Berwick, Yesteryear and the Mystery Oriental Archer

A recent ramble round the old Roman town of Castleford taught us a lot about Roman life in Northern England but there wasn't much in the charity shops.

I did see this jigsaw puzzle of a car I'm pretty sure I had as a Yesteryear as s kid. But what was it?

I also clocked this boxed draughts set by Berwick, who were a popular toy company when I was a kid. Did you have any Berwick toys? 

The box art screams the 1960's, a graphics style I love. Do you?

And I'm still trying to ID this action dolls dressed in oriental garb, complete with plastic long bow and quiver. He's about 12 inches tall, like an Action Man

 I've a female red ninja too. 

As per usual I should have bought all 8 or so figures the boot sale seller had but I just got the two. Returning to the same stall last week all the other figures had gone. Serves me right! 

There are no makers marks at all in the visible areas.

Any ideas who he is readers?

Chitty Chitty Bang Up

 A Spring visit with the Missus to the always-great Huddersfield Second Hand Market garnered three little nifty trinkets this morning.

For the grand total of £2.50, I picked up a fab Peggy Nesbit Mountie, a neat 007 badge (a particular film?) and a banged-up Corgi Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which was one whole pound!

There were many beat-up but neat die-casts from our childhoods on offer: SHADO3, SPC, Lunar Battle Chariot, Lunar Bug and Astro 1 to name a few, but with a price tag of a tenner each I gave them short schrift.

At £1, Truly Scrumptious made my day as I was desperate for a new and cheap DIY project.

Old Chitty's condition was pretty sh*tty tho, but it still had its fold-our plastic wings, snake horn and lever. The steering wheel too!

Ian Fleming's 'other' famous car may just work out yet!

(Where did the original movie car end up?)

So, Saturday afternoon was spent in die-cast heaven, jazzing up a toy I adored as a kid. 

I couldn't recall the plastic front and back wing attachments from my childhood, so I've not bothered making any.

Here's what I did come up with. Not perfect but hope you approve.

For fun here it is with the plastic Marx version I found at Doncaster car boot a few years back ( incomplete but I did get the inflatable wing rug!) and blogged at the time.

They're more or less the same size. Which do you prefer? Corgi or Marx?

Sunshine on Reeth

 We're currently enjoying the rejuvenating Spring sunshine in glorious wild Swaledale in North Yorkshire. 

After a long winter it's great to be out. With the Swale wending through it, Swaledale is a gorgeous river valley, great for easy 60+ rambling and eating yummy ice cream in the dale's capital, Reeth.

The Swale is a spate river and rises very fast in heavy rain. Today it was low as there's been very little of the wet stuff this May here. I think a dry season is upon us.

Have you much rain readers? 

On the ramble I saw this sign for Grinton.

It reminded me of Grimpen, the fictional hamlet where The Hound of the Baskervilles is set. Beware the Grimpen Mire!

Is it a film you enjoy too?

The local woolly jumpers were taking easy. Very sheepish they were!

The Swale even has its own Golden Gate bridge, from where the Misses, me and a fellow rambler watched trout in the greenish water.

Drystone Walls were everywhere.

Sunshine on Reeth. A lovely little market down surrounded by fells. Here you can unwind, rest your bones and scoff a Brynmor ice.

You can sit on one of the many benches, watch the dale go by or read. I'm reading the Plague Pit from 1981. The early 1980's was a golden period for British pulp horror paperbacks, the double threats of looming nuclear war and unemployment firing a slew of young writers to pen such paranoic classics as the Devil's Coach Horse, Locusts and the Sucking Pit. Mark Ronson's The Plague Pit is typical and perfect reading on a sunny afternoon!

Do you like pulp horror stories?

I wasn't sure if my trainers would cope with our ramble but they proved to be fine footwear for the easy valley stroll.

Looking at them brings to mind Kyle Reese's iconic Nike Vandals in the Terminator! Wonder if you can still get them?

Bothies abound too, small sheep sheds made of the local stone, which sit snug on the slopes within the fretwork of walls

My own stone memento was this painted pebble from Reeth Market. I just liked it's colours and shapes.

The central apple core-like pattern brought back very happy memories of being a teenage fan of Rick Griffin and his hippy posters like this for the Grateful Dead containing gorgeous halved pears complete with pips!

Do you like Rick's style?

Have you been to the Yorkshire Dales?

Staithes

The Missus and me are currently enjoying the late May Day afternoon in the small cove village of Staithes on the East Yorkshire coast, a marine gem just up from Whitby on the Teeside borderland. 

We're sat outside the local watering hole, the Cid and Lobster, brushing off Greenfly. There are millions of them swarming round!

Staithes is famous for many things: fine crab sandwiches, tasty kippers, cobble boats, cobble cake and the place where one Captain James Cook cut his teeth on the fishing boats. 

More recently in the mid Noughties national treasure Bernard Cribbins starred in the CBBC show Jacks Old Boat filmed here in Staithes. 

Is it a show you know? 

Captions Needed!

We're on the glorious Yorkshire coast this May Day: deck chairs, ice cream, trashy horror novel, the papers. The sun is out in force too! Enjoy your May Day wherever you are readers 

I saw these two shells next to each other on the beach just calling out for a caption! 

Wetherby, Hull and Fitzwilliam: Touring for Toys and Tat

 I picked this Ass pump toy clown at Fitzi boot sale recently. Hailing from the former East Germany the pump cable would usually make the clown do a sort of press up. My pumps broke.

Have you seen anything like it before? 

This book cover caught my eye. Is that a toy die-cast on the cover?

Waterstones in Hull had a decent shelf of graphic novels.

Modern remakes of some classic games.

A Hull icon now sadly shut, Bob Carvers chippy, home of the Hull pattie.

I would have loved this as a kid, dig out skulls! Great box art! 

And yep, the Spiders got a blue plaque at Hull Station.

We're you a Bowie fan?

Saw this trunk in Thorpe Arch. It's from New South Wales! 

And this lovely Zorro bagatelle came home with me today.

Do you like it?

Selby Saunter

A wander round one of our fave towns, Selby, is always fun and today I spotted a few things in the Charities that I thought I'd share.

This Chinese calligraphy set would have been a treat when I was a young teenager in my Kung Fu days. I think the ink rod is grated on the stone with water to produce usable ink. Not sure if the spoon is original. 

This charity had a great stock of old kids books ...

... Including Coral Island published by Bancroft. I loved this hardback as a kid and it's companion Treasure Island. Truly gorgeous cover art. Did you have any Bancrofts?

On the rear is a list of other classic titles.

This Hoppit game is a new one on me. Fabulous box art. I was tempted! 

Not sure what this large white Sports car was. Probably Barbie's ride. Or maybe the Captains?

These two old boxed models were in a window. Quite dear but they looked great I must say. Anyone know them?

This old Spaceflight book was interesting.

There's even a make your own ANT model double-spread! 

I came home with a 1970 softback on Tutunkhamun, £1, that I had as a kid and a boxed set of the Keaton/ Kilmer Batman movie CD's for £2, much cheaper than streaming.

We also bought a bureau.

See anything you like?