Another Year

Well here we are, made it through to another year with all the usual tears of sadness and joy, so lets hope 2019 will be a good one for each and everyone of us ! Looking forward to getting out there to all the usual toy fairs, car boots and markets, hoping to find one or two hidden treasures before you do ! … well its what keeps us going isn’t it ? Might even try a few auction houses this year just to ring the changes.

Back in December I was contacted by a contributor to Collectors Gazette who was intending to write an article on Nomura Toys and having visited the site was hoping I could help out with some high res images of various Nomura tin plate toys for inclusion in his piece. Sadly I had to let him down as I no longer had any of the models in question and therefor was unable to supply any images for him to use. Hope Alwyn manages to find the right pics and gets his piece published, will have to keep my eyes glued on Collectors Gazette for a Nomura article to see if he got there.

February

February already !  O.K. so what the heck happened to January, guess I must have nodded off …… (well you do at my age) and missed it ! Its funny but when you are young days seem to be without end and the years mearly tick by whereas turn sixty and its no sooner time to get up than its time to go to back to bed. And as for weeks and months, why just simply a blur until you are wishing everybody a ‘happy new year’ and wondering where the last year went. So be warned, ban birthdays is what I say that way you won’t get old !

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‘I do not believe it’ as good old Victor Meldrew would say ….. there I was the other Saturday all ready to go to auction when I started getting a nasty pain in my stomach which just kept getting worse as the minutes ticked by. I’ll ring my local GP surgery I thought as they open on Saturday mornings … wrong, this particular Saturday they were closed ! … sods law !! OK lets try 111, as another round of pain racked through my guts, brilliant it was like phoning an insurance company as some pre-recorded voice ran through a whole gambit of services on offer including the information that I could contact them by going on-line … just put me through to a bloody human being I found myself saying, I’m in bloody agony here ! That’s when the good old Missis took over, took the phone off me and dialled three 9’s. Explained the situation to the controller adding that she suspected a strangulated hernia. An ambulance was pulling up within 5 minutes of putting the phone down …. half an hour later I was in A&E and by mid afternoon I was in theatre. Would have been quicker but I had milk in my morning cuppa in which case they like to give it at least 4 hours before operating. By tea time I was back on the ward having a hot cup of tea and a natter with the family but looks like I will be out of action for a while and left me wondering what little gem I might have missed at that auction.

March

Back home and putting my feet up but it didn’t last long. My wife, bless her, was changing my dressing one morning and muttered ‘Don’t like the look of that’. Now she has said that many times to me before in our long relationship but the look on her face told me it wasn’t good news. A couple of hours later and I was laid out on the Doc’s examination table. ‘I don’t like the look of that !’ was her immediate response on removing the dressing. So now I’m on double the normal dose of antibiotics with regular check-ups hopefully to get rid of the infection and to keep me being re-admitted to hospital.

On the plus side it has meant that I can spend a bit of time updating a few things on this site and spending a little time checking various auction sites to see if anything of interest is coming up. At the minute I am putting together a post on Dinky Dublo, yes I know I did promise years ago that I would steer clear of the main manufacturers as better people than me have written them up. However numerous people have put forward suggestions on subjects they would like to see covered, so I thought, what the heck lets put a few words and pics together whilst I’m sat here and see how it goes. Now don’t expect anything Earth shattering, I’m not compiling a book, just a short piece before I move on to another topic. ( By the way feel free to message in if you would like to see a toy related subject covered. )

April

Dublo Dinky post now finished and uploaded, I have included a picture of each model in the range for reference purposes although there are obviously variations to most of the model numbers. As with all of my posts they are given as a general overview and to have gone into any more detail is not what this site is about, I will leave that to other people who have the time and resources to do a better job.

Still can’t get topside of this infection of mine so the docs sending me back to see the consultant at the hospital, fingers crossed hope he can sort something out.

Latest post just finished is a quick overview on GTP – Glamorgan Toy Poducts, sadly lacking in pictures but will try and build on this as time goes by.

May

Backwards and forwards with my ongoing infection. Consultants reckon in the overall scheme of things its not a big thing. So now its flushing with saline solution mixed with some Iodine based liquid and playing for time ! Still could be worse and as a last resort it would be back under the knife …. aaahhhhh!

Ebay have made yet more changes to put sellers off, its funny how the changes they make always put more money in their pocket at the expense of their customer base. I guess its their response to no end of business lost to social media sites but to me its a case of the more they penalise the sellers on their site the more they risk loosing them altogether.

June

Thought I would take a week away and spend a few days in North Wales. Typically the weather which had been forecast to be sun .. sun .. sun, suddenly changed to dull and rain the day before we set off. Still we Brits are made of stern stuff so we still packed the sun cream and shorts regardless of what the weathermen said and a good job too for we still managed more good days than bad.                                                                                                                                                      

As we were staying in Llandudno popped into see Drew Pritchards new place at Conwy, surprised how small it was, I honestly expected a much larger place. On his web site he had a collection of Triang pressed steel trucks, sadly these had been sold and there were no other ‘toys’ in stock, I was told these were something of a ‘one off’ buy and not his typical purchase. 

July

OK so we are heading into what is normally a relatively quiet couple of months from a selling point of view what with the holiday period and all that. Sods law says now I have said all that it will be far from the norm and I will be rushed off my poor feet …. somehow I doubt it.

Updated a few things on the site just to freshen it up a bit and the visitor numbers are still strong. Would be nice if one or two people gave us more ideas on the topics they would like to see covered … not promising anything but you never know.

August

My good lady suggested we might do a ‘car boot’ this month, which means, as most married men will know, David we will be doing a ‘car boot’ this month. So if we were doing one I might as well grin and bear it and rummage around in the garage and see what I could find amongst my many treasures.

Apart from all my ‘good stuff’ that I have yet to let go of and reluctantly sell on good old Ebay I was encouraged by the amount of items that I usually class as ‘past its sell by date’ that I actually found. You know the sort of stuff I mean – that boxed Corgi Classic Aircraft with the broken landing gear – the limited edition bus with no certificate – the boxed Meccano .. you know the one in the wooden box that is just way too heavy to post – etc,etc. By the time I had finished I had amassed a nice little pile. I say little but by the looks I got someone thought it might be just a tad too much. Don’t worry lass I’m sure we can fit it all in even if you have to sit on the roof  ! Needless to say that went down like a lead balloon !!

It went without saying that all was forgotten when the stuff literally flew off the tables. OK so I had to haggle a bit more than if I was back at the good old toy fairs but it was all good humoured and I was more than happy with the end result. Now I need to get back in the garage and see if I missed anything else.

September

Holiday time and we are off to my favourite seaside town of Scarborough for a few weeks with some family members and the grand kids. Did I say ‘holiday’ ? no doubt the youngsters will run ‘Gramps’ ragged but better at the coast than back at home. We’ve rented a large house with a private garden so we should have plenty of room to spread out and for even me to sneak off for a short afternoon nap … essential when you get to my age I find.

The small problem with going away for any length of time is that all the listings on the internet selling site have to be ended and then relisted on one’s return .. still all work and no play as they say.

October 

The holidays are behind us now and I must say a good time was had by all so much so that we intend to return early in the new year to our rental property.

Managed to pick up one or two nice items whilst at the coast and no doubt you will be able to view these shortly on my internet sales site.

Well, we are now into that time of year that I dislike the most as the daylight hours get shorter and shorter. Chistmas starts this month in the shops and gathers pace as we move into November ! And on top of all that my Birthday looms ever closer, the trouble is that it’s one of those ‘Big Ones’ that, on the one hand people dread, but on the other hand grateful to have achieved that milestone !

November

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me etc. etc., well I’ve managed to survive another one even though it was, as I mentioned before, one of those really big ones !

Seem to have been here there and everywhere these past few weeks and have managed to pick up some nice items. Add these to the ones I have stashed away and I think I will be busy ‘listing’ on the internet for days if not weeks to come.

Took some time out before Christmas is upon us to step back and look at just how many toys and models etc. that I have accumulated in my office come shed come garage …. frightening ! Better not tell her indoors, I’ll just keep it to myself for the time being and try to reduce the number asap. I thought I had sold off all my old stock from my toy fair days but I found box after box … goodness knows why I had not come across them before and where they had been hiding. Should I look in the loft I ask myself ? better not just now lets leave that for another day, mind you the knees aren’t what they were so better not leave it too long eh !

December

Well what do you know its finally arrived, the month when the kids go mad for the latest toy craze, we stuff ourselves silly with too much turkey, mince pies and the like and consume far too much alcohol for our own good. No doubt the television will do its best to annoy us with a complete load of rubbish … does anyone actually watch this reality garbage ? … and compete to see which channel can show the oldest film, will the Sound of Music / Mary Poppins be dusted down yet again ? and they have the nerve to charge us for it.

Christmas … Humbug.

God Bless Us One And All ! All the best and hope to see you all in the New Year.

2020 A Year to Forget ?

What can I say …. the year got off to a bad start and got steadily worse for all of us I think.

I was finally due to have my original hernia operation repaired, comes the day of the operation and I get an early morning phone call from the hospital .. can I get there for 12.00 noon and have a ultra sound check on my heart .. just a precaution .

Now I normally have these every 5 years or so and it seem the consultant anaesthetist just wants to double check all is OK. Now I’m due in theatre at 4.00 but what the heck it will pass some time rather than sitting in the pre-op waiting room. So having had the said scan I’m back in the waiting area and in walks the consultant .. bad news .. we have a slight problem and he is going to cancel the planned op. Seems the local hospital has no ICU (Intensive Care Unit) so if there is a problem during the op it could get a bit tricky. He would rather play safe and reschedule the operation to a larger hospital with full facilities.

Looks like my heart condition has deteriorated somewhat and I will need to see the Cardiologist and have an assessment every year in future ! Happy Days !! Still there are people a lot worse off who would willingly swap me positions !!!

Could it get any worse ? Well shortly after I’m having a telephone talk with my local GP who is going to arrange an appointment with the senior cardiologist to discuss what happens and when.

A couple of days later and Covid 19 hits the fan ! and everything is on hold.

So like a lot of people we find ourselves ‘self isolating’. If it wasn’t for my Ebay listings and my local village Post Office fetching and carrying my parcels etc. I hate to think how I would have spent the days.. weeks and now months of this lockdown.

I was thinking of closing this site down and that may well still happen but for the time being I will keep it ticking over. So STAY SAFE, ALL THE BEST, David.