Golly What a Day!

 Like Robin Hood's final arrow our Sherwood holiday has come to and end. We will miss the Westworldy isolation of Centre Parcs and it's gated life of swimming and bikes.

Before reality was allowed fully back in we stopped off at the RSPB Sherwood Forest Centre, the modern epicentre of the Robin Hood legend.

Theres lots of spot-on info about Robin, Marion and the Merry Men, including the wedding place, the TV appearances and the movies! My favourite is the Sixties Disney cartoon! What's yours? 

The Centre has a fabulous collection of Hood movie posters on the walls. There's so many films! 

There's Robin's tackle everywhere too.

The man, the myth.

What a legend!

Pop culture, TV appearances, wooden swords and fancy goblets.

Even Dr. Who! Not an episode I know. You?

The famous forest

The big merry car park

One of the many robin cafes and shops

The famous forest of Sherwood

And the main attraction, short of Robin himself, it's his tree! 

For serious Loxley lounging .....

The Major Oak.

It's 1100 years old.

Now that's impressive!

Have you got an old tree nearby readers?

Walkie Talkie Smoker Spy

 I can't get enough of spy toys.

Here's a trio I saw on auction and kept the pics.

Simple walkie talkies.

The classic Pipe gun! Smokin!

So much in this fab lot! 

What do you like?

Playwell Police Motor Bike Cycle With Driver Made In Hong Kong

I had to look twice when I saw this. I thought it was an Action Man motorbike.

It looks big enough!

Seen on eBay, Do you like it? 

Ed's Tolkien

Here you go Woodsy, 

my collector's editions of 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord of The Rings'. 

I had never heard of 'The Hobbit' until it was given as a reading assignment in my freshman year at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. I had already been reading sci-fi and a bit of fantasy, but this was new to me and needless to say, I was hooked. 

I originally bought the paperback editions you recently blogged but a couple of years later - in 1974 - these hard cover/slipcase collector's editions became available and I snatched them up. 

I went on to read all four books nearly every year for about 20 years or so.

Has anyone else got Tolkien books?

From Far West of The Shire

Ed

Ford Consul Project Update .

Hi All,

Re. My Corgi Consul, the chrome finish has come out very well! I think if I'd used a chrome pen, the paint may have clumped. Whereas the spray applied perfectly, as it just gently dusted on.

So I'm just waiting for a replacement window module and I can reattach the base. Then, other than a little red light detailing and a touch-up here and there and it'll be done.

It has come out a lot better than I expected.

Next up it'll be the Cadillac Ambulance!

Bill Everatt

UK

Spectrum is Back!

Hello Moonbasers, I'm back in Australia and putting my shattered life back together!

I've begun carefully sorting the lovely items I managed to find and am becoming ever more amazed I was able to pick them up at all!

Japan is known for always going for the latest, so anything vintage

(in Moonbase Central's interest range)

is pretty difficult to find. As I know from personal experience, if you see something you like

( say some Konami Anderson vehicles) and don't buy it at that instant, it may not be there for a second look!

Taking a closer look at my carded Hot Wheels SPV, I was surprised to see it's dated 2001, so it's already almost 25 years old!

Researching the page at

https://hotwheels.fandom.com/wiki/Charawheels

I discovered a lot of products I'd never known before.

There were a number of Anderson related vehicles, released in a joint Mattel/Bandai project, over just two years.

I'll let the HW website categorise them, but the first year saw a number of individual vehicles and the second year, three amazing boxed sets of multiple TB2 Pod vehicles.

Just look at these photos! All new to me and copied from the HW website.

See anything that tickles your fancy here?

Cheers, 

Looey

Back in Oz Base

T Time: Porsche 914

 

This T in a Circle Porsche toy is new to the blog.

Seen on auction, it looks lovely! 

We'll add to our model number inventory: #419.

Centre Parcs: Futureworld

It's 32 years since we were last at Centre Parks in Sherwood Forest with our then 8 year old daughter but with a new generation of Grandchildren to holiday with, we find ourselves here once again.

The basic concept has stayed the same, chalets in a forest for staying in and car-free woodland roads for cycling on. A simpler life, which feels safer, but unfortunately costs a packet.

If you can ignore the fleeting notion that you're in the Truman Show or Westworld, there is something here in this concept. There's no doubt in my mind that a car-free village like this is a helluva lot of fun for families, you g and old alike. The cycling alone is so refreshingly easy and if you're like me, a complete novelty, as I retired from cycling with a Raleigh Chopper in the mid-1970's! 

Maybe there's a future somewhere, sometime, where towns are much smaller, everyone leaves there vehicles at the perimeter in vast car parks and cycles to and from home on car-free streets.

Have you been to Centre Parcs or a Forest village resort!