Ladybird ladybird

I just spent £7.99 at a charity shop on a little job lot of old books packed in a polythene bag.  How could I resist?!  They were 1960s Ladybird books, which everyone who grew up in Britain during their '60s and '70s heyday would surely, like me, find very evocative, and this was the one at the top:

I love that cover.

It looks like they'd all belonged to a boy called Graham.

They are a bit of a boyish selection, with tractors and cars, etc. - if that isn't too much of a gender stereotype - but Graham obviously liked his machines.

In my childhood home with two quite tomboyish girls (my sister had her Hot Wheels and I adored my clockwork train set), we definitely had the Toys And Games To Make book like the one in the picture.  Pretty sure we tried most of the suggestions in it with things we found in the sticky kitchen drawer.  You know the drawer, every household has one, full of bulldog clips, candles and miscellaneous hardware that “might come in handy one day” .  It definitely had corks and matchboxes, so we did alright. Ours smelt of rust and chocolate wafers for some reason too.

Hard to imagine many kids being impressed with the ideas in the book now, though...

I especially remember trying this one below and speaking to my sister in her bedroom, all the way from the bathroom:

What, no smartphone?

I've vivid memories too of owning a Ladybird book on how to tell the time, and another on Marco Polo; they all had that same feel, the illustrations very typical of their era.

From this batch, The Story Of Railways has some particularly charming images:

And is that a young Liam Gallagher making an appearance in the Cub Scouts volume?

Anyway I'm going to keep them for a bit - they're a part of history now.  I might even learn something (I mean, I'd completely forgotten what a 'vulgar fraction' is - Maths not my strong point)

And now I've a tenuous excuse to include this song too!

Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood:  Ladybird

Get your kicks here

... with some fantastic footwear.  You gotta love kinky boots.  I’m almost literally dipping my feet in the shallow end of blogging here, but you can’t beat a nice pair of shiny shiny, shiny boots of (non-)leather, so here is just one of them for your delectation.  Recently bought off ebay at a bargain price from a lovely lady, they are called ‘Psychedelic’ and made by Mia, really retro-looking.  Apparently these were found in Canada; I don’t think you can get them over here. So shiny you can see your face in them (should you wish to stoop to that level and take a look at yourself, but I wouldn’t recommend it). 

I’m thinking of posting a regular musical recommendation on here but today I’m resisting the obvious one by Nancy Sinatra. I’ll stick with Nancy for being so appropriately kitsch, but given that it’s winter and I need some cheering up, I’m opting for Summer Wine (with Lee Hazlewood and his wonderfully rich voice.)  I look forward to both the summer and the wine…