I had to use a torch to take the dog in the Moonbase garden.
It made me think of torches I had access to as kid.
The house torch in my parents house was a huge black rubber light canon which had buttons hidden beneath a membrane. It was ridiculously satisfying to click those buttons on and off.
The other long torch was a chrome monster with multi-coloured buttons. There may even have been a sliding button. All in all it looked like a light-sabre years before Luke lit up. It took at least eleven million AAAAAAAAAA batteries.
In the shed was another torch. Well it was more of a lantern really. I think it was made by PIFCO. Basically the lantern had a metal handle over a large opaque orange plastic light casing at the top of a metal base which contained a huge block battery borrowed from a Magnox reactor. I've no idea what this orange lantern was for.
Talking of orange light has reminded me of another lamp in the shed. It was a hazard light taken from a road-side somewhere. Looking like a a portable HAL it was a yellow U shaped metal container housing a bright red circular lamp. Random street engineering like this often turned up in people's sheds in those days. Plastic cones were popular late night souvenirs as well!
My own kiddie torches were all plastic and completely dedicated to fun.
The first was a small multi-coloured mini-torch, which were everywhere in those days. I can see the lamp collar now, a tapered cone like the caldera of a volcano. I think this one definitely had a metal slide button.
The other torch I had came with a set of plastic faces, which attached onto the bulb end so they lit up. There was a clown and I think a monster too. I've seen another version with a large skull's head as well whilst I've been collecting old toys.
I adored that light-up faces torch. Not only did the faces light up, I think the silhouette could be projected onto a wall but my memory of that is somewhat blurred.
Did you like torches as kids readers?
