Starting again

 So, it seems that One is forestalled from starting regular posting by an internalised desire to summarise all that has occurred previously before continuing onwards with shorter posts. Well, no more will that internal barrier stop me as I shall shove it aside and jump straight to the latest happenings, and the past can take care of itself.

So, the grand annual camping tradition known as Mt Disappointment was restarted this weekend past. Avid readers will remember our last resurrection was in 2015 after the annual-ness of the annual event ended with the 2009 trip.

This year saw the core group of Oneself, StumpyRudolph, MrRogers, and BestFriendSincePrep, joined by a handful who didn't have the gumption to stay the full night: Gavman, The Electric Tiger, and M. Sneaky Pete had excused himself on the grounds of having an important family birthday do on for Mirri Cat Warrior, but I ask you what family is more important, family you have known for nigh on 50 years, or family that you have known for only exactly 12 years to the day?!?

Sigh.

Anyway, we have become a lot more at ease with comfort and seem to have permanently moved the event to StumpyRudolph's property which provides a modicum of extra comforts. Easier road and track access meant that such things as a spit roast and many lights, tables and shelters could be festooned upon the revellers. In fact all that was missing was toileting facilities. Thankfully we were all afforded the get back to nature opportunity that their lack entails.

The increased maturity also lead to an enjoyable night of medium level indulgence rather than the traditional overindulgence. It does appear our bodies are very thankful for the change and it may just become the new normal.

We were also blessed with the weather holding off until we were all packed up and homeward bound - even with BestFriendSincePrep giving us an exciting flat battery challenge to overcome - another set of changes from the traditional drizzled to death of the morning after wherein it was usually one's own conveyance that provided the exciting challenges.

All in all a great time and, in the words of BestFriendSincePrep, now 100% guaranteed to be back as an annual event.

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A Magic Birthday

 Firstly, let me acknowledge the tsunamilanche of birthday well wishes one received whilst one was engaged in birthday activities elsewhere.  They are by no means required but they do warm the cockles of one's heart - creating a sort of tight hot feeling in the chest.

Anyway, on to the events of the birthday weekend.

Things commenced with Salsa Girl informing one to be decently dressed for Friday dinner - as if the mucking about pants one drapes oneself in for workdays would not pass some sort of muster.

The mystery deepened as, throughout said dinner, Hulk repeatedly just had to check nothing at the front door and assured one that definitely no one from the family was expected.

You can imagine one's surprise when Sneaky Pete appeared at the door to assume Hulk control responsibilities.

Salsa Girl then promptly extracted us from the chatterboxing Hulk and whisked one away to attend none other than a Magic event.

One was sorely disappointed when, rather than playing the card game that is a mainstay of one's gaming life with the likes of Gavman and Elfboy, one was forced to endure a highly entertaining, interesting, and amazing show of prestidigitation. The covid-related bonus was that being singled out to assist because of birthday-ness did not require one to leave ones comfortable seat as everything was done via shouting and extenda-claws.

The next day - the actual date - dawned with  a relaxed morning of mandatory traditional birthday cheescake eating, and one buying one's presents from Hulk the proprietor of the lounge room Present Shop. The remainder of the day passed with one indulging oneself in whatever manner one chose, which this year including doing the weekly grocery shop.

Sunday saw the gathering of the Legion clan and the traditional handing of the insulting birthday card from Freeloading Mum to oneself - although one does wonder why Sneaky Pete who also has a birthday around this time received a card full of glowing and loving sentiment?

In any case a fun-filled legion-time was had before all headed home to sleep the sleep of the afternoon-nap deprived.

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The Big Outside

 So in this past week one has had to return to the big outside for applying one's many-yeared IT expertise in plugging cables in underneath desks.

It involved a joyous commute in which getting a set to oneself was a guaranteed experience, and given one had a whole block of seats to oneself, the joy of spreading out without having to be on bag-moving watch was also indulged.

Scrambling around under desks, groping in cable hutches, and hefting IT equipment from place to place did remind one of the value of ones education and made one further appreciate the extensive use one had been able to make of Sidekick for such tasks over the past semi-decade. It also occasioned one to realise that one's one year redundaversary had passed at the beginning of the month - a short musing on one's being a bit better off was cut short by having to resume jiggling cables through joinery.

One decided to relax from the strains of doing actual work by hosting, along with Salsa Girl and Hulk, a Legion family gathering to mark Freeloading Mum's birthday. One relaxed to the soothing sounds of Hulk and her cousins thrashing out on One's drums and Hulks recorder and accompanying themselves with continuous avant-garde vocal performance. One's eardrums were still relaxed hours after the event had wrapped up.

One is looking forward to recovering from the gathering by crawling under desks in the week ahead.

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The Age of a Stump

Well nearly a fortnight has passed, and that is surely enough time for the dust and various other substances related to the momentous events of the half century of StumpyRudolph to settle - not to mention the several upset tummies that one was in far too close proximity to on the day.

The first warning sign that one should have heeded was when Sneaky Pete withdrew his attendance to said event - the Sneakster has oft been like a canary in a coal mine in regards to sensing when things will go awry.

The next ominous sign was when BestFriendSincePrep declared that he wasn't really drinking anymore and then a scant five minutes later was clutching a beer like it was the ultimate prize. "oh, just a light beer then" One enquired, "Nah. It has to be heavy"

Warning the third was when MrRogers took off early citing having things to do whilst the wild eyed look of one who has recognised impending doom crossed his face.

The fourth sign was when the aforementioned BestFriendSincePrep began a vigorous wine tasting sprint.

After that the signs began to tumble past in a flurry - the next 9 odd signs were shot-glass shaped and One has never been more chuffed to be the designated driver at a celebratory event.

Shortly after that, surprisingly, StumpyRudolph was apparently suffering some form of paralysis in the corner of the kitchen while goodbyes were begun, and then rudely interrupted everyone with some quite raucous sounds.

After making a mess of comforting him in the mess, BestFriendSincePrep and I took our leave despite one of us having taken to displaying a paler than normal visage.

We had covered the huge distance of half a kilometre down the road when BestFriendSincePrep sighted some delightful scenery at the side of the road that required urgent close inspection.

BestFriendSincePrep espied several other scenic locations on the 20 minute drive home that took over an hour before I had him home and nigh mute in greeting his family.

One then trundled on home with a rather debilitating slight headache from One's three glasses of wine.

All in all the ageing of StumpyRudolph was a timely reminder of the wisdom that comes with age.
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The Start of Footy Expedition

So this Friday past a great expedition was undertook to purvey the first footy game of the season.

The trains were uncharacteristically on time as The Great Sandro and I headed in early to the venue.

Joining us in the vicinity was Sneaky Pete direct from work, and we all made the journey across the MCG parkland/carpark.

As we approached the entry to the sportsplace we were impressed that there was so little crowd at such an early time. Especially as it was touted to be a blockbuster and online tickets were going to cost us upwards of $160 altogether, compared to the $55 and oneself free for just turning up early for general admission.

Entering the ground One was almost overcome with the large amount of seating choice. Eventually we decided on a location and settled in the setting sunlight to await the relief of some shade in the stands.

The match began a scant two hours later and we were all enthralled in what was a scrambly error prone mess of a game that showed that new high-score encouraging rules can't do much to make players kick straight.

Half time saw us swoop on the idea that it had to get better as the players must be warmed up now. Wherein we had to endure a continuation of the low scoring motif for the second half.

The final siren finally blew to indicate finality for the game and the magpies had lost our first one for the season.

The Great Sandro commenced his usual stream of "Well you have to be happy for me, we won, and I got to see Gary Ablett in person"

We eventually headed home using our slingshot-train-into-the-city-and-back-out method to procure seats for the journey home method.

All in all a grinding evening to celebrate the start of the footy season.
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The End of Footy Expedition

So this Sunday past a great expedition was undertook to purvey the final footy game of the season.

As the trains were uncharacteristically in disarray, Hulk and oneself collected The Great Sandro and drove to the vicinity of the venue.

Joining us in the vicinity were Sneaky Pete and Mirri Cat Warrior and we all made the journey across the bridge to the promised land of Victoria Park.

As we approached the free entry sportsplace we were informed by neon-clad officials that we had to go around to the proper entrance instead of walking up and over the hill.
Entering the ground One expected The Great Sandro to burst into flames - a fate the hot day actually threatened for all attendees not just #@%&! Carlton supporters - however naught happened in that regard and we promptly made our way to some shade in the stands.

Choice of seating was left up to Hulk who decided that the midst of a pride of Lions supporters was the primest of seating. One breathed deeply to remain calm.

The match began and we were all enthralled in what was important. Cries of "Go Pies!", came from oneself and Sneaky Pete,  "I don't really know what's going on" from Mirri Cat Warrior, and "I'm bored, where are the chips" from Hulk.

Half time saw us swoop on the chips - as the Magpies had swooped on the lions - and then return to the blessed shade. Wherein we had to endure a low scoring second half.

After crawling through the constantly under attack second half the final siren finally blew to indicate finality for the game and the magpies had won our first one for the season!!

Hulk commenced vigorous flag waving, song singing, and cries of "I've never been so happy!!"

Post-match running all over the field was indulged accompanied by shouts of "I want to be a footballer" and practice tumbling to the ground.

We eventually headed home accompanied by much humming of the theme song emanating from the back seat.


All in all a great day to celebrate the end of the footy season.
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Vast by Linda Nagata

This Tome was the latest in ones A to Z of Unread SciFi and Fantasy Authors, and is, of course, the "N" entry.

Vast was provided by Sneaky Pete whilst one was still on the M portion of the undertaking and proved to be a complex tale of far future humans intertwined with their advanced nanotech.

I found it interesting, and a little entertaining but feel that perhaps the scale of it's future is too vast for one's tastes.

Three and a half stars.
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The Exercise of ANZAC Traditions

A week ago now one took the opportunity to exercise one's ANZAC traditions.

These commenced with a long sleep in.

Things then proceeded on to Salsa Girl, Hulk and I hosting the traditional footy watching with The Great Sandro, Sneaky Pete, ElfBoy and family all in attendance. Much fun was had by all since the correct team won this year, or, in Lil' Trucker's case, trains went past out the back every 10 minutes causing much excitement.

Traditions continued into the evening with the weekly gaming night ending with the traditional post-midnight finish.
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Regular Pilgrimage and Unicorn Lore

So in the past week one has once again made the pilgrimage to the great shrine and attended the footy with The Great Sandro and Sneaky Pete.

After a cold-pies start Sneaky Pete and I were soon treated to a magnificent hot-pies show before the whole thing wound down into a luke-warm finish at the end. Still, as they say in the game, a win's a win.

True to form The Great Sandro was a font of trivia and questions and not much caring about the state of his beloved Carlton. One believes we all had a good night and even kept our spirits during the sardine can journey home squeezed in with all those Hurstbridge line interlopers catching our train to get to their buses during the rail line works.

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Also of not this week is an educational moment with Hulk wherein we were shopping and she espied some soft-toy Unicorns on display and implored one to purchase a unicorn for her:

"But dad I have to have the unicorn, it's so pink and soft and horny!!"

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Four XMASes and A Picnic

The week just past has been a whirlwind of celebration from which one has barely survived.


It kicked off with the annual user group XMAS lunch which is always interrupted by the meeting that "has" to occur beforehand.
Lunch and meeting were ably supplied by Jeza, Nicks Fan and Vivacious Em.
Although one was amused that one's two-glasses-of-red-deep attendance at the post lunch executive meeting was met with surprise by President S, given one's reputation for professionalism in any state. Luckily Sis attended in a state of solidarity with my choices.
However one may have to give some credence to kharmic debt as said executive meeting consumed the remainder of the afternoon.


XMAS the second was a lunchtime celebration of our Strategy Teams achievements for the year. Whilst Sonja Roster Queen ably led appropriate celebrations the Strategic absence of Mr Prada and Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum were noted for their permanent records.


With a days rest one was ready to tackle XMAS the third - Library XMAS!!
It was wonderfully organised by Sonja Roster Queen and Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum in just the style one approves - laden with food and drink.
Much conversation was had including a sizable investment in time debating the finer points of Star Wars canon with Nemesis and Psycho Chicken, who I'm sure have both now corrected their obstreperous views.


On a smaller scale, XMAS the fourth was the raising of the XMAS tree at home with Hulk taking command. The placement of the first present beneath the tree was nigh immediately followed by pleading to open it and see why it felt the way it did. Having secured an earnest promise that this would be the only early opened present I deigned to allow the opening. Suffice to say one was not pleased with the post opening: Is that all! Do you have another one?


Which brings us to the Picnic. The annual-ish picnic organised by Spare Legion, this time at the delightfully Pound Bend. Also in attendance were Badger, Hector the Nazi, and Legion3.

All in all a busy time which is why one is looking forward to a Sunday involving only shopping and visiting Freeloading Mum for her annual birthday computer support session.
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What One did on One's Holidays

So One has spent most of the previous fortnight on holidays, during which time period many and sundry activities have been partaken.

Farming Out the Kids

At Sneaky Pete's suggestion Hulk and I joined him, Uncle Niece, and BuildItBoy on an expeditious rainy-day expedition to Collingwood Children's Farm.
One found it quite educational and was particularly surprised to learn that Feeding the Goats was not merely a euphemism - which is probably all well and good as it went on for nigh an hour.

Ex-Presidential Duties

A morning of phone calls and remote work on one's user group commitments.

Library Day Trips

One spent most of a day traipsing across the public transport system with Hulk to show of the genius level of one's progeny to one's work colleagues, who must all now be convinced that she is very advanced for her age.

A Magical Gaming Experience

To mark the occasion of having a day off due to footy one's demesne was host to the likes of Sneaky Pete, Pirate Dave, Gavman, and ElfBoy for many hours of card gaming fun.

Footy in Black and Yellow

Swinging the blokeyness pendulum the other way one had Sneaky Pete back the next day for some Grand Final viewing.

Baby's First Bee Sting

After a morning of intensive gardening - of the kind required to make a clear path from the front door to the street using only a small pair of scissors after Hulk has traded you for the big snippers - one's afternoon relaxation time was cut short by Hulk inadvertently squashing a bee against a watering can and suffering the resulting suicidal self defence that bees are known for.
Of course after the bee's fate was explained to her Hulk decided to go out to the scene and tell the bee "sorry I made you dead bee, goodbye"

Inescapable Work and further gaming delights

Nothing can describe the joy of having one's day for oneself interrupted by a minor work crisis.
Following up the relatively easily solved issue with an afternoon of gaming with Badger was definitely enough to balance the scales.

Unmissable Training Day at Work

Under orders from Supervisor Grand Chief K one had to curtail one's holiday plans to attend this day.
I begrudgingly took part in having my unfair share of the pizza and cake lunch - which was barely enough to fuel me through the afternoon "clean up your work area" activity.

Male Privilege Training

Which brings us to today and the final half day off work before attending an afternoon session of training on Male Privilege in which I was horrified to find that no-one had catered for my afternoon tea! Such hardship thus proving that one has no privilege in life.
I believe I will receive an A+ grade.

A Holiday from Holidays

And now one is back to the regular schedule and able to relax and recover from such an intensive holiday break.

One is almost looking forwards to the morrow's Performance Planning meeting.

Almost.
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Idle reading

So whilst one was laid up with deadly flu one managed to complete the reading of one's "I" entry in the A to Z of Unread SciFi and Fantasy Authors - The Road to Mars by Eric Idle.

This volume was placed - nay, snuck - into one's hands by Sneaky Pete and therefore nullified the requirement for any crowd sourcing.

It was a mildly amusing humourous sci-fi that took a while to get going and then rollicked along to a reasonable ending.

Three stars.
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The Month of Things

So suddenly, it is a month since The Tales have graced screens nation wide and it is time once more to fill that void in all your souls.

So what has been happening, you may ponder?


Well a long outstanding computational device problem at work was finally solved and the backlog of work that rushed forth to fill the now available time was of a high dauntingness level.
But that is not the excuse for the delay of this posting.


One commenced catch up watching of a half dozen episodes of the new Twin Peaks and experienced the resulting brain melt caused by the 80% or so of it that was Lynchian weirdness for, apparently, it's own sake.
But that is not the excuse for the delay of this posting.

Salsa Girl and Hulk headed north for a weekend which became extended and thus resulted in a blur of gaming activity in The Gaming Garage. The Magical Gathering of the regular crew of ElfBoy, Gavman, Legion2, Pirate Dave, and even BestFriendSincePrep making a return after a decade, overtook the Friday evening. The Saturday saw the boardgames commence with Badger and FridgePower subbing in for ElfBoy and Gavman, for a gentle run through 5 hours - and half of - the Game of Thrones boardgame. During these proceedings FridgePower played true to Queen of Thorns character by talking one's favourite tea mug into self destructive cracking.

The third day of extended absence almost saw gaming again as BestFriendSincePrep was pressing for it but wisdom and the weight of chores held out and a day of pottering about the house was enjoyed by one.

But that is not the excuse for the delay of this posting.

One's return to mountains of work was brief as a rescue mission to retrieve Salsa Girl and Hulk  had to be undertook resulting in an hours long drive through tumultuous rain and trucks along the Calder, and a clandestine handover with Grandma J in the vicinity of the halfway point.

But that is not the excuse for the delay of this posting.

In amongst all of this Pirate Dave has taken the reigns of the Tuesday Knights roleplaying sessions (now regularly scheduled on Wednesdays but what can you do about a name?). Thus requiring one to actually read the background for a game for once rather than wing it and hope the players don't notice.

But that is not the excuse for the delay of this posting.

Which more or less brings us up to today and finally a posting.

With no real reason for the delay - unless you wish to count one's legendary laconical approach to getting things done?

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Freezing at the Footy

So The Great Sandro, Legion2, and I traipsed off to the footy on Sunday with a reasonable expectation that our sportsball team would beat the team at the bottom of the heap that is this year's season.

This came to pass.

Eventually.

After a quite cold period in the third fraction wherein the wild weather also came to pass and we three had some concern that we also were going to pass.

So icy was the blast that The Great Sandro even deigned to huddle under the Magpies fleecy blanket with Legion2 and I.

In the end we came through with the sort of superb stoicism that is worthy of the label Hero.
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Gaming the Band Back Together

Sunday last was another of one's regular board gaming sessions.

This one however was pre-advertised longer than usual and thus attracted both FridgePower and Judge Mingus. It was therefore a mini band reunion of sorts. Although, in the words of that great philosophical treatise from back in nineteen hundred and eighty four - Revenge of the Nerds - "Sh*t, we forgot to practice!"

With most, nay, all of the regulars also attending we struggled to find a game that could also accomodate Legion2, Pirate Dave, Badger, Miasmakat, and BestFriendSincePrep, given that Legion2 vetoed Block Mania and I no longer have the second set of blocks required to take it up to an 8 player monstrosity. 

We settled on The Great Dalmuti in which the  decidedly left-leaning Judge Mingus orchestrated a rather hypocritically rapid rise into the privileged aristocracy.

Other highlights included my finally winning another game of Samurai Battles thanks to my general in crime FridgePower who's "I don't know what I'm doing" tactics helped win the day; a return to Dominion basic and simple cards; and Pirate Dave's Epic 8 minute final turn in Eight Minute Empire.

If this level of attendance continues we may have to resort to multiple games running at the same time - or I could return to my usual last minute flash-mob style of alerting people it is on.
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Holding the Woman

So last Friday one hosted a gathering of sports fans to fanatically observe the inaugural women's AFL stoush betwixt ones beloved Collingwood (aka the shining light of goodness) and Carlton (evil incarnate).

In attendance were Legion2, Salsa Girl, Doctor David, and, of course, The Great Sandro.

Throughout the match one was often struck by how man focused the games language was - holding the man, man-up, etc. and even many ball related sayings if one wants to descend to smuttiness (which one invariably does).

In contrast to all of this The Great Sandro switched effortlessly to yelling "holding the woman!" and such like at the television - explaining it simply to me as "Well Phill, she is a woman so it's what you have to say".

It just goes to show that even the most simple minded of Carlton supporters can be a shining light of pragmatic sensibleness from time to time.
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Achievements Unlocked

So it has been a long summer break - some may even have thought it to be endless - but The Tales is back with a handy list of the achievements one has, umm, achieved in the break.


Achievement
Around the World in 18 days - well, around South Eastern Australia in 13 days, so almost the same thing.
Salsa Girl, Hulk, and oneself survived our round trip to "collect 'em all" in regards to Salsa Girl's family, who have deigned to scatter themselves all over this vast nation of ours.


Achievement
Making it back to work on the correct day. On paper this may seem easy but mistakes have been made. Also the sheer willpower required to end one's holidays is not to be underestimated.

Achievement

Commenced, on request, bedtime reading of volumes of the Cursed Earth saga to Hulk. Judge Dredd being as good a ethical and law abiding role model as the majority of the fairy tales one is apparently supposed to be reading to one's spawn.

Achievement
Convincing Pirate Dave to once again play his Orleans game more than a year since the last time. This time Legion2 was introduced to the pleasure of creating civilisation in medieval France.
One still likes the game after a second showing and it has nothing to do with one's winning.


Achievement
Continuing to avoid seeing Frozen. However one had to do it this time by watching Star Wars The Phantom Menace with Hulk so it might be best to call it a draw.



Whew, that's my achievement quota for the year done then.
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The End of Footy Parties

So the end of the footy season saw all the usual partying happening.

The first party was the traditional celebration of Salsa Girl's birthday. This year in the form of a Dinner and a Murder mystery. Our participants had a lot of fun - even with BestFriendSincePrep going on a murder spree - although one suspects that Baroness Badger was behind it all.
Salsa Girl herself won best costume, while Pirate Dave's inspector was a crowd favourite as he helped himself to the riches of body looting. FridgePower and Judge Mingus made a great effort to attend despite suffering from some sort of plague and FridgePower made a brave face of being murdered twice. In fact only Legion2 escaped being murderised - probably thanks to the protection of BestFriendSincePrep's real world wife the Lovely Lea.
All in all a great night and even Hulk's murderous upstairs screams about not going to bed enhanced the theme.


The second tradition of Footy's End was the Magic the Gathering night at Gavman's. Legion2, ElfBoy, Pirate Dave and oneself all made the pilgrimage to participate.


The main event itself was the traditional Grand Final Party hosted in inimitable style once more by The Wiggs. We were all excited for the match - Hulk made a flag to wave and even waived it twice before becoming bored and going off to explore the house. BestFriendSincePrep, MrRogers, and StumpyRudolph were all in attendance and concerned with the sweep results until we all became swept up in the Bulldogs victory and bet-winning margins lost all significance.
It was a wonderful emotional ride only tinged slightly for one by knowing that The Hellenic Hoofer would have been rejoicing ten times as much as any of us.
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The Miasmakat's Partay

Saturday last Hulk, Salsa Girl, and I attended the city venue birthday celebrations of one's gaming associate Miasmakat and her non-associated (well except via The Viking Hat GM's Geektogethers) gaming husband.

This party was sensibly held in the afternoon.

One had a proud father moment on the train journey in when metro announced "The next station will be Collingwood" and Hulk responded with "Collingwood? Good old Collingwood forever, ..." and sang the whole song replete with mid verse corr-blimey. I've definitely brunged her up right.

One will only be prouder when she destroys one in a board game some time in our future.

The party was a fun affair in an indoor tent room that involved a couple of hours of catch up chit chat, playing who is that person from 20 years ago, and also playing keep Hulk away from the cup cakes.


The party continued the next day with Sunday gaming wherein Miasmakat, BestFriendSincePrep and I proceeded to doom the world by failing to save it from a deadly bout of swine flu in Pandemic.
We were joined by Legion2 for the chaos of Stellar Conflict - aka the rubber band game - wherein BestFriendSincePrep snapped one of the said rubber bands thereby ruining an irreplaceable game component.

When Pirate Dave arrived we decided to save the world for a change by stopping the infected leaving the Dark Moon in my cooperative variant of the The Thing in Space game.

We rounded out the night by being caught attempting a pet store heist in Burgle Bros.

After so much fun failure Miasmakat's party weekend was called to close and we all* went to bed early for a good nights sleep.

*Nobody can prove that one played Magic with Legion2 until late!!

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Holidays and Birthdays

Well it's been over a week back at the workplace and one had best document one's leave before the memories flitter away and one has to just make something up.

It seems a fortnight's leave was just enough to cover two birthdays.


Birthday the first was great grandma's 90th up in Bendigo. This involved a getaway of a few days in weather drenched Bendigo in a spacious motel - Hulk had her own room with 3 beds!

Of course there were many visits to Grandma J's and Hulk seemed to enjoy her time with her cousins. One would be lying to say there wasn't a little part of me that was glad it ended though. That little part is the eardrums - oh the screaming.


Birthday the second was, of course, Hulk's fourth.

It was, of course, Star Wars themed.

There was a fair amount of dressing up and at one point, when flanked by both Hulk and Salsa Girl, I did feel like I was in a new sitcom called My Two Reys. Of course Legion2 donned his Han Solo outfit and Doctor David and Grannie A came as suspicious "Jedi" clothed all in black!
There was much fun had with knock over the Tie Fighters, Pin the camera on the BB-8, pass the parcel, and an impressive BB-8 cake. There was also much pummelling with balloon lightsabers.

Still it is good to have the event over so I no longer have the pressure to maintain my diet in order to fit into my Jabba the Hutt costume.
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