Shite in Miniature II

[bunglebus]

38 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Zylmex (told ya!) 'California T' for another.

£15 - but looked very clean and complete

I'd be very interested in that - I have one in not so nice shape and I've been watching on on eBay too

Mine still has its headlights too

[Datsuncog]

I thought you might!

I'll hopefully be back down there before very long... as I'd also be interested in getting a price on that Gama Merc van for @Jon.

I wonder if staff discount still applies...

[danthecapriman]

Thanks for posting that @Datsuncog

Proper old fashioned model/toy shops like that seem to be getting fewer nowadays sadly. There used to be a few down here but all are gone now. Likewise, I used to go to a few in Doncaster years ago which have long gone now too. 
The sort of places you could spend hours searching through dusty boxes filled with all sorts of stuff. 
Being into trains and diecast models means there was a lot to interest me! I remember years and years back going into Fratton model centre in Portsmouth and rifling through such boxes and coming home with a Triang class 31 diesel locomotive and a motor-less Triang/Hornby Hymek diesel locomotive for not very much. 
I’ve still got them both somewhere! 
There was a similar place up in Doncaster where I went in with my Grandad one day, I ended up buying a load of Peco track, getting to the till and they had stacks of out of date model magazines (all with the date & barcode cut off their covers!) that they were giving away free to customers. I’ve still got those too! 
Great memories!

[TheOtherStu]

2 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

That looks to be a Canadian market packaging example, yes.  'Corgi Hockey trading cars!' is a bit of a tongue twister

These are the US releases

Same three models, Jaguar XJS, Porshe 911, Ford Mustang Fox body, different colours 

On the back are teams from both US and Canada, which proves the market in both territories as all must be part of the NHL then I assume.  So it ought to have been the IHL: International Hockey League!

'Crafted in Great Britain' makes me laugh.  Says 1989 above, that was a long run as this one says 1982 which fits the models better

Canada and the USA are very, very different countries.

Except when they play Basketball, Rugby-shaped-Football, Baseball, Hockey or Soccerball. In which case, they all play in the same league.

[Split_Pin]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

Just thinking about what happens to... stuff. The things left behind. The accumulations of a life. The personal meanings, the connections. What becomes of it all when those threads are cut? Just... fragments of someone else's joy, lying like glass splinters in the bottom of a crate, no longer whole. The data lost. File not found. Artefacts whose meanings can now only be guessed at.

The most poingnant thing I ever read was some stupid meme on a Nihilist Facebook page:

'One day someone will be the last person who ever thinks of you'

This is why it's important to write the names of people on the backs of old photographs, so that their identity and context of their existence is not lost. I was just telling this to my dad as it was especially at the forefront of my mind when we were looking through old photos a few months ago and at a time when I thought we might not have him for a lot longer (now thankfully understood not to be the case and he's doing well). I'm not sure how this problem can be managed in the digital age but at least all my wife's family photos on Facebook are captioned.

In terms of stuff, I try not to think about it. Thankfully nobody else in my family is into the old collecting stuff so the image of the broken dregs of their  once prized hobby in the bottom of a crate, out of context in a forgotten corner of a shop is not one I'll have to bear. I'll sort out my own collection if I'm lucky enough to know when it's the end of the beginning of my twilight years, holding onto only the most sentimental of items until the end. I'll make sure that alot of the rarer stuff like old Bburagos and obscure European plastic models go to someone who will appreciate them. Other stuff like Dinky and Corgi will always be popular I reckon and transcend the generations and will always find a new home.

[sierraman]

Funnily enough the Matra Rancho from @danthecapriman was well liked by my youngest. She thinks it’s amazing how the back seats recline with the lever underneath. 

[egg]

2 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

I had a tempestuous on-off relationship with one of the Saturday Girls who worked here

Please tell me it was Bangor lass Zoe Salmon?

[bunglebus]

Usual state of play in Tesco 

Although there is a deal on 5 packs

That used to be 2 for £12 I'm sure.

Did find another big Asda earlier with all the Majorettes but they'd been raided

[Datsuncog]

23 minutes ago, egg said:

Please tell me it was Bangor lass Zoe Salmon?

No... no it wasn't. That would have been one for the Crap Claims to Fame thread!

Though I did end up standing behind her in a queue for the car park pay station in Castle Court once, not long after she'd started on Blue Peter.

She was just complaining a lot.

[Datsuncog]

So, just to wrap this all up...

 

Apologetically, I explained to the Saturday Girl I was still having a bit of a look-round - then I moved quickly on to the pricing policy, since a few things I was interested in were unpriced. Specifically, that Gama Mercedes van...

"Ah, you'd need to speak to The Boss about those... but he's not in yet."

The Boss being David, the owner - and since he has a few stores in two different towns, plus other business interests, understandably he doesn't spend a lot of time standing around behind the till these days.

I advised that I should probably come back another day and have a chat with him.

"Oh, do you know him?"

At this point I had to confess I used to work here, like twenty-five... nearly thirty years ago.

A lifetime ago. Hell, I could feasibly have sold Hot Wheels and Lego to her parents when they came in with their pocket money.

As we headed back down the stairs, I also mumbled about how I didn't live locally anymore, but one of the regulars at the antiques and collectibles market up at St George's had mentioned that there was older stuff on offer down here these days, so I'd just come down for a quick look.

Ah yes, she knew The Nemesis too. He was a regular here as well.

Though, obviously, not under that nomenclature.

As I scuttled off, mindful that my parking time limit must be at the point of expiry, she helpfully advised that there were more old diecast in a case outside, in the entrance bit covered by the shutters earlier.

And indeed there were.

More Dinky and Corgi, in fairly good nick.

More boxed Spot-On, too, plus OOC and Atlas stuff - both buses and repro Dinkys.

But oof, dem prices.

I dunno what the business strategy is here - or even if there is one.

I suppose if diecast sales aren't really a priority, and these are just kept on display as a nod to the shop's past - but you can buy one if you really want - then I guess that makes some sense.

Bangor's in a bad way, and anything that might make someone passing-by stop and smile, as a pleasurable childhood memory is evoked, can only be a good thing.

So I went back to the car - unticketed, mercifully - with my head in a bit of a pickle, and my plans for the day awry.

I'd only planned to spend about an hour on early-morning diecast dickery on Saturday, as I had things to get and places to be. But since the shop hadn't opened until 10, it was now nearly 11, and I was half an hour away from home. Everything was in mild disarray...

I had milk on my shopping list, so on my way out of town I pulled over to grab a bottle of semi-skimmed and at least cross one thing off my list.

This just so happened to be the same little newsagent I'd mentioned a few weeks back. The one that used to keep late Lesney-era Matchbox in the counter by the door, in that style of packaging I still find so very evocative.

It's all different inside now, and the Lesney has long gone.

As I went to snap a picture of the car outside The Clandy, the heavens opened. So I scuttled back into the dry.

Such a familiar view. Some changes over the years, but... it's still basically the street I grew up on. Where my school was. Where we used to go shopping. Where the takeaway was that we used to get chips from.

But time's swift arrow, it flies on.

As @Split_Pin just alluded to, it's the points in life where big changes happen, or seem in danger of happening, that make us hyper-aware of so much that's usually kept beneath the surface. 

As it happens, my mum's been in and out of hospital lately too, and there's been a lot of frantic texts and worrying calls.

It's okay right now, but it's been a tricky few weeks for everyone. And raising thoughts about the future I'd sooner not dwell on.

And I know I need to be the one stepping up to keep the wheels turning, to contact my brother in London and keep him informed, and check up on how my dad's doing. And I know how things are going to be. I saw it with my parents and my grandparents, so I know how it plays out. And I know to focus on the good stuff, because there will be good stuff too. And we've been trying to maximise this.

I think I worry that my ongoing interest in little playthings is a sign of immaturity, or some refusal to grow up. A bit of a red flag. Or an inability to cope.

But at the same time, I guess I'm muddling through alright. Bills get paid, DIY gets done, there's food in the fridge. And even when difficult stuff arises... I've managed to push through. It's just this nagging feeling of... is this really it? All of it?

There's this photo of me, maybe about four or five, on my bike by the door of this shop, with my copy of Buttons comic. I should look it out.

After the weird temporal telescoping sensation from standing in McCulloughs for the first time in a long time, this gave me a further wobble. Just... occupying the same space, and the only difference being time.

I dunno what my younger self would think of me now. I dunno if I should, like, apologise to them or something. Because I'm not exactly a success. The ADHD thread here indicates a surprisingly strong connection between so-called 'gifted kids' and chaotic adults with impulsive streaks and focusing issues.

I'm not the writer I thought I'd be. And I don't yet have a Lamborghini Countach, which was a definite ambition when I was about five. I'm not sure the Corolla would have made the list for a second choice.

But I did have three new model cars to take home with me - and a bun. 

And I know for a fact my five-year-old self would have been very happy about all of that.

So maybe I'm not so much of a failure, by that metric.

I dunno.

In a final act of sympathetic fallacy, with the rain drumming on the roof and my phone hooked back into the roffle-win Pioneer stereo, for some reason Spotify's randomised suggestion list queued up an old Pavement track.

Now, I'm not much of a Pavement fan; I had some of their later singles, but to be honest I generally find Stephen Malkmus' word salad lyrics and faintly whiny voice a bit off-putting.

But this one just hit me right between the eyes.

And I've had it on repeat for the rest of the weekend.

Come join us in a prayer/ we'll be waiting, waiting where/ everything's ending here.

And... what else can we do?

I guess a guess is the best I'll do.

Ah now.

Hopefully normal service will be resumed next week, kids.

Yeah, I don't think I can take much more of this introversion nonsense either...

 

This midlife crisis was brought to you by Bangor Abbey Car Boot Sale, McCulloughs of Bangor, The Singing Kettle Bakery, and The Clandy convenience store.

And the colour Grey, and the number 10.

But not the twonk flogging the overpriced Matchbox in Main Street.

He can do one.

[Split_Pin]

My dad once said to me "Never look back". I thought it was an odd thing to say as I have a lot of good memories that I enjoy recalling. Reading the above has been a bit of a lightbulb moment though, insofar as I think he meant 'never go back'. 

I don't think there's anything immature about toy cars either. I probably didn't have a proper girlfriend until I was in my early 20s because I was never too cool for diecast. All through my teens, even although I was definitely interested in girls, my interests were always 50/50 occupied by the monthly Swapmeet or a visit to the model shop against whoever it was I fancied that month. In my later teens I think I had impossible standards too, lusting after some singer or actress off the television 😂. I don't regret it at all and my wife knows that I'll never change now either.

[egg]

14 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

As it happens, my mum's been in and out of hospital lately too, and there's been a lot of frantic texts and worrying calls.

Best wishes to your ma, and always appreciate your posts on here. 

[bunglebus]

Having a scuttle around the charity shops in Hall Green near my dad's. Spotted this, in a display case so not going to be pennies, maybe a tenner?

FORTY NINE NINETY NINE

[bunglebus]

Sick squid for three tatty Corgis. Christ

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

I know for a fact my five-year-old self would have been very happy about all of that

Inner 5 year old is the only important thing ultimately. I don't have a proper job, or own a house, but like you the bills get paid and mouths are fed, and I enjoy finding tatty old toys and sharing them virtually with like minded adult children on the Internet. 

The way I look at it, you're only here once so you might as well enjoy yourself, whether that means hitting a ball with a stick and going to find it, wearing a plastic shirt to show your allegiance with a group of overpaid men who run around a field or rummaging in dusty boxes looking for someone else's old playthings.

[danthecapriman]

@Datsuncog

Firstly, I hope your parents are and will be ok. It’s something that certainly occupies your mind when someone becomes ill or in/out of hospital.

Secondly, I wouldn’t worry about the ‘success’ thing.   
Trust me when I say I’ve had exactly that on my mind, a hell of a lot, over the last couple of decades! 
Why am I not earning as much as XYZ?, Why does everyone else have a better job/life/opportunity than me?, Why is my life so different to everyone else’s?, I’m nearly 40 and have childish hobbies?, Why doesn’t any member of the opposite sex like me!?, Etc etc. Believe me when I say I’ve had much much deeper and more dark thoughts and questions about my life up to now too… needless to say going on like that is not a good way to carry on, and, sure enough, nearly two years ago it did come to a head and I was on the cusp of putting an end to this problem I’ve got with myself permanently. It was not a nice point in my life. 
Of course I didn’t, I’ve managed to get a bit of help and medication to help and have (I think!) improved since.

But my point is, 

You need to just accept in life there is no ‘normal’, just you and what you are and do. If you like collecting old toys, why the hell not!?! If I like playing with model trains, why the hell not!?! 
There is an expectation in life (which isn’t helped by social media etc) where people are expected to be XYZ and do ABC with their life. But that’s all a load of shit in reality! As long as your happy and healthy fuck the rest of it. 
I’ve spent absolutely years worrying about why I’m never measuring up or don’t compare well with my peers and all the rest of it. It drives you mad sometimes, especially when you think about why your life hasn’t panned out as you always wanted/thought it would.   
Sometimes you just have to accept your lot I think. I’ve got a roof over my head, I’m healthy (mostly anyway!), my family are great and I enjoy myself with my hobbies - which collecting old toy cars and making models is a good one! Oh, and I’ve got outstanding taste in cars and music🤣. 
More recently I’ve realised that while everyone else is busy playing happy families and conforming to the expectations of life I’m able to give that a nice big ‘Fuck you’ and do the things I want to do instead.   
Of course I still have my moments where the thoughts from before come back again and I get down and fed up or I miss something I don’t have/won’t ever have, or wonder what might have been if I chose a different path in life, but you can only move on and do the best you can. You can’t change things in the past.

Ive actually just received a few Corgi Mini’s that I shouldn’t have bought, but they made me feel happy so why not! What do other people think? I really don’t care tbh. I like it and that’s what matters. 
I enjoy building my model railway even if others think it’s geeky and sad.   
I like having my old cars and just driving them or working on them. 
Etc Etc.

Slightly off topic rambling over! Just my perspective…

[danthecapriman]

Here’s the Mini’s to make up for the last load of drivel!

[bunglebus]

Talking of which, I did buy a rather spendy bag of diecasts, probably out of frustration at not scoring the Polo cheaply.

Blackwalls 924 and Datsun are the best finds but a couple of the Matchbox are pretty decent too

[Dick Cheeseburger]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

So, just to wrap this all up...

 

Apologetically, I explained to the Saturday Girl I was still having a bit of a look-round - then I moved quickly on to the pricing policy, since a few things I was interested in were unpriced. Specifically, that Gama Mercedes van...

"Ah, you'd need to speak to The Boss about those... but he's not in yet."

The Boss being David, the owner - and since he has a few stores in two different towns, plus other business interests, understandably he doesn't spend a lot of time standing around behind the till these days.

I advised that I should probably come back another day and have a chat with him.

"Oh, do you know him?"

At this point I had to confess I used to work here, like twenty-five... nearly thirty years ago.

A lifetime ago. Hell, I could feasibly have sold Hot Wheels and Lego to her parents when they came in with their pocket money.

As we headed back down the stairs, I also mumbled about how I didn't live locally anymore, but one of the regulars at the antiques and collectibles market up at St George's had mentioned that there was older stuff on offer down here these days, so I'd just come down for a quick look.

Ah yes, she knew The Nemesis too. He was a regular here as well.

Though, obviously, not under that nomenclature.

As I scuttled off, mindful that my parking time limit must be at the point of expiry, she helpfully advised that there were more old diecast in a case outside, in the entrance bit covered by the shutters earlier.

And indeed there were.

More Dinky and Corgi, in fairly good nick.

More boxed Spot-On, too, plus OOC and Atlas stuff - both buses and repro Dinkys.

But oof, dem prices.

I dunno what the business strategy is here - or even if there is one.

I suppose if diecast sales aren't really a priority, and these are just kept on display as a nod to the shop's past - but you can buy one if you really want - then I guess that makes some sense.

Bangor's in a bad way, and anything that might make someone passing-by stop and smile, as a pleasurable childhood memory is evoked, can only be a good thing.

So I went back to the car - unticketed, mercifully - with my head in a bit of a pickle, and my plans for the day awry.

I'd only planned to spend about an hour on early-morning diecast dickery on Saturday, as I had things to get and places to be. But since the shop hadn't opened until 10, it was now nearly 11, and I was half an hour away from home. Everything was in mild disarray...

I had milk on my shopping list, so on my way out of town I pulled over to grab a bottle of semi-skimmed and at least cross one thing off my list.

This just so happened to be the same little newsagent I'd mentioned a few weeks back. The one that used to keep late Lesney-era Matchbox in the counter by the door, in that packaging I still find so very evocative.

It's all different inside now, and the Lesney has long gone.

As I went to snap a picture of the car outside The Clandy, the heavens opened. So I scuttled back into the dry.

Such a familiar view. Some changes over the years, but... it's still basically the street I grew up on. Where my school was. Where we used to go shopping. Where the takeaway was that we used to get chips from.

But time's swift arrow, it flies on.

As @Split_Pin just alluded to, it's the points in life where big changes happen, or seem in danger of happening, that make us hyper-aware of so much that's usually kept beneath the surface. 

As it happens, my mum's been in and out of hospital lately too, and there's been a lot of frantic texts and worrying calls.

It's okay right now, but it's been a tricky few weeks for everyone. And raising thoughts about the future I'd sooner not dwell on.

And I know I need to be the one stepping up to keep the wheels turning, to contact my brother in London and keep him informed, and check up on how my dad's doing. And I know how things are going to be. I saw it with my parents and my grandparents, so I know how it plays out. And I know to focus on the good stuff, because there will be good stuff too. And we've been trying to maximise this.

I think I worry that my ongoing interest in little playthings is a sign of immaturity, or some refusal to grow up. A bit of a red flag. Or an inability to cope.

But at the same time, I guess I'm muddling through alright. Bills get paid, DIY gets done, there's food in the fridge. And even when difficult stuff arises... I've managed to push through. It's just this nagging feeling of... is this really it? All of it?

There's this photo of me, maybe about four or five, on my bike by the door of this shop, with my copy of Buttons comic. I should look it out.

After the weird temporal telescoping sensation from standing in McCulloughs for the first time in a long time, this gave me a further wobble. Just... occupying the same space, and the only difference being time.

I dunno what my younger self would think of me now. I dunno if I should, like, apologise to them or something. Because I'm not exactly a success. The ADHD thread here indicates a surprisingly strong connection between so-called 'gifted kids' and chaotic adults with impulsive streaks and focusing issues.

I'm not the writer I thought I'd be. And I don't yet have a Lamborghini Countach, which was a definite ambition when I was about five. I'm not sure the Corolla would have made the list for a second choice.

But I did have three new model cars to take home with me - and a bun. 

And I know for a fact my five-year-old self would have been very happy about all of that.

So maybe I'm not so much of a failure, by that metric.

I dunno.

In a final act of sympathetic fallacy, with the rain drumming on the roof and my phone hooked back into the roffle-win Kenwood stereo, for some reason Spotify's randomised suggestion list queued up an old Pavement track.

Now, I'm not much of a Pavement fan; I had some of their later singles, but to be honest I generally found Stephen Malkmus' word salad lyrics and faintly whiny voice a bit off-putting.

But this one just hit me right between the eyes.

And I've had it on repeat for the rest of the weekend.

Come join us in a prayer/ we'll be waiting, waiting where/ everything's ending here.

And... what else can we do?

I guess a guess is the best I'll do.

Ah now.

Hopefully normal service will be resumed next week, kids.

I don't think I can take much more of this introversion nonsense either...

 

This midlife crisis was brought to you by Bangor Abbey Car Boot Sale, McCulloughs of Bangor, The Singing Kettle Bakery, and The Clandy convenience store.

But not the twonk with the overpriced Matchbox in Main Street.

I think several of us on this thread are of a similar mindset to you. Don't beat yourself up over it. As Sheryl the Crow once said, if it makes you happy, it can't be that bad. 

[Datsuncog]

47 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

My dad once said to me "Never look back". I thought it was an odd thing to say as I have a lot of good memories that I enjoy recalling. Reading the above has been a bit of a lightbulb moment though, insofar as I think he meant 'never go back'. 

I don't think there's anything immature about toy cars either. I probably didn't have a proper girlfriend until I was in my early 20s because I was never too cool for diecast. All through my teens, even although I was definitely interested in girls, my interests were always 50/50 occupied by the monthly Swapmeet or a visit to the model shop against whoever it was I fancied that month. In my later teens I think I had impossible standards too, lusting after some singer or actress off the television 😂. I don't regret it at all and my wife knows that I'll never change now either.

Yeah - I can see that there's a subtle but important difference between looking back, and going back. Maybe Saturday kinda blurred the boundaries a bit, especially as I'd been just dwelling on a lot of stuff lately.

But maybe there's been a catharsis, of sorts, stemming from all of this.

I think I'm feeling a good bit better just to get it all out, messy though it undoubtedly is. Cheers for reading my meandering drivel, folks.

I did go through a cringe phase when I was about sixteen or seventeen and packed away all my models, after receiving some barbed comments from schoolfriends I'd unwittingly invited back to my house and who'd seen my shelves full of Corgi and Matchbox. It was about fifteen years before I retrieved them from my folks' attic and unwrapped them again.

Still, at least I was able to do that - The Nemesis' chilling tale about taking a hammer to his entire collection just to 'prove' he wasn't still interested in model cars to his wee mates is the stuff of nightmares.

There was also a somewhat unnecessary comment from an ex that she found it "absolutely pathetic" for a grown man to collect children's toys, and that's one of those nasty little things that likes to swim back into my mind every now and again. Talk about a buzzkill.

I wonder what might have happened if, for a while, I hadn't been basically shamed out of something that'd been a lifelong passion?

MrsDC's degree of tolerance and forbearance of my diecast habit varies depending on how annoying or lazy I am in other household areas - after a bit of a bump a year or two ago, we've kinda settled on a mutual agreement that she doesn't mind what I do with model cars and lorries so long as she doesn't have to see them or deal with them all over the house, and that I don't prioritise toys to the detriment of other previously agreed objectives - see Friday's bathroom-delivery misery as a worked example.

And I did get the rest of the shopping alright on Saturday, and I was still home in time for third-breakfast, so that was ok.

42 minutes ago, egg said:

Best wishes to your ma, and always appreciate your posts on here. 

Cheers dude! She's home at the minute, and is doing alright so far. Just a bit up and down at times, but hopefully more ups are in the pipeline!

[eddyramrod]

@Datsuncog

@Split_Pin

@danthecapriman

I completely understand!  While that may not be much practical help, please take it as reassurance.  Someone is on your side, and will always have a cuppa and a bacon butty for you if you happen to visit...

And, crucially, will be happy to chat endlessly about old diecasts while consuming said comestibles.

If you don't manage to visit, get some of your cars out, make yourself a brew and read some of my postings on the subject (or in fact, anybody's; take this entire thread!).  You are not alone.  I am not alone!  Just that knowledge is enough to lean on through the tribulations modern life throws at us.

@Datsuncog: best of luck with your family issues too.  I hope it all works out.

[bunglebus]

22 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

There was also a somewhat unnecessary comment from an ex that she found it "absolutely pathetic" for a grown man to collect children's toys

Ex for a reason. Most of us have hobbies and ours is entirely harmless. I don't do sports and don't get it at all but each to their own.

[egg]

22 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

I did go through a cringe phase when I was about sixteen or seventeen and packed away all my models, after receiving some barbed comments from schoolfriends I'd unwittingly invited back to my house and who'd seen my shelves full of Corgi and Matchbox. It was about fifteen years before I retrieved them from my folks' attic and unwrapped them again.

Kinda have a story like that, my next door neighbour was in same year as me at school.  He started spreading it around class that 'x still plays with toy cars' because he 'caught' me in the garden with some when I was maybe 12 - almost certainly with my little bro who would have been 9ish at the time.  

Then and now, I don't understand the motivation for creating the rumour. But, then truth is I don't really understand most people

[Datsuncog]

Just going through Saturday's pics again and realised I left this one out from the Tatcave exploration.

Not exactly cheap, but definitely glorious.

Bit dusty, mind.

But the opening bits are pretty good.

1/25 scale bigness.

What a cracker.

[Split_Pin]

I remember a horrible ex that  I had, almost 20 years ago now thankfully. 

Although she tolerated my diecast habit (she was deeply unpleasant in most other ways though), one of her stupid friends was in our flat and looked disparagingly at my Corgi 'Routemasters in Exile' set and said "You collect buses as well?". After my ex and she went out to wherever it was they were going her she obviously said something along the lines of 'you need to get rid of him, he's a weirdo' or similar, which fed her overall desire to cheat on me and generally be an absolute calculating snake until she eventually left.

After that, rather than be ashamed of my hobby I dug my heels in further and once I'd moved back in with my parents and had lots of free income, I must have bought at least five diecast a month for the next year and I absolutely didn’t regret it one bit.

My now wife knew right from the start what my hobbies were as when we met I already had my own house which was heavily populated in every room with cars, trucks and buses.  When she moved in I did consolidate them to one room and a shelf in the hall so that she could add in her possessions which was fine but thankfully all she does is chuckle when I get another parcel in the post or find an elusive HotWheels at the Supermarket.

Everyone else seems to be into either sport, cooking or travel but they can all get fucked.  I love my hobby and I love this wee corner of the Internet where we can freely discuss an unusual Superfast variation, a hard to find Darda or how we all dislike Lledo Days Gone.

It's the true meaning of being in the same page.

[flat4alfa]

7 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

What a cracker.

Roberta agrees so much she bought an outfit to match

She also has her matching Green Gazelles ready for Tat Friday 

[flat4alfa]

6 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

But this morning, I complained about being too busy to repair a front window, so she had words.

[MiniMinorMk3]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

Having a scuttle around the charity shops in Hall Green near my dad's. Spotted this, in a display case so not going to be pennies, maybe a tenner?

FORTY NINE NINETY NINE

That is just an Altaya magazine part work model. Would have retailed for about £10-£15 originally. £50 is taking the Michael.

1 hour ago, danthecapriman said:

Here’s the Mini’s to make up for the last load of drivel!

I have a yellow No.7

18 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Just going through Saturday's pics again and realised I left this one out from the Tatcave exploration.

 

Not exactly cheap, but definitely glorious.

 

What a cracker.

That was well worth the asking, very nice.

[danthecapriman]

22 minutes ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

That is just an Altaya magazine part work model. Would have retailed for about £10-£15 originally. £50 is taking the Michael.

I have a yellow No.7

That was well worth the asking, very nice.

Did they have a number that the model was actually meant to be? Or did they just slap whatever number sticker they had to hand at the time on? So far I’ve seen the primrose and blue Mini with numbers 1, 3 and 7 on them. I think my blue one has number 1 stickers on.

That green Mini Magnifique in my pic is, eventually, going to be repainted a different colour (inspired by @eddyramrod purple velvet one!) once I’m in a position to strip it down and paint it of course. Needs a few repairs to the bumpers and the doors and boot lid are very loose so I’ll have a look at tightening them up a bit if I can too.

[bunglebus]

Not a lot else of interest around the dwindling number of charity shops here - there used to be something daft like 18 along one street, now it's half that with some noticeably empty units scattered about

Corgi Cossie for a score

Comedy proportioned Triumph 2000

Fisher Price, and over priced