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.

Friday, February 21, 2020

News, Views Etc . . . Forthcoming Events; Saturday 22nd - Friday 28th February 2020

I used to listen to Priti Patel on Question Time or Any Questions, and be astounded by her lack of knowledge, pricklyness and feeble-minded replies, we then all saw her - under Mrs. Maybe-maybe-not - prove herself to be a dishonest, lying fascist, which leaves as the first question what was she doing being offered (or accepting) another cabinet post?

Now we hear that she swears at staff, wants to get rid of her trained-professional civil-servants and is apparently 'out of her depth', yet she has decided that the 8-million not in meaningful employment (because they are old, infirm, in school, students, unpaid careers, in a pram, in a coma, mentally or physically disabled, he long-term sick, in prison, or missing presumed lost) can take up the slack left by departing Polish Uber drivers, or the fact that a points system (already labelled fascist in Australia) which would have prevented her ancestors coming here in the first-place will prevent Uber drivers arriving from Poland in the future!

And yet 46% of our fellow citizens voted for this omnishambles of a klusterfuck government! Do I read like I'm coming round to healed societal reunification under Boris? Or do I read like I'm becoming even more divorced from the other, Brwreakshiteer, half?

Meanwhile one of Cumings (that's how I'll spell it) 'wierdos' proved not to be so weird, as just simply a transparent, self-declared, racist, racialist, eugenics-believing, patriarchal, sexist, homophobic 'kill the poor's kids' Nazi fuck . . . you can't make this shit up you know, you have to read it in the paper!

And, in his arrogance, instead of slinking away to Beachy Head and killing the fuck out of himself, he puts out a statement saying he's been 'taken out of context'? You want to sterilise the poor, you Nazi fuck; the only other interpretation is that you want the poor to be sterilised!

Meanwhile, it turns out that the British fishing industry (one of the big movers in the Brwreakshit debate) constitutes less than half-of-one-percent (0.4-something) of the UK economy and that many of the fish-stock quotas, licenses and/or vessels which were 'ours' have been legitimately, legally sold to other European fleets or operators, the only way to get them back will be to surrender Gibraltar, the Elgin Marbles and probably the Sovereign Base Area's in Cyprus, but it [fishing] will still only constitute a half-of-one-percent!

It would make more sense to put the money (if there is any) into cycle repair-shops, white-van men or video-bloggers, than to spend another penny on something which has changed forever, like coal-mining or walking in front of a motorised carriage with a red flag! But NO! Brwreakshiteers think "Go, cast your nets, yeah, upon the waters, you sons of Britannia and thence shall Albion rise, leviathan-like; a mighty phoenix, to take control of Africa again!"

Further afield some German Nazi shot-up the shops for his mum, then had a pop at her, while the Orange Loon pardoned a bunch of people who were probably only in trouble for knowing him! Still, at least Trump is around & about, talking mentally-deranged shit - nice bit of veiled-racism aimed at South Korea yesterday; Boris has gone doggo and is running frit after being heckled at a flood visit the other day - coward!

Thank the lord of all gods; the Flying Spaghetti Monster; we have toys to collect; it'll keep us sane . . .

Toy Fairs

Saturday 22nd February 2020

Maidstone - Michael Spencer - Maidstone Vintage Toy Fair
Lockmedow Market Hall & Leisure Complex, Barker Road (Hart Street entrance), Maidstone, Kent, ME16 8LW
Internet presence unknown
Tel. - 01622 298 159 (Mike Spencer)
Mob. - 01732 840 787 (Geoff Martin)
09:00 - 15:00hrs
Admission £2.50p
Park & ride, pay and display parking, refreshments

Tauton - Ray Heard Train & Toy Fairs
Richard Huish College, South Road, Taunton, Somerset, TA1 3DZ
Internet presence unknown
Tel. - 01823 480 097
10:00 -15:30hrs
Admission £3.00
Free parking, refreshments
New Venue - New Show

Sunday 23rd February 2020

Cirencester - Retro Ronnie
Bingham Hall, King Street, Cirencester, Glousecstershire, GL7 1JT
Mob. I - 07708 385 061
Mob. II - 07900 266 427
10:00-hrs 'till finish
Admission unknown, early bird (from 08:00hrs)
Refreshments

Rayleigh - SRP Toyfairs
Sweyne Park School, Rayleigh, Essex, SS6 9BZ
Tel. - 07739 998 012 (Paula or Gerry)
10:00 - 14:00hrs
Admission charge unknown

Wirral - Barry Stockton Fairs - Merseyside Hobbies & Model Railway Show
Hulme Hall, Port Sunlight, Wirral, CH62 5DH
Web. - http://barrystocktonfairs.co.uk/
Tel. - 01513 343 362
10:30 - 15:30
Admission - Adult £4.50p, Children £

York - J&J Fairs (J&J Webb) - 'York Racecourse'
The Knavesmire Stand, York Racecourse, York, Yorkshire, YO23 1EX
Tel. - 01522 880 383
10:00 - 14:30hrs
Admission £2.50p, seniors £2, 1st child £1.50p

Tuesday 25th February 2020

Garstang - Janet Pearson - Garstang Evening Fair
Kirkland & Catterall Memorial Hall, PR3 0HR
Web-presence unknown
01282 439 009
18:00 - Finnish
Admission fee unknown

Auctions

Monday 24th Februaray 2020

Lewis - Wallis and Wallis
West Street Galleries, Lewis, Sussex, BN7 2NJ
Tel. - 01273 480 208
Fax. - 01273 476 562
General Toy Sale

Tuesday 25th & Wednesday 26th February 2020

Stockton-on-Tees - Vectis Auctions (2-day sale)
Fleck Way, Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees, TS17 9JZ
Tel. - 01642 750 616
Sales commence at 10:30hrs

Wednesday 26th February 2020

Wisborough Green - Bellmans Auctioneers and Valuers
Newpound, Wisborough Green, West Sussex, RH14 0AZ
Tel. - 01403 700 858

Other Events

There aren't many, so I've found a few historical type heritage things for the weekend which may interest some of you? And most of the stuff listed (in the first, condensed section of Other Events) last Friday is finishing this Sunday.

Thursday 20th (yesterday) - Sunday 23rd February

London - English Heritage - Hands On With History
Eltham Palace and Gardens, Court Yard, London, SE9

Saffron Walden - English Heritage - Hands On With History
Audley End House & Gardens, London Road, Saffron Walden, Essex
(lovely 'Roman' maze in the town park too - 5 minutes drive from A-E)

Whitby - English Heritage - Vikings! Swords and Stories
Whitby Abbey, Abbey Lane, Whitby, North Yorkshire

Web. - www.english-heritage.org.uk (all three events)
Interactive stuff, readings, displays, living history

Sunday 23rd February

Maidstone - MGM Fairs - Doll & Bear Show
Downswood Community Centre, Chiltern Close, Downswood, Maidstone, Kent, ME15 8XG
Linnet Lodge, The Village, Wembworthy, Devon, EX18 7RX (promoter)
Tel. - 07818 462448  
10:30-15:00hrs
Admission - adults/seniors: £2.50, children: 50p

Overseas Events

This Evening & Tomorrow all day

Warren (USA) - Great Lakes Comic Convention (GLCC)- The Ten-Year Anniversary Show 2010-2020
The Macomb Community College Expo Center, 14500 E. 12 Mile Road, Warren, Michigan
48088, USA
Admission;
Friday 21st - 17:00-21:00hrs
Saturday 22 - 10:00-18:00 (09:30hrs early bird admission)
Celebrity guests, signings etc . . .

Saturday 22nd & Sunday 23rd February 2020

Monroeville (USA) - Trainshow - Greenberg’s Great Train & Toy Show
Monroeville Convention Center, 209 Mall Blvd, Monroeville, PA 15146, Pennsylvania, USA
10:00-16:00hrs
Admission $10 both days, $9 Sunday only, under-11's free
Free Parking On-Site

If you are an event promoter/show curator/auctioneer and you want your toy, model, collectable, military, historical or popular-/youth-culture type sale/exhibition/event listed here -  FOR FREE  - or linked to; please eMail me -

maverickatlarge[at]hotmail[dot]com

- stating the date/s of the event, address of event, contact details, opening/viewing times, admission pricing and any other relevant facts/details or features - parking, travel notes, disability access, availability of refreshments, event subject matter &etc. And a link; if the event or your organisation has a web-page.

And please mention any flyer-art or poster-/leaflet-scans but send by separate eMail, in case they go to the 'junk' folder, from where they can be recovered and marked safe, but only if I know they're there!

H is for How They Come In

A slowish start to the week turened into a bit of a flood on Thursday (yesterday), but back to the ebgining and actually last Friday, in Basingrad which brought a total of five items . . .

. . . and I paid too much for the probably home cast (or commercially sold from home-casting moulds) aeroplane, which, to be fair, has some age. Triple-A rubber Panda, a Splinter pencil-top (or is he a duplicate Phidal?), a vinyl 'smallimal' and a resin fairy made up the days finds.

Thinking - on Monday-evening - it might be a quiet week, I took a few comparisons with another Panda that came in the other day, both holding breakfast . . . or lunch . . . or dinner; they don't eat anything else! And the wax fortress I got off Adrian a few years ago. The metal one could be an attempt at a Mosquito or a Beaufort, it's not that obvious either way; it could be one of those AFD Fokker's that's actually a Messerschmitt!

Then, on Tuesday I got two little 50p bags (top left), a 'ling/'ding/'ming's bag (with another Panda!) and a medievals bag which I should have left, the two down the bottom have gone already; one (ELC - damaged) in the recycling, one (Macky-D's lever-operated novelty) back to charity. I kept the two HTI's and the Papo 'Rikh'ard Cour de Leon', but the HTI's are definitely duplicates and Rich'urd's sword is bent!

Wednesday brought three larger bags from two shops, the first (both right) giving-up a bag of animals and a bag of dino's. The animals included two Schleich leopards (beautiful models), a triple-A, two MEG's and an A&A, along with a bunch of 'generics'. The dinos; a Triple-A and a load of anonymous types including three plaster-block dig-em-out skeletons, who still have clay-coloured plaster between their ribs!

The other shop's bag (bottom left) is probably all Phidal, and earlier stuff I think (2010's?), being smaller and base-less, but some of them may be from another, similar source and the two Steampunk-bird 'Pirates' are totally new to me!

Then I got three large bags from one shop on Thursday gone and the week had given-up kilos of stuff! There was a bag of ancients and medievals (bottom), a bag of Wild West (top) and a bag of mixed farm & zoo including insects, reptiles, amphibians and some dinosaurs - middle.

Each of which had some Crescent circus in! But the two in the 'wrong' bags are both damaged which may be why they ended-up in those bags?

The ancient/medieval bag could have been left really, although I think the black horse goes with the Supreme Wild West in the other bag, but the Marx and Cherilea are both beyond saving and I have most - if not all - of the foot Saracens, but only one mounted, so that's the highlight in the middle lot above.

To the right I can add Schleich Lions and a Tiger to my earlier Leopard, which is nice! Some marked Safari dino's, a Reliable bear (well, he wasn't that reliable he waited until the last minute to show himself, leading to late-night candle burning to get this done), and what I think is another Zowie (Okapi), for the post/s I haven't forgotten!

While on the left the highlight is probably the soft-plastic copies of Johillco's hollow-cast (the red-blue-yellow pile middle left) cowboys and Indians. It's all grist to the mill!

And I hadn't finished; paying too much for the smaller pair of the poultry at 50p each and adding a bisque Santa Clause on deer. The two ducks and swanny-goosie thing are professionally-painted hollow-styrene, while Mr. Clause seems to be pinned to his saddle by a pair of particularly sharp and pointy-pointy-thigh-pierce-annointy antlers!

Received with thanks

As you will have been aware last week, Chris Smith went the extra-mile with 'pony-tail' and it's all sorted, to my chagrin! While Brain B sent more Gnomes, more firefighters and other bits along with the Dino' we've already slotted into a post earlier this week, he also sent several lots this week including more firefighters; many thanks to both.

And this morning I took delivery of a fat bundle of catalogues and ephemera from Peter Evans, so many thanks to him too!

And Finally;

Oh! A bag . . . bags are a whole different kettle-of-ball-game-fish to boxes; they have lurking lurgies and must be checked right down to the sock-end!

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