LIGHTING UP OLD LONDON BRIDGE

 This is such an old flame for me.

I can remember this lighter as if it were yesterday but its actually 55 years since I recall it at my parent's house.

A big chunky hand-held lump of glass with a hidden surprise.

Here's one I saw online!

It contained bits of stone from the Old London Bridge!

I've no idea where this big cig lighter went but I do remember it!

Did your folks have one?

CAWTHORNE ANTIQUES

Spent the afternoon mooching round a local antiques centre in the lovely Barnsley village of Cawthorne. Here's a few of the goodies I saw in the aisles, floors and cabinets.

Go For Broke was always around when I was a kid. It may have even been my board game. A real blast seeing it again here!

Some lovely cars and soldiers with some discounts.

I really liked the red Rolls Royce to the left and the Corvette to the right, both £20 each.

The boxed horsebox was interesting.

Waddington's Starships was a new one on me, a board game from 1980.

Always good to see a boxed Pelham Puppet too.

These mint Superfast cars were a thrill but the prices, £25, weren't.

Annuals always draw me in. I never see a SWORD annual in these types pf shops anymore but there's usually a TV21 annual, this one here from 1973. Is that one you have? Interesting to see a No Hiding Place annual too, a TV programme I think I saw in the Sixties. You?

Cawthorne is a gorgeous heritage village and small water wells like this pepper the streets. There's also a fab small museum with an amazing selection of Samurai weapons!

After Cawthorne we hit the local charidee shops and I saw this interesting montage of model military planes set against a backdrop of a photographed Lancaster bomber flying over the beautiful Ladybower reservoir in the nearby Peaks. It must have been an amazing sight!

I bagged a twenty year old die-cast fantasy car made by Bandai for 50p.

All it needed was a little black and red dabbing. No idea what it is. Do you readers?

Have you got an antiques centre and charity shop near you?

HOWARD JOHNSON'S 2001 COMIC PROMOTION

 Here's a photo of  the Howard Johnson's restaurant chain 2001 tie-in comic that was on display at the London Kubrick Exhibition.

The Howard Johnson's  logo and it's fictional 'Earthlight Room' is fairly prominent on one of the walls of the seating area in Space Station 5.

Being from the UK, apart from the plug in 2001, I'm not familiar with the brand at all, in spite of the fact that Howard Johnson's was once the largest roadside restaurant chain in America. The restaurant's trademark was initially a Simple Simon and the Pie man character, followed a 'lamplighter' figure, to promote their motel chain. (In the film, the Lamplight was changed to 'Earthlight')

I've done a few close ups of panels from the page. 

The complete comic, which can be found online is obviously aimed at youngsters, and tells the story in comic strip form of two kids, Debbie and Robin attending a movie premiere of 2001: A Space Odyssey  and features the then children's menu, and a puzzle page. There's no sign of HAL or the Monolith, and definitely no star- gate! However, the evidence of extra-terrestrial life, and the mysterious signal from Jupiter do get a mention!

From what I gather  the last 'Hojo'  restaurant closed in 2017, however the Motel chain is still going under different ownership.

It does have some really nice comic artwork, I wonder if  a Hojo's Junior hamburger and a Hojo cola were as good?

DICTIONARY OF ARGENTINIAN TOYS

There is mention here of the Bichi Explorador Planetario, the Argentinian Moon Prospector toy.

You can search for it on this searchable slideshow dictionary of Argentinian toys. It'd be handy to have the relevant section translated.

https://issuu.com/superpibaar/docs/fecha_de_catalogaci_n_19_07_2010._daniela_pelegri

MARVEL'S MOVIES

I've been enjoying re-watching Marvel movies on Disney +. I think I saw each one of them at the cinema when they came out , some, like Captain America, years ago.

The individual films, specifically the origin stories, I enjoy the most. Iron Man, Thor, Hulk and as I say Captain America, the First Avenger were and are excellent big screen tales. Captain Marvel was a surprise hit with me as well, a super hero I knew little about.

My latest origin is The Winter Soldier, which again, I like more than I thought I would. Bucky is such an old Marvel character and the whole Captain America mythos has depth and appeal for me.

The exception so far has been Black Widow, which I had to turn off, despite Scarlet Johannsen's strong performance as Agent Rachmaninov, which is always a welcome addition to the Avengers stories. For some reason her origin movie wasn't that exciting for me. I will have to give it another go.

This leads me onto the Avengers movies themselves, where they are fully assembled and under the watchful eyepatch of Director Fury. I don't know specifically what it is but a few things start to affect my enjoyment. The dominance of Iron Man in most of them and the annoying habits he has, which Robert Downey Jr brings so vividly to life, start to grate on my nerves after a while. This includes the interminable aggro between him and Captain America. The other thing is the increasingly cosmic storylines, which take them away from Earth. Ultron, Infinity War, Endgame. All set on far-flung planets, with spaceships and aliens all over the place. I think I prefer the earthbound stories like Captain America's origin. I'm sure the space theme will grow on me the more often I watch these movies over time.

Do you like the Marvel movies? Which ones?

2001: SOUVENIR BROCHURE

 A look at the pages of the 2001: A Space Odyssey souvenir brochure :

K WEST

I saw a purse the other day with a metal logo lettered K WEST.

I've no idea what K WEST means on a purse but it immediately took me back to my youth as K. West means something to me from way back when.

Its the illuminated sign in the street above Ziggy's head on the LP cover of Bowie's Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars! I adored this record and still have the very same one! How sad is that!

Small world though eh!

No idea what K. West meant on the LP cover either - a Martian quest maybe? - but I will always remember the name!

Did you have Ziggy Stardust readers?

JANUARY SUPERFAST

 I bought this batch of old Superfast on Ebay this January.

It was a real bargain and loads of touch-up potential for me on these long winter nights.

So getting stuck in I used my new acrylic paint pens and my trusty Sharpies. Here are the results.

Some of the cars required more patching up than others.

No work was done to the Guildsman as I don't have the right pink. Its not too bad anyway.

The red pick up just needed a little sprucing up. The blue Lotus Europa was so scratched that I took Wotan's advice and painted it with my Humbrol midnight blue paint leftover from my Batmobile project.

I enjoyed helping all thise cars along, the racing mini, the police boat, the Marzal and more.

The Guildsman remains one of my fave Superfast, just like it was when I was a kid.

What do you think readers?