About Me

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No Fixed Abode, Home Counties, United Kingdom
I’m a 60-year-old Aspergic gardening CAD-Monkey. Sardonic, cynical and with the political leanings of a social reformer, I’m also a toy and model figure collector, particularly interested in the history of plastics and plastic toys. Other interests are history, current affairs, modern art, and architecture, gardening and natural history. I love plain chocolate, fireworks and trees, but I don’t hug them, I do hug kittens. I hate ignorance, when it can be avoided, so I hate the 'educational' establishment and pity the millions they’ve failed with teaching-to-test and rote 'learning' and I hate the short-sighted stupidity of the entire ruling/industrial elite, with their planet destroying fascism and added “buy-one-get-one-free”. Likewise, I also have no time for fools and little time for the false crap we're all supposed to pretend we haven't noticed, or the games we're supposed to play. I will 'bite the hand that feeds', to remind it why it feeds.

Monday, September 21, 2015

N is for Novelty

Novelty? How would one define a novelty? Something which has not been designed as a plaything but which has play value? Something with a practical application that leaves the user feeling amused? A household or garden product with added playability?...goes off to Google...

novelty ˈnɒv(ə)lti - noun - 1a. the quality of being new, original, or unusual. "the novelty of being a married woman wore off" synonyms: originality, newness, freshness, unconventionality, unfamiliarity, unusualness, difference, imaginativeness, creativity, creativeness, innovativeness, innovation, modernity, modernness, break with tradition "they liked the novelty of our approach" antonyms: conservatism - 1b. a new or unfamiliar thing or experience.
plural noun: novelties "in 1914 air travel was still a novelty" denoting an object intended to be amusing as a result of its unusual design. modifier noun: novelty "a novelty teapot" - 2. a small and inexpensive toy or ornament. "he bought chocolate novelties to decorate the Christmas tree" synonyms: knick-knack, trinket, bauble, toy, trifle, gewgaw, gimcrack, ornament, curiosity...


...I think that covers tonight's trio of recent acquisitions!

These were £2.50 a set (that's 62.5p each!), and while branded to Hawkin's Bazaar's 'Tobar' label, where actually in a clearance book-show a hundred yards from the nearest Hawkin's! They are the same stretchy material as the Alien I tested to destruction a while ago, so I'm being careful...I intend to base them, but silicon is hard to glue, so I will try bathroom or window sealant! Baubles.

An ABS type polymer Massey-Harriser [of pencils] (geditt!), imported by Strawberry Design...also available in John Deer green, Ford/New Holland blue and 1970's Local Authority yellow. But with that bonnet (hood) shape it had to be the red one...£1.25, clearance, now. Trinket.

Previously seen in Plastic Warrior magazine and bought from fellow blogger Brian at the PW May show in Twickenham; how cool are these? I intend to find a second pair and cut the cork/plinths down until they're bases and add burning cotton-wool wicks for a bit of off-the-cuff urban house-clearance! One ex-Airfix pose, one ex-Matchbox. Knick-knacks.

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