NEEDLED

My new die-cast rocket transporter is getting to grips with my silo.

Here's the front end of my SpaceX Needle Probe on its way to the repair shop.

Its en route and may use a road near you!

VINTAGE DILEMMAS

Pick any of these and tell us what you think. Who do you prefer:

Thunderbirds or Captain Scarlet?

Star Wars or Star Trek?

Abbott and Costello or Laurel and Hardy?

The Munsters or the Addam's Family?

Irwin Allen or Gerry Anderson?

The Outer Limits or The Twilight Zone?

Action Man or Tommy Gunn?

GI Joe or Big Jim?

Bela Lugosi's Dracula or Christopher Lee's?

ALIEN or ALIENS?

Godzilla or King Kong?

The original Planet of the Apes films or the modern ones?

Superman or Batman?

Marvel or DC?

Dr.Who or Dr. Quatermass?

Callisto or Scorpio?

Zero-X or Fireflash?

Robbie the Robot or the Lost in Space Robot?

A-Team or Knight Rider?

LT-1: LITTLE TIKES TRUCK

I love the look of this early years truck I saw.

It has a real Thunderbirds vibe going on.

The LT in LT-1 stands for Little Tikes, the toys' brand.

We've come across the initials LT before. In LT-10.

But that's this Spacex toy, LT standing for Lunar Transporter.

Have you got any early years toys that are futuristic or spacey?

Have you got an LT-10?

YOUTH WORDS 1970

Continuing the blog's occasional look at youth culture, here are a few more words from my own youth in Lancashire in the Sixties. Rather than dialect I have gone for words young people like me and my mates used.

Hicky - a kiss-bite usually on the neck
snog - kiss
Neckin - lot of snoggin
Greaser - motorbiker
Mod - stylish soul youth
Rocker - like a Greaser
Headbanger - lover of heavy rock music
Zit - spot
Wuss - wimp
Wimp - softee
Hard - tough as is how hard is he really?
Bird - girlfriend
Crop - haircut
swat - nerd
Kecks - trousers
Togs - clothes
Clobber - more clothes
Brew - cup of tea
Scran, nosh, grub - food
Belm - tell a fib
Thom - tell another fib
Herbert - numpty
Talent - good looking guys and gals
Fit - good lookin
Band - group 
Peevish - mean
Boilin - hot
Corporation Pop - water
Spuggy, chuddy - chewing gum

Can you add any more?

MILLENNIUM STAR KING: HAN'S PINK FALCON

I imagine the number of Star Wars knockoff toys is as limitless as the hairs on a Wampa's back.

Here's a prime example, the Star King.

Looking a lot like a pink birthday cake, it appears to be a Millennium Falcon with something vaguely familiar slapped on top. A Klingon bird of prey maybe?

I saw this one on an online site ages ago. It has 8 space sounds!

Looking at the back of the box  there are two more mash-ups: one a USS Enterprise and the other a more generic flying saucer. Both of them have strange engine attachments like the Falcon.

What do you think of the Star King readers?

DO YOU STILL WATCH TELEVISION?

I heard two predictions recently: the household telephone will vanish completely in the UK within 5 years and similarly that terrestrial television will have ended within 20 years.

Both of these were king when I was a kid. Mates phones on the house phone [when my Dad took the lock off!] and I watched everything - Thunderbirds, Blue Peter, Department S, everything - on the telly. First black and white and from 1970, colour, bought for the World Cup!

But the ground is shifting.

Now our own house phone doesn't get used much at all, although it is an essential lifeline for an elderly member of our family, who rings us every night on it. I can't see the actual landline connection going though because we need it for our router, unless of course something else is invented.

As for the the telly I can see why such a prediction has been made. Young people have all but ditched TV in favour of You Tube, which they watch on a multitude of devices in their rooms. Traditionally programming isn't needed either. You Tube presenters can entertain kids for very little cost.

That's not to say that toddlers and infants don't watch telly. They do and the output from CBBC and CITV is good. Thunderbirds Are Go is currently on and my own Grandson loves Bing and Duggie on the TV.

But things are changing. At the expensive end of the revolution. Netflix and Amazon Prime are the heralds of a new programming, which all other TV channels will have to compete with. Many will fall by the wayside. Like our High Street shops, which are increasingly empty, the next generation of snowflake offspring will determine the future by how they loyally interact with social media and the internet and nothing else.

My own TV tastes are increasingly specific too. Much of what is on - countless channel's worth - is of no interest to me at all.  Increasingly I turn to You Tube and free offers on Amazon and Netflix to find a decent film to watch.

Having said that I rely on the TV for News and I watch it religiously in the evenings, which probably accounts for my permanently nervous disposition!

What do you think readers? Are house phones and the TV on their way out?

MORE PILOTS

More snaps of the Grandson's Dickie pilots test driving some of his toys!

RADIO CONTROL SPACE PATROL

I dunno, there's just something damn cool about this weird 80's toy.

Its a remote control six-wheeler by Dynamic Toys called Space Patrol.

Like the love child of an X-Wing and a FAB1, its got a an Andersonesque UFO  lure to it and it must look cool in action.

What do you think readers?