ZEITGEIST

I've just got back from a close family funeral overseas in Germany. 

Its been a trying week for the family but we sent my wife's father off with quiet dignity, now resting with his own beloved in a peaceful Friedhof in the Ruhr valley with a glimpse of the church spire under which they got married in in the 1950's across the city fields.

Thank you very much for your words of support readers. It meant a lot at a difficult time.

*

As you'll appreciate there wasn't much time for toys and collectables, although there was some much needed relief now and then from the business of bereavement.

The local Bahnhof bookshop is always interesting and captures the Zeitgeist. There is a avid readership of magazines and comics in Germany and the store reflects this.

Lots of mid-sized pulps covering horror, cowboys and romance, all produced in the country and all long established titles.

Modelling is popular and the two stand-out magazines on the shelf were Modell Panorama ..

... and ModellFan.

There used to be German toy collecting magazines but I couldn't see any anymore. Car Booting/ Flea Marketing is popular and that hobby still has its own magazines.

I was well impressed with the range of home-grown horror comics still being published like Horror Schocker and Feral. I'm unsure f there are any modern horror comics being published in the UK. What about your neck of the woods readers?

Phantom was there too and all had quite wonderful artwork.

These were in the wider Youth section of publications. You can see Pokemon and Genshin.

Marvel, DC and Star Wars are always popular too.

I didn't buy any comics or magazines. They are, like here in the UK, all quite dear and to be honest I have stacks of comics, mags and pulps in the attic.

This old red Feuerwehr Wagen in an antique shop window caught my eye too. Dated 1935 it looks to be home-made to me and an excellent job some old Opa has done too!

My late Father-in-Law would have liked it. The handiwork and perseverance would have appealed to him, attributes that helped him survive the horror of World War Two as a young boy evacuee on a farm in Munster.

Finally in this post here's a small item I did actually buy in a Charity shop, as a gift for a German friend who collects small wooden games.

Having Google Lensed it, this one is called Crazy Fours and there are 14,000 possible combination of colours using the multi-coloured dice. Just the green face is shown here. Beyond that I'm unsure how you play it but my friend seemed pleased!

There were a few more purchases whilst abroad and I shall blog them later.

Till then, auf wiedersehen.