Vampifan's Views 11 The Kindness of Bloggers

The heroes of Romero's 1978 Dawn of the Dead film. From left to right - Fran, Stephen, Peter and Roger.

I wasn't going to do an editorial just yet, but certain events this week have conspired to make me rethink and so instead of a review today, you're going to have to put up with me waffling on about something which I'm sure we all know already. And that is that my fellow bloggers are wonderful people!
This has been proved beyond doubt by what has happened to me this week. I'm going to nominate three zombie bloggers who deserve a bucketload of praise. First up is Adam aka Zombie Ad who runs a couple of blogs now The Lead Will Walk The Earth and  The Zombie Shop  Some of you may have seen Adam's recent announcement that The Zombie Shop is now open for business. On Tuesday of last week I had a look at his webstore and placed an order for the All Things Zombie boardgame. It's something I've been after for a while but I held back because I didn't want to get stung by customs charges if I ordered it from the USA. This is where Adam came up trumps, because he has imported a lot of ATZ products to sell from his store. This means UK customers can order safe in the knowledge that they won't have to pay an unwanted tax imposed by Customs and Excise. Plus, even bigger bonus, the package will arrive much quicker than having to fly or sail across the Atlantic. I found a slight glitch at the checkout and duly reported it to Adam. On the following day, Adam kept me fully informed about fixing the glitch, processing my order and in mid afternoon posting my order, telling me I should receive my parcel the following day. He even offered me a 5% discount, which was very generous. I'll admit I was sceptical about receiving the game within 24 hours of it being posted but sure enough, it arrived about 10.00am the following morning. Outstanding service! The cherry on the cake was that Adam had included a small packet of fruit sweets with my parcel, a move clearly inspired by Hasslefree Miniatures, who always send out sweets with their orders.
My next hero is Mikko Merilainen who runs the Dawn of the Lead  blogsite. Last year he sculpted a couple of 28mm scale zombies for Black Orc Miniatures and he offered free copies to the first five people to contact him. I was one of those five but as time went by I had forgotten all about Mikko's offer. So it was a double surprise for me when the two figures he'd sculpted arrived on the same morning as my ATZ boardgame. One of the figures, a naked, fat zombie can be used prone or standing up. I didn't realise this until Mikko pointed it out to me. He has offered a second free figure of that sculpt so I can use one prone and one standing. Again, this was a very generous offer that I greatly appreciated.
My third hero of Bloggerdom is Fran, known to many as The Angry Lurker  whose blogsite shares the same name. What Fran did for me goes above and beyond the call of duty. I received a jiffy bag parcel this morning, which perplexed me greatly as I hadn't sent away for anything. When I saw Fran's message on the back "from the lurker who is angry" I knew who'd sent it. Who wouldn't? But what was inside? First up, a 28mm scale resin cast Humvee, comprising body and four wheels. I have no idea who made it but it is crisply cast in black resin. Next, were four Eureka Miniatures 28mm scale zombies in barrels. Great figures! I had one already but he wasn't amongst the ones that Fran sent me. Serendipity or has Fran got psychic powers he's kept hidden? And there was more - a detective with shirt sleeves rolled up and carrying his jacket whilst pointing. I recognised him as being from Foundry's Street Violence range. Finally was a civilian type in a business suit looking very stern and pointing from the hip with his left hand. He stands roughly 35mm tall, which limits the companies who may have sculpted him. He has an integral circular base, rather than a slotta-tab. I admit I don't know who made him but perhaps Fran can enlighten me. I'm stumped as to why Fran made such a generous gift but I am exceedingly grateful and rather humbled. My father's explanation is that if you do good things and show kindness to others, it will be returned to you. To be honest, I can't argue with him, as I don't have a better explanation.
So, to Adam, Mikko and Fran, I say thank you. It just goes to prove that there is a lot of good going on in the world and that the Internet can be a place of good as well. We're quick to hear about all the evil and bad things that go on but rarely about the good things. I hope this post redresses the balance. It's not just Adam, Mikko and Fran I'd like to thank. We zombie gamers and fans of the undead have a friendly community going on here. I hope it never ends. Guys, you have restored my faith in human nature!

On a totally different tack, some of you may have noticed in my last batrep if you left click on a photo it does not enlarge to full page size. I am aware of the problem and the blame lies squarely at the feet of Blogger, who have been causing a lot of people trouble in uploading pics and photos to their blogs. I can only apologise and hope the problem is sorted real soon.