The Little World

Apologise to them on behalf of each other.

I once turned my keyboard to a scale model tank forum and tried to tell a joke. The responses were 2% laughter, 58% incomprehension, 38% serious scolding, and 2% vitriol. This for a 1:35 plastic Sherman tank.

Needless to say nearly all the negative responses were from North America and not the bit above the 49th parallel, either. And one of the Good Ol’ Boys clearly wasn’t all that good.

I learned my lesson and exited the forum. I can’t say it poisoned me against armour, but I now concentrate on aircraft in a different scale. Most of my writing gets by at my club and no-one has thrown a bottle of paint at me.

It is the same with other hobbies; dance, photography, art. People deeply into anything sacrifice something to get there, and frequently it is a sense of humour. I am in awe of our club here in Perth as it has more laughing old men than crying ones. And we manage it on coffee and cake – no booze allowed in the club.

Let’s face it – when you glue yourself to the cutting mat yet again you have to laugh.