Where to begin?

Well first of all my friends, Sarge, Fred, and Healey (not forgetting the odd lurker) thanks from the heart of my bottom for all your support in keeping this place going.

Commiserations to all undergoing various medical processes aimed at keeping us old crocks alive if not well.

I wanted to do some more painting of pictures from my story because my muse has gone away for some time but the basis of the story has always been my imagination which produces pictures from which I piece together the narrative.

So I sat me down at the drawing, bored and after a false start which was due to watching 'Labyrinth' yesterday, one of my favourite fantasy movies, I gave up in trying to do a door knocker with a face and started again inspired by my plastic figurine of Ben Franklin which pretty much meant the rest of the picture would have to look a bit archaic to make his 18th century costume fit in.

So having done a faint and very inaccurate and wobbly pencil outline I decided that he would be the toymaker that Timothy Tinkletap gets employed by after leaving Brocks Barn as a journeyman to seek more from the big wide world after completing his internship at the village toymaker.

This gentleman is quick to discover that his new assistant has more skills than he especially in the art of gearcutting and mechanisation of toys. However the town of Hoddes has guilds to contend with which means a cobbler must stick to his last whether he likes it or not, unless willing to pay to belong to the guild whose craft he wishes to emulate.

Now as it happens the toymaker has accepted a clandestine agreement to build a clock for a sea captain who needs such a device of unparalled accuracy to aid him in precise navigation. The official guild of clockmakers has tried several times and failed to achieve a satisfactory time piece which attempts have nevertheless had to be paid for.

Now as Sarge might recall, the youngster has adopted the onomatopoiac name of Timothy Tinkletap partly as a trade name but mainly to disguise himself for those still seeking the scion of a successful trader whom they have murdered.

Peter, the boys original name, had been made an orphan and turned out into the streets of the Citadel, Brythan's principal port to live by his wits and learn a smattering of various trades hired by friends of his late father who own various businesses from which he learnt much useful information from various artisans who remembered his father kindly as an intelligent and honourable trader.

Unfortunately for Peter his father's enemies prove to be persistent in their search for him which meant he had to keep moving and thus picked up a lot of artisan skills in the process. The boy was well educated and intelligent and a skilled draughtsman and artist which skills stood him in good stead as he kept a journal which he used to keep records of all that he learned.

However the time arrived when he had to leave the Citadel for his safety which he accidentally achieved by sleeping in a cart that was being driven out to the isolated village of Brocks Barn. The driver discovered him after they had left the Citadel, listened to his story and recommended he apply to the local toymaker of Brocks Barn which should place him in a safe place thanks to the villages isolated nature.

So to return to my latest picture, it shows the boy entering the shop of the Hoddes Town toymaker, in which he will quickly prove to be invaluable thanks to his knowledge of mechanisms and gear cutting which he had previously learnt and improved upon during his internship with the Brocks Barn toymaker.

We see him fascinated by the clock which the toymaker has almost despaired of ever being able to measure time accurately due to the effects of wind and wave aboard ship. Having knowledge of fine gear cutting and alloys such as invar, over time Peter produces a mechanism which is immune to vibration, high humidity, intense variations in temperature and thus able to keep accurate time despite such conditions which have been the downfall of all previous attempts to solve the problem.

All this arose because of my initial sketch producing the story so far and I have a lot more to rough out when my eyesight and coordination stops being so unreliable!