But if we have the grace to surrender
(suicide pills? Compulsory neutering?), nature may recover quite quickly?
That is the thought for the year, bearing
in mind that Australia is on fire like never before, Delhi is looking at having
its first frost since the last ice-age, yet we were about to drown here a week
ago, while everyone's glaciers retreat faster than the climate-change models
have been predicting they will - since the 1970's when we had 50-years to sort
it out, now we may only have ten.
But, in the meantime, toys and their
collecting make a fine distraction, and if you collect plastic ones you're
helping keep them out of the Great Pacific Garbage Dump! Which is a serious
misnomer for what should be called the 'Great Pacific Plastic Raft' or the
Great Pacific Micro-polymer Factory!
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Toy Fairs
Went-up here last Monday-week (23rd December 2019), previous post!
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Auctions
Went-up here last Monday-week (23rd December 2019), previous post!
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Other Events
Went-up here last Monday-week (23rd December 2019), previous post!
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Overseas Events
Went-up here last Monday-week (23rd December 2019), previous post!
Which leaves me to cover a few other bits
and bobs . . .
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Season's greetings
Christmas has almost left us, but the
tree's up 'till Monday . . .
. . . and six more decorations have gone on
somehow!
The final sextuplet of choccy-treats
included two figurals; a rather deformed elf and a jolly little snowman.
The blog received its first Christmas card!
You can tell from the group of reprobates involved that it winged its way here
from New York, and it appears they are about to get a sobering soaking from the
authorities, come to break-up the fun . . . careful with that axe Eugene!
Paddington will sort it all out using a bucket-full of icing sugar, a
decorator's ladder and a feather-pillow with a hole in it - I'm quite sure!
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Received with Thanks
As well as posing an eCard, Brian also
informed me he is shooting his firefighters for the forthcoming firefighter
page, and it must be said friends and followers of the Blog seem to been more
enthusiastically receptive to news of a firefighter's page, than for the
paratrooper/parachute toys page which was my preferred choice for first in the
queue! I guess I will have to adjust my plans or get them both done with more
speed . . . I've been doing more work on the para's over the break; than I have
the firefighters!!
The day after Peter Evans' little parcel
arrived in time to post last time, Hermes
dropped-off a Christmas cornucopia of a donation from Chris Smith, but he told
me not to open it until after Crimbo, so I didn't . . . but now I have! I have since
been working on a few posts about it, but to be honest it was such a
high-quality 'job lot' (see what you can spot), it will be contributing to
posts for a long time to come!
Angelo's next post however, was held-up by my
needing his advice on a couple of images I wanted to add to it, but that
resulted in whole 'nother post! Consequently, and because I've intentionally
had a lazy holiday, they will both post next week or the week after now.
There might have been one or two other bits
come in, but I've had a quiet time on purpose and not even gone out much over
the holiday, to which end eMails will be addressed/replied-to next week,
but thanks to everyone for everything and all help!
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H is for How they Come In
There is one from the start of the holiday,
and then this week was a bumper post-Christmas chuck-out fest!
This was the earlier lot, and was pretty
non-descript Chinastuff apart from the branded Papo dinosaur in grey with a moving lower-jaw who is rather fine,
but I like the kerthunkersaurus with his radioactive thorn-suit!
But then this week it all went a bit
critical on the finds front, with these five bags on Tuesday at a quid each;
mixed farm, zoo and 'funimals' with a bit of Erzgebige and a few of
the Kellogg's premium animals. Three tailless
horses went straight to recycling, but the rest will be sorted into the pile
with the animal element from Chris's parcel, to which they've already been
joined!
I knew there were two more, as I'd only had
a fiver on Tuesday and had to umm'n'arh on which five bags to purchase, so I
went back on the off chance they were still there today (Thursday) and they
were!
You can see why they were the two I left on the first visit,
mostly vinyl Britains in one and
mostly small-scale/common in the other, but I took them on the second
opportunity for the little Hong Kong seated tiger and the HK-copy of a Charbens wagon horse.
Meanwhile 75p in another charity-shop
secured more Erzgebirge! Seen on the
left is that purchase, with all the week's finds on the right, it was the
figure which prompted the payment, they are often quite worn but this one is
clean.
Note also the unusual (or 'less common')
decoration on the sun-faded lot, our childhood ones had the commoner two-window
arrangement of the left hand cottages, but our church was the same as the one
with the right lot, although it had a small onion-tower straddling the
roof-ridge.
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F is for Found Objects
I once designed a whole range of street
& garden furniture, shelters and plant cloches round some broken bits I
found in a car-park in Stockwell! It was (still is) a standard materials exercise
in the first year of most art and/or design courses in most colleges and
universities, along with the 'group bridge-build and test' project, and it also
teaches you to keep your eyes peeled!
So I found this in a car-park in Basingrad
two weeks ago; slightly scuffed, I think it's the comm's-tower for a large (but
cheapish) battleship or aircraft carrier toy, but it looks just like a
bit like one of those Arco/board-game
robots, except it's a little bigger - commander, or heavy-weapons robot
perhaps!
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The Lost Patrol
December's 'eye-candy' have now been
spotted in New York, patrolling even denser Jungle!
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They Also Serve Who Lie Around Doing
Bugger-All!
My assistant got exactly what she wanted for
Christmas, a pile of wrapping-paper with sticky-bits on it!
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New Year's Libations!
As well as the rowdies seen higher-up this
post, Brian and Theo van de Weerden have sent these in the last few weeks with
other images and I thought they'd go well together to toast in the new Year. A Mecki monk (or monk Mecki?) and the Good Soldier
Švejk from Prague! The Good Soldier is either poured-resin or a chalkware/plaster
from the look of him; the Mecki-monk
is a late, all plastic one and carries the same gum-ball capsule-machine prize bier-stein
I gave to one of my Palitoy Action Men 45-odd years ago!
He had a stool (my Action Man) made from a pizza stand (what happened to them?),
little green camping stool with four legs (they used to hold the pizza box-lid
up?), and he would sit with his back to the Spartan personnel carrier's main
door, supping his stein, while his mate (sitting on the Jungle Explorer's folding stool) had a can of Heineken converted from a key-ring, also from a gum-ball capsule I suspect!
Anyway; many-thanks to both for the images
and - here's-cheers and a happy New Year to all loyal readers! Hic!
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