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Issue 19 (Xmas 2002)

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Issue 19 (Xmas 2002) THE ARMISTICE DAY NEWSLETTER Issue 19 (Xmas 2002) From: Stephen Agar, 47 Preston Drove, Brighton, BN1 6LA, UK. Email: [email protected]; Tel. 01273-562430. Price: £1 per issue (UK), £1.30 (Europe), £1.60 (Rest of World). Web page: http://www.armisticeday.com. never made it to CD before. Shame, he could have done with Diplomacy the royalties when he was alive. Lyric by Harry B. Smith Music by Maurice Levy Well, after a few months of uncertainty, I now know that I do have a job with Royal Mail after all. As I have mentioned To make life what it never was before, the business unit of which I am a Director is being and set things straight for you abolished and it was clear that Royal Mail were going to There’s just one little gift you should possess; clear out at least half of their senior management - leading to It isn’t money but it does what money cannot do months of speculation as to who was “in” and who was “out”. The only real receipt for happiness. After all that I seem to have landed on my feet and secured If you and I cannot agree and you should have your way, the job I most wanted, namely Director of Regulation. This It isn’t necessary we should fight gives me the job of negotiating with Postcomm and That’s where I use diplomacy, and I will win the day, Postwatch on behalf of Royal Mail – a kind of real life Although I may be wrong and you be right. opportunity to play Diplomacy with very large sums of money Diplomacy, Diplomacy, yes that’s the real thing, involved. Technically the job is also a promotion for me in To work a man the best you can just get him on the string, that it reports straight to a main board Director (currently the Of course he mustn’t know, that you are joll’ing him so; Finance Director), but with Adam Crozier joining Royal Mail For the wires must never show, in Diplomacy. as Chief Executive in February, I guess I could end up reporting to him. Anyway, I think this sort of job plays to my A man and wife may quarrel strengths and I am looking forward to it a lot. such things happen now and then, Although of course it’s very very rare. As we want to put our house back on the market sometime in Perhaps he don’t come home to dine, the very best of men the first half of next year, I really must get my study Will sometimes dine, it doesn’t matter where. decorated. It is the only room we haven’t touched since we Some wives in tears and raving have hysterics and all that, bought this house five years ago – and the holes in the And explanations haughtily they spurn. ceiling and walls where I ripped out a built-in wardrobe can’t That’s where I sue diplomacy I wouldn’t say a word, appeal to many prospective purchasers. The main reason I’d sweetly smile and calmly wait my turn. the room has been left untouched is that I can’t face the logistical demands of emptying the room in order to sort it Diplomacy, Diplomacy, yes that’s the real thing, out. The room is stuffed full of CDs, books, computer To win a man as women can just get him on the string, hardware and boardgames – all of which will have to be Next day it’s in your line, at some down town place to dine, moved. It will take a day just to clear the room, putting aside Bring him home a quart of wine, that’s Diplomacy. the question of where to I put all the stuff in the meantime. When you’re compelled to ride upon But it must be done. And while my stuff is packed up in the baleful trolley car, boxes somewhere, it will be very difficult indeed to maintain You jump aboard and wildly clutch and cling, the zine, games, websites etc. Therefore, I need to give Of course the seats are filled up you know they always are, notice that next issue may be very thin with hopefully a And so upon a lofty strap you swing, bumper issue thereafter. Maybe this will give some of you The gentlemen are busy with their papers, don’t you know, the motivation to write a letter or article for the next issue, as They have a sudden appetite for news, levels of feedback are probably lower now than at any time Now don’t scowl at them fiercely, since I began publishing a zine again ten years ago. Go on, nor the least impatience show, you know you want to really. And don’t step on their patent leather shoes. The lack of feedback, lack of new readers, difficulty in getting Diplomacy, Diplomacy, yes that’s the real thing, gamestarts, etc. all suggests to me that it may well be time to When next the car stops suddenly, contemplate winding my involvement in the postal games on the floor you nearly fling, hobby up for good. That said, it is not what I want to do, I’m When you step on some man’s feet, just not sure the demand is there anymore. Getting with embarrassed smile, but sweet, gamestarts for Internet Diplomacy games is easy, but the Then he’ll say “Please take my seat”! hassles of GMing such games are enormous as the dropout That’s Diplomacy. rate is so high. Much as I yearn for the “fandom” of yesteryear, the community feel is all but gone in the zines I Copyright MCMI by The Rogers Bros. Music Pub. N.Y. still see. When this zine finally folds I guess I shall content myself with putting old articles and variants on the Internet – a rather solitary hobby at the best of times. And so here we are in 2003 (or at least it will be by the time Editorial you read this). When I think of how back in the 1960s I Couldn’t resist that one – it’s not often you come across the visualised even 2001, it does rather make me feel a tad sheet music for a song called Diplomacy which was disappointed. In the 1960s we had excitement such as the published in 1901! Synchronicity or what? Apollo moon landings and colour TV – yet in the 30 years since progress seems to have boiled down to more efficient A melancholy issue, containing as it does obituaries for two computers, consumer electronics (including mobile phones) of my heroes – albeit from very different spheres of and genetic engineering. But I just can’t get as excited by influence. I guess I could have added another for Joe mapping the human genome as I could about visiting the Strummer, but I am sure Joe won’t be short of people to sing stars. I appreciate that relatively there is less poverty in the the praises of London Calling and Sandinista. Jake UK than there was 40 years ago and that life expectancy has Thackray is about as far away from Joe Strummer as it is increased – but where has the wow factor gone? Or is it just possible to get – but I have to admit to having played more that life is more exciting when you are 8 than when you are Jake Thackray over the years than The Clash. Although 42? Jake didn’t live to see it, EMI have said they will issue a new compilation CD featuring some of the many tracks that have But it is not enough to make me nostalgic for the 60s. A time when the best selling toys included Action Man and Barbie. Issue 19 – December 2002 Armistice Day Page 3 On TV we watched Coronation Street while the kids watched your web page that you are still involved in MUDs after all Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet. We had a Labour these years. government, the railways were falling apart and they were building roads everywhere. The Americans were fighting Howard Bishop wars in far away places and the Palestinians were having to Good to see you and the rest of the PBM crowd at MidCon. I live in refugee camps. And we all lived in daily fear of hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Armageddon. Thank God we don’t live like that anymore. The last Armistice Day seemed a bit subdued. I hope you aren't thinking of throwing in the towel. SA: Difficult not to feel subdued when you don’t know if Letters you’ve got a job and the PBM Dip world seems to be disappearing around me. Still, I did enjoy MidCon. Bernie Ackerman When I was up to issue 4 of TTT and still had no waiting lists I played postal Diplomacy 30 + years ago, the hard way - by full, I was beginning to question the wisdom of starting the snail mail via a USA gamesmaster, (Don Miller from whole enterprise in the first place. It was then that hobby Wheaton, Maryland ... ever heard of him?), but around the stalwarts like yourself and Alan Parr stepped in and gave me late Seventies had to turn my attention to other things (like a leg-up onto the first rung of the ladder. We need ya'. earning a salary!). I'm now playing through Tom Tweedy's Diplomacy 2000 and have a knife in my back.
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