune.
 
I shouldn't be surprised at this point, yet somehow Apple always manage to be worse than I thought possible.

Yes, they really are outrageous like this. Barely three months out of warranty, my high-spec laptop breaks down fundamentally and there seems to be no way to repair it. Either the products run forever, or they decide quite randomly that they want you to buy a new one and pull the plug.

Needless to say, unless the people at the shop feel sufficiently embarrassed as to give me either a like for like replacement or a pretty hefty discount on a new one, I won’t be rushing back into their loving arms…

Good luck with your Apple appointment and my respect and support for having the fortitude to see off this particular arrow of outrageous fortune.

Thank you. I have to be honest, if it weren’t for all you lot I’d be tempted to chalk it up to experience and call it a day, but this close to the end it really would seem a massive waste.

At least we know that, as this is the alter-world to @BigBadBob’s, it is highly likely that unlike his British I have now used up all of my bad luck for the decade…
 
Echoes of a New Tomorrow will return in…

REDADDERS CHRISTMAS CAROL

With KH as the Ghost Searching for Somethin' a Wee Bit Medicinal, one assumes.
 
With KH as the Ghost Searching for Somethin' a Wee Bit Medicinal, one assumes.

Alas, it is a solo production. Although I hope the ghost I’ve conjured up will be met with approval.
 
Just back from my meeting with Apple. On a second opinion the prognosis seems to be much better; problem (as initially suspected) seems to be in the display rather than the hardware, except for some various wear and stresses (obviously caused by my furious writing…)

The upshot is that we may have a minor Christmas miracle on our hands. The machine is now in for repair so I have no guarantee what unbacked-up data will survive necessarily, but it does at least look like I haven’t lost my Mac. Unless the technicians find anything majorly wrong beyond what they’ve quoted, I’ll be going back into town tomorrow to pick it up.

As things stood, I was planning on putting up REDADDER’S CHRISTMAS CAROL over the weekend anyway, but now it looks like it may well be a welcome back laptop celebration chapter. So extra fun.

Onwards the revolution! :D
 
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Don’t worry, with Nye Bevan at the wheel there is absolutely no way that anything could possibly go the slightest bit wrong.
 
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Well that is excellent news, a small chink of light in the relentless grim darkness that is the revolution.
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