CLEMENTONI'S BLACK HOLE

I saw this Clementoni Black Hole board game and thought, I've not seen that before.I do like the box art.

Anyone got this Italian game?

THE MINI ANASTASIA TRAIN SET BY BURGER KING

I came across this wonderful mini train set, and thought it would be of interest to all those readers who like to combine Christmas and toy trains. The top of the locomotive and all the carriages being topped with snow.

Anastasia was a 20th Century Fox animated movie, which came out in 1997. It was based - pretty loosely by the looks of it - on the life of Grand Duchess Anastasia (youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II), who was rumoured to have survived the murder of her family following the Russian Revolution in 1917.

The Burger King fast food chain released a series of toys to go with the film, and this mini train set was one of them. It is powered by a single AA battery which fits inside the locomotive.

There are six pieces of black plastic track (four curved, and two straight), which clip together. The track even includes moulded ballast.

The train consists of a locomotive, with a 2-6-2 wheel arrangement. The toy actually runs on four small wheels hidden in the underside.

There is a tender; a passenger carriage; and finally a guard's van (caboose). Manufactured by Equity Marketing, Inc., Los Angeles, California, but Made in China.

The underside of the locomotive says MFG for BKC - TM & © 1997 FOX - MADE IN CHINA. This is followed by a group of letters and numbers I cannot read.

Oddly, there is no mention of Burger King anywhere on the packaging. The instructions for changing the battery are printed on the back of the box.

This You Tube video shows the set in action. It also gives an idea of just how tiny the set is - the oval of track being about 18 inches across.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=UzH6wHLNizI

A great looking toy.

Six photographs from Worthpoint and Ebay.

Paul Adams from New Zealand's Summer

Christmas Snacks

Food from Christmas past. Ah, the kitschy nibbles I miss so much, the party food that made Sixties and Seventies Yuletides swing.

Here are a few of my festive favorites.

Vol-au-Vents. Yes, those flaky cups of gooey goodness, vol-au-vents were the fanciest horses doofers around. Puff or choux or flaky - who knows - but oh, was that baked beaker so damn good when it was chock-full of creamy mushrooms, topped with a pastry disc like a school cap. Good God they were tasty. I haven't had one since 1976 and miss them every day.

Celery sticks with cream cheese. My, these simple batons of chlorophyll were mightily snackable when ladened with philly or primula. A flick of salt and white pepper ( we didn't know black existed ) and it was grand to be a vegetarian for those two minutes. How I miss those stringy sticks of green.

Quartered pork pies. The stuff champions are made of, these little slices of sausage pie where always a tasty salty treat on the Christmas paper plate. Packed with processed pork and delicious pig jelly, they could only be improved by a chutney dip or squirt of mustard. Heaven in pastry form.

Crisps, twiglets and nuts. Scattered throughout the house, plastic dishes and steel trays of salted peanuts, marmite-flavoured sticks and plain salted crisps were de-rigeur in our festivities. Always there when you needed a boost in any room including the bathroom, crisps, twigs and nuts weren't just for Rudolph and Santa. For the adults who liked a tipple, there were dry-roasted planets in little ring-pull tubes too. I thought they tasted like carpet.

Mixed Nuts with a nutcracker. For the more serious feeder, larger plastic wood-effect bowls were provided filled with rock-hard Brazils, Walnuts, Hazelnuts and Almonds. The biggest issue facing such earnest grippers was what to do with the empty shells? Ash tray, open fire? Grandma's handbag? Nah, just chuck 'em back in the bowl! 

And finally, the ultimate seasonal treat, a taste of the exotic, from darkest Morocco: a polystyrene canoe of dates stuck together in a long tacky block with a small plastic fork plastered to the top with date glue. Each one had a lethal stone within, which could only be removed by astute tongue action. I really adored dates when Mum decided we were ready.

What were your favourite Xmas snacks readers? 

Take the Plunge

I had to chuckle at the positioning of objects in this museum. A dalek and a big plunger! Can we expect a really big dalek to turn up and claim it! 

It needs a better caption! 

CHRISTMAS PATHE

Its the 1st of December folks!

Look at the glorious Christmases of yesteryear and all those wonderful toys!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19DOkFBZnso

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0a1Ew7QH74

See anything you remember?

The Advent of Calenders anyone?

It's the first of advent and with great excitement the Grandkids have opened the first window of their advent calenders.

I really don't recall doing this as a kid in the Sixties. Do you?

When did advent calenders start? 

Don Carmelo Batmobile

I saw this on an Argentinian site and boy, what a bat toy!

A Don Carmelo production from Argentina, from the 1970's - a very large scale plastic (1/10 scale) issue of Batman's Batmobile.

Do you know this South American rarity readers? Do you like it?

FORCE 1999

To my eye this is a Space 1999 toy gun of sorts.

Its The Force by Barton, a company new to me.

Is this something you would like in your collection readers?