SCHYLLING FUTURE CAR

Hello Woodsy,

Rather than 1974 this one is 2018. Dan Dare is to set the mood but the Yeoman Warder by Britains shows the size.

I've always had a soft spot for tinplate toys, these days they are really for adults not kids.

Regards,

Terranova47
NYC

GOING UP TOWN AGE 10 IN 1970

Its Saturday morning here in the UK.

At one time that meant one thing. Going up town with mates.

In my case it was Preston Town Centre.

I have no real feel anymore for when this started but I must have been able to catch a bus in a group of young lads. Maybe age 10 or 11? That would have made it 1970 or 1971.

First job was to catch a bus at the top of the road. A bus straight into town about a mile away. Later on we walked it in but not at the start.

I'd love to think that it was a double decker we caught where we hopped on at the rear and got a paper ticket from a conductor wearing a chunky metal machine on a strap.

Alas, I have a feeling it was a single decker with doors at the front and in the middle, where we got a ticket from the driver but I could be wrong.

Preston got a swanky new space age Bus Station around that time and I imagine single deckers were part of the overhaul.

The bus station was a bazaar of lost souls, posing teens and fussing mums. It was a right job getting through it.

Once out in the daylight again as a group we wandered to where it mattered most, the record shop. In our case it was Bradys opposite a grand and imposing Museum. 

Brady's had everything we needed, racks of minty new albums, trays of the latest singles, shelves of music cassettes and best of all, listening booths with huge clunky headphones!

It was a real Saturday rite of passage to hear a new rock band for the first time in the booth at Bradys. I remember Rush from Canada blowing me away in that small room full of mates desperate to hear too.

I just can't recall though if the booths had decks or did the sales gals and guys have a master deck, which our chosen album went on? Were we not trusted with mint vinyl and scratchy needles? Probably not!

I wonder if we ever listened to music cassettes in those booths instead of records?

After getting our fill of heavy rock and maybe buying some Emitex it was time for some refreshments. The order of the day was a ham finger roll and a vimto float, which we called a vimto and ice cream. The place to go was Bruciani's near the train station and Tommy Balls shoe shop.

Bruciani's was an Italian coffee house of the old school. Polished wood veneers, formica, round metal trays, steaming hot milk, whirling milk shakes, clinking cups, fresh rolls and boy, was the queue of youngsters eager to get to the goods.

"Vimto and ice cream and a ham bun please!"

I can hear it now and the prospect of that duo of goodness still fills me with happiness.

Just like me, I'm pleased to say that Bruciani's is still around and occasionally the two us meet up again.

Yep, I enjoyed going up town on Saturday mornings.

Did you readers?

TINY ROBBY ROBOT GUMBALL

I saw this motley crew on Etsy.

Among the spacemen are two small figures I've been eyeing up for years online.

The two figures in the egg shaped gumballs on the bottom row.

The figures are miniature plastic Robby the Robots!

Simply made I think they are terrific nevertheless.

I haven't got one though.

Have you?

TEENAGE TOILETRIES OF YESTERYEAR: CRAZY FOAM

Hello Woodsy

Following up on toiletries remembered, here is a photo I took last year. 

Crazy Foam is alive and well!

Terranova47

NYC

PAPER PLANES, BOATS AND FLYING SAUCERS

I recently had to fold a piece of paper 8 times.

I remembered that its impossible but a flood of memories came back about folding paper as a kid.

I was never a black belt at origami but loved to do the classic stuff, making paper planes and boats.

Paper Planes were a joy and flight competitions with my mates were a staple pastime. My planes were always the same, four folds to create an arrowhead. My mates experimented with wings and tails and even paper clips. I was never sure what the best fold was for distance but gave it a good go. Even Status Quo gave us a rock song to boot, Paper Plane!

I did see a more Sci-Fi version of the paper plane in a science lesson. It was a drogue, which was a new word on me. A drogue is a paper circle sliced along the radius and made into a very shallow cone, a sort of saucer, by way of a paper clip. If made correctly a drogue should float to the floor like an inverted parachute.

Less frequent but no less enjoyable were paper boats. Much harder to make, I adored watching them float down rivers and streams like something out of a Winnie the Pooh story. There's something quintessentially childish about paper boats, a sort of gentle vessel in which long summer days sail away until its time for tea.

I'm not sure I could fold a boat anymore though. Like Peter Pan, its something I've forgotten growing up, which is quite sad. Can you still fold a paper boat?

A much simpler version of basic sailing was pooh sticks. Not what it sounded, this involved mates chucking twigs into a stream to see which would the fastest or the furthest. Great fun as well and something I'm still partial to!

Did you fold paper much readers?

THE DAY THE RAMP STOOD STILL

Hi Woodsy 

Do you like Day the Earth Stood Still, the original?

That shot of the landing ramp sliding seamlessly out of Klaatu's saucer was achieved by plugging the seam with Plasticine and spraying it with silver paint to make the hull look unbroken! 

Cheers

Lewis

Australia

DARTH WADER

I had to chuckle when I saw this, the ducktrooper.

I got to thinking, if the whole of Star Wars was populated by ducks then what would the dialogue have been like?

What do you think readers?

HELTER SKELTER SPACEPORT

Moonbase Grandson has a new plastic helter skelter.

I modeled my LP space car on it.

It was a long photo shoot and the space car needed refueling.

For the final shot the FX went into overdrive!

Have you got a pictures of space toys on ramps and road towers?