Today me and Missus Moonbase had a classic winter's day drive to the old spa town of Harrogate in North Yorkshire. Its only about an hour away from us.
Having looked in on our sweet new baby Grandson and dropped our Daughter's doggy off at her house we were free to go mad.
Besides the grand spa architecture and quaint streets, what we like about Harrogate are all the charity shops! There are loads, which is odd as its such a well-to-do town.
Oxfam is even divided into a book shop and a music store in two separate locations and it was in the bookshop that I made my one charity shop purchase of the day, which I was thrilled about.
I have blogged before about the horror books I still have from childhood and my favourite was always Ian Allen Film Album 2: Horror, so I was bowled over to see a copy in Oxfam's shop window.
My older Brother Ste got me my original copy Christmas 1972. I was 12.
In the window it was with some rare World of Horror magazines from the 1970's. I planned to look these up in my horror magazine guides.
I went inside the shop and thumbed through the lot. The book and the magazines were £7.99 each, which being an adopted Yorkshireman, I thought was a bit steep so we went for something to eat.
Inevitably that book wouldn't leave me alone as I ate my spaghetti. I still have my original copy bit its falling apart. This new copy was almost mint. By the time we'd paid the restaurant bill [now that was steep!] I'd decided to go back and get that book!
The icing on the cake was that I'd read the price wrong. The shop assistant said it was just £2.99! A Yorkshire Bargain!
And so a lovely minty copy of Ian Allen's Horror will now sit next to my own battered childhood version, which will drop to bits one day soon!
Harrogate also boasts comic shops, a small vintage toy store and a huge retro furniture and objects shop. Among the vast array of pleasing items I clapped my eyes on were:
Vac Man, the arch enemy of Stretch Armstrong, a completely new Stretch toy to me;
a ROM comic, which I immediately realised must have been the origin of the old ROM toy figure I know of
and a load of loose mini Boglins, which our daughter used to love as a kid in the Eighties.
The final vintage experience of the trip was driving home through the old village of Follifoot near Harewood House.
When I was a kid in the Seventies I used to watch Follyfoot Farm on UK TV and Missus Moonbase watched it on the Continent too! We both loved it and it was one of a number of horse-based kids' TV shows from around the world like Black Beauty, White Horses and Champion The Wonder Horse.
Follyfoot Farm was filmed near the village of Follifoot and it brought back memories of those brilliant afternoon television programmes for kids in the early Seventies.
Follyfoot always reminds me of a mint boxed Aurora model kit I found at a car boot sale about 20 years ago. It was called Black Fury, King of the Wild Horses, which always made me think of Black Beauty.
In turn that kit always makes me think of another Aurora kit, Confederate Raider.
Both were featured in one of the first vintage toy catalogues I got through the post from a guy called Andy Foley who ran the brilliant mail order company TV Toy Zone.
The Black Fury kit ended up on the models section of my toy fair stall in the late 90's, along with the Wolfman and the Airfix Monkeemobile!
Its funny what you think of driving to Harrogate! Have you got a favourite town for charity shops readers?
Yes, but I'm not telling!
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