The Missus and I are off to the restored Ironfest now being held at Portland NSW. Aparrently It's smaller now, wirh no WW2 vintage armoured vehicles, jousting or Sydney Robot Makers this year!
Still, Portland is a lovely village, so we'll make the trip to see what's on offer.
First up is polishing my shoes. I used to have liquid polish for my school shoes, but I don't remember the brand.
I'm not too keen on craft fairs but Missus Moonbase is so I do visit them with her.
I usually get round the stalls quite quickly and then stand at the entrance rather awkwardly. I've nothing against crafts. They're just not my cup of tea although I do appreciate the time and effort put into them.
At one such fair in Helmsley on Saturday, stopping off whilst en-route home from the Moors, I saw perhaps the strangest crafted item I'd seen, at least at first sight: a rather nice metal Dalek zip fastener.
I first thought they were for trouser flies and wondered who would want a dalek dangling down there, but then I normalised and realised they were for zips on hold-alls, rucksacks and sweatshirts etc.
At a pound each I should have got one but my craft fair legs were already taking me out of the room.
My Missus was telling me she has similar twitchy legs when I drag her to toy fairs!
Do you like craft fairs and would you wear a dangling dalek?
The other day Brian F posted his great atmospheric snaps of Wildwood pier and rides in the New Jersey night.
It reminded reader Mish of the opening to TV's Journey to the Unknown from 1968 and I agree, its one creepy eerie fairground with a hauntingly whistled theme!
What do you think?
Episodes of this old nerve-tingling series on You Tube.
Another ghostly fairground appeared in Herk Harvey's 1962 weirdster Carnival of Souls. I've seen a colourised version of this film but I have to admit for pure atmosphere I prefer the black and white original, available gratis on You Tube.
One of my fave fairground takes appears in the opening titles of The Lost Boys, that vampire-fest starring the Two Coreys [Haim sadly died in 2010, Feldman still around] and one Keifer Sutherland from way back in 1987.
There is something eerily sorrowful about the whole idea that young immortals hang around their town's fairground. Yes, I suppose that's the Lost in the title, a reference to Rufio and the gang in Peter Pan, trapped in Neverland forever.
The theme Cry Little Sister has stuck in my mind ever since first seeing this flick in the late Eighties.
Thou shalt not fall! Remember?
Do you like the Lost Boys?
To round off this ride on the fell rim of night here's a tale from my own neck of the woods, the sad demise of Lancashire's own Disneyland, the medieval theme park Camelot.
As if built from straight from the pages of Michael Crichton's Medieval World, Camelot, with castles and candy floss, rose from the earth in 1983. I'd already left Lancashire for pastures new so I never got to sample the delight's of this northern treat in Chorley.
Alas, like the aging knights of the round table themselves, Camelot went to seed and closed its drawbridge in 2012.
Abandoned, Camelot has become a magnet for the curious. You Tube is bristling with urban explorations into its decaying splendour. Here's a more professional look behind the scenes from TV's the One Show.
Have you an abandoned park or fairground near you? Have you ever come across one readers?
There's an evening fairground in town and it got me thinking about how I was always drawn to the rockets and spaceships when I was a kid. If there was a supercar or a Thunderbird 1 on a carousel then I'd be in it!
Beyond the funfairs there were always coin-operated rockets to be boarded allover the place: in town, at petrol stations, outside shops and of course Blackpool Pleasure Beach. I recall there were always some along the coast's piers as well. They were everywhere! Wondering if there are any space rocket rides or coin-operated spaceships at fairs or town centres anymore I thought I'd ask you readers if you have any nearby or whether you enjoyed getting in or on them as a kid too?
.jpeg)
