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Friday, January 3, 2020

News, Views Etc . . . Forthcoming Events Saturday 4th - Friday 10th January 2020

We are at war with nature, therefore we are at war with ourselves, we can only 'win' that war by losing everything.

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!

                             

Toy Fairs

Went-up here last Monday-week (23rd December 2019), previous post!

                             

Auctions

Went-up here last Monday-week (23rd December 2019), previous post!

                             

Other Events

Went-up here last Monday-week (23rd December 2019), previous post!

                             

Overseas Events

Went-up here last Monday-week (23rd December 2019), previous post!

Which leaves me to cover a few other bits and bobs . . .

                             

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!

                             

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!

                             

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.

                             

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!

                             

The Lost Patrol

December's 'eye-candy' have now been spotted in New York, patrolling even denser Jungle!

                             

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!

                             

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 Ċ vejk 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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