I am always aware of a certain reserve when fellow gamers meet in public to talk of our hobby. I must admit to a certain envy for the modern hardcore frother/ gamer ” nerd” . Please remember that such gamers actually revel in the term “nerd”. How times have changed. It must be my days as a mod that means that I could never contemplate not using soap regularly or wearing a pvc raincoat and what would have been called ” spastic boots ” in my school . God, we had some cruel teachers.
The hobby has come out into the public gaze to greater extent than ever before in my experience but, even when we are queuing in long lines outside a sports complex show venue, there is always the collective sigh of relief when we are all inside the doors amongst the true believers. One only has to witness the queue for Salute each year. Mercifully it often coincides with the London marathon for what used to be called “plausible denyability”. If you were under the impression that passers-by failed to notice hundreds of middle aged men with tool boxes who weren’t there for their annual aerobic workout, then I do believe you are sadly mistaken!
Next time you visit, don’t wear shoes with your jogging bottoms, it’s a dead give away! I well remember one unkind visitor to a hotel competition venue in Usk, here in South Wales. On viewing the assembled gamers relaxing and reclining at lunchtime, the onlooker enquired whether Lidl had been bombed? Times maybe a changing but hopefully you will join me in a crusade to rescue this great hobby from nerd-dom and return it to the safe hands of former colonels, the likes of Edward Woodward, David Niven and true gentlemen players everywhere.
Merry Christmas!
Despertaferres 
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