P is for Papo's Pot of 40mm Plastics

Picked this up, reduced, at a garden centre a while back, I visited a couple this afternoon and picked-up some useful tree decorations, but nothing Halloween, nor any new toys, or novelties, but I like to keep an eye on them!

 

I think we saw these when they were first released at the London Toy Fair at Kensington Olympia, but that particular lot of shots may still be in the long queue . . . Doh! Anyway, we've seen the 40mm Pirates, probably not all of them yet, but most now? These are the farm!

 

Horse rider and horse, I think we've had her come-in with a mixed lot at some point, so she can go in the swaps pile, once I've everything together and sorted, the poultry, however are a tad big in my opinion, they could chase that calf 'till its heart gives out!

 

Heavy horses.

 

Everybody else! That's it box, or Toob, ticked!

S is for Scary-Monsters and Super-Creeps

Sung in a nasal voice: "She had an horror of rooms...full of toys!"

The term 'Rubber Jigglers' tends to brings to mind small hideous finger monsters, usually made of a semi-transparent silicone- or similar-rubber in an orange, flesh or khaki shade, over-sprayed with blobs of colour, maybe with eyes dotted in, but they have a term of their own 'Finger Monsters'!

The jigglers label extending out to various other cheapie toys (confined to capsule/gum-ball machines and shop-stock boxes or cards, rather than the smaller cracker and premiums type novelty sources) made of soft, synthetic-polymer, rubberised materials, which jiggle as they are moved, played with or dangled from an elastic cord.

We looked at a bunch of the sucker-fitted ex-LP sculpt jigglers a while ago, a large ant/bug thing the other day and I'm working on a page for the finger puppets (just because I say they're hideous doesn't mean I don't collect them!), but there are also more realistic jigglers, these constitute a quick overview:

Spiders, lizards (or are they newts?), frogs (not illustrated) a frog-monster, bats, snakes, all firm favourites with the William Brown type schoolboy of any generation in the last 50 years. But; leave them in a styrene capsule too long and they'll eat it with the same power an Airfix Tiger tank's tracks had, to eat their host, in the same era!

This is an early window walker, quite a popular novelty now, they can be much larger with ball extremities to flick-over and walk down the wall. This one on the other hand moves very slowly, and has leaked an unstable fluid into it's instruction-sheet over time, yet remains as sticky as ever! It's also tiny.

Three snakes, one a modern ethylene one (small, pale blue, semi-flat/relief design), you may well find in your cracker in 11 days time, under him is a 1970's classic in stretchy jade-green rubber (the only true jiggler in this trio) and under him is a more realistic 1990's dense PVC model with a half-hearted paint-job. We saw the spiders the other day, but boy; could you get you mother/sister/aunt to scream with a well timed reveal of a jiggling spider!

Mookies

"So, er, what you doin' over there mate, cutting the hedge huh? Don't spo'se yer'd like to wander over 'ear a mo and pop some of that grass over the wire fe'rus wouldja? We're gern'na make cutlets yer know? Yeh, we're being trained up ter make cuttlets...sumin like fairy-cakes in'ey, sumin you eats any'ow!

A bit of seasonal wildlife!

Well, that Hedgehog I woke in November while re-building the sheds, came and forgave me the other evening, just as I drew up in my new (old!) car, so I jammed-on the anchors and shot out with the camera ready and got a couple of good shots off before he/she (I'm sure it's a 'she' but have no idea why!) dived under the hedge behind!

Driving up the lane the other lunchtime these lot were crossing the road, so again; Brakes on, pocket, camera, and got this half-decent long-shot as they followed the hedge-line at the other side of the field.

These were all over the place about a week-and-a-half ago, most were hanging out of Holly trees in a heavily wooded area. while several ended-up on my jumper! One was on a lime tree having a good nosh, and the other was climbing an ash, don't know what they are - could be a moth, or one of the Whites? Looking at the book it could be a Small Heath or one of the Browns...

These are the calves of a rare breed a Farmer has in a field over by one of my clients places near Brightwalton, they did look even sweeter three weeks ago, little four-legged baby-bears, but they are starting to look like cows now! Couldn't get a photo the first time I saw them. I think they are 'Highland Long-horns' but I'm no cattle expert...

...except to say that Aberdeen Angus raised on natural pasture above island cliffs make the best roast I've ever tasted, marbled with crispy yellow veins of fat...mmmmm, not Matterson's!