Whatever happened to Arthur Scargill !!

You may well ask,,, is he still with us or has he gone off on yet another wild eyed Maggie Hunt,, I have to say some 30 odd years later what he was getting so upset about turned out to be quite true but his methods left a bit to be desired. He made Ghengis look like a moderate, [I won't mention the racing combover & frothing at the mouth oratory!!] He never seemed to work out that nobody south of Sherwood Forest either cared or had the faintest idea of what he was getting so upset about as most of the pits were north of the Trent anyway,,, except Wales of course,, and dealing with them made it a balanced situation as he understood them as well as they understood him.

Now I am not a political animal,,, strategically juxtapositioned somewhere between Screaming Lord Sutch,,, [whatever happened to him as well] and Jeremy Thorpe [deceased I think,, he of the homburg and slightly unnerving smile,,, especially if you were a labrador!!] but the reason I am pondering on our Arthur is I have spent the past 10 days lathering certain area's of the pastures with coal dust,, I got so carried away I realise I now even smell like Orgreave,, and shock gasp horror,, guess what they are now starting to open cast coal again in Northumberland,, "whyeyemon let's get back doon the Bladon Races & git blathered on Newky Broon" and all that.
So we can all sleep soundly in our beds knowing that anyone else who wants to lather his engine shed in 4mm finescale coal dust will be able to do it with good old English Coal and not have to use inferior continental burning dust from Poland or wherever,,, perhaps that's where Arthur ended up,,, there's no end of coal in Poland for him to get excited about & perhaps they actually understand what he is ranting on about,, unlike them south of the Notts Leics border.

My great grandfather was a coal miner in Nottinghamshire,,, I don't know if he is in the picture,,, but if he is I hope he is either the one playing an Al Jolson number on his spade or the fella sitting next to him who has obviously secreted a flagon of something saucy down there,,, just to help him through the quieter moments,, and it's obviously strong stuff as his moustache has fallen off!!! It really is worth clicking on this picture to get it at full size,,, they might have been dirty but my god they were happy!! and I want a tash like the fella 3rd from the left,,,, I bet he played a Soozaphone in his spare time!!

Whatever you do don't forget Chelmsford 20th October,,, I won't try regailing them with tales of my coal mining heritage!!
"What did he say Daphne??"

Oh Happy Days!!!!

It could be me,,, it isn't but it could be,,, what a classic photo of your archetypal late 50's early 60's trainspotter!!! Short trousers, long socks, a school tank top jumper and school tie and your Mum always insisted you took a coat with you "just in case it rains" and it usually did not that I ever bothered to put my coat on I was always too busy!!! And the hair style says it all,,, the only thing missing is the pudding basin!!! I do hope he realises the shed foreman is lurking behind the tender of that Riddles Pacific,,, ha ha how the memories come flooding back. During the summer holidays I had an ongoing battle with some miserable old git who worked in Doncaster Crimpsall Works,,, thinking about it he can't have done much work as he always seemed hell bent on ruining the collegiate fun of yours truly and his ilk,,, I learnt most of my early swear words from him,,, if only he knew what he was responsible for. Seems a waste not to mention the Chelmsford Bash on October 20th,, we have a team of 4 wandering minstrels assisting on this one,,, A suvvern git,, & 3 disciples of Swinedon [GULP] comprising of 2 retired Welsh Wizards and a genuine prodigal Isambard,,, how did I get involved with that little lot,,ah well needs must and I have to admit at the Sheffield Bash in 2009 not only did we tolerate each other but we had copious quantities of fun as well. [and the very occasional bout of serious refreshments!!!] Come along and join in,,, we have lot's of new bits to show you.

Paint yer wagon!!!! Lee Marvin eat yer-heart out.

Ha ha,, the thought of Lee Marvin singing his Stanley Knife music round the backstreets of Sheffield has stimulated my imagination considerably,,, "I was born under an empty pint pot" or "I was born under our back stairs" perhaps,,, WHO needs Lee anyway,,, what's important is that the wagon is acutally painted!!!,,, I read an article in some old magazine extolling the virtues of painting plastic in acrylics!!!!! now I've tried,,,

I have to say "virtues" is not a word that springs to mind!!!! I've got some of them acrylics I thought,,, now then where did I put them,,, 40 minutes later and choking on about 3cwt of cobwebs that accompanied the Master Class Acrylic Paint set and easel I decided to give it a go!!!! Ultramarine Blue,,, that sounds nice and nautical,,, just what I want for a bit of light relief against the backdrop of murky streets and a smoke laden atmosphere,,, YES aquamarine will do fine!!! So I donned my beret,, and waited for the right type of light,, Ah there it is let's get the first coat on,,, now the accompanying literature with the paint set which really should be called "Noddy's guide for acrylic numpty's" advised that the neat paint would need thinning down a bit,,, so out comes the plastic pipette complete with diluted cobwebs and we thin it down a bit,,, I then noticed the paint was hiding in one corner of my round mixing pot and the thining agent was swashing about all round it but there appeared to be some form of genetic disorder in that they were very reluctant to mix!!!! After several attempts there was some cooperation from the paint and joy of joy's when transferring it from the mixing pot to the plastic wagon body it had second thoughts and the paint wanted to hide at one end of the body while the mixing agent was happy to splosh anywhere and everywhere except into the area's where the blue acrylic was lurking!!!! Perhaps I do need Lee Marvin crooning away in the background I was beginning to muse after the 4th coat,,, anyway never admit defeat,, after some timely assistance from Mr Humbrol and his tinnie pals I offer a picture of the finished article!!! Surprisingly I'm quite happy with it,,, but the next time I do one I'll leave Noddy and his pals to prat around with the acrylics on plastic,,, I'll be staying firmly in the humbrol camp. Anyway enough of all this modelling twaddle,,, don't forget we are really looking forward to the Chelmsford Bash,,, 20th October just look for the baldies having a good time. Please make yourself/selves known and you could win the Polo!!!

The Owl and the Pussycat

Now if you have time to scan around this pic you will find another blip into my murky past. In the close vacinity of the "Gents" [thats the cast iron green thing, complete with blocked drain far left of the picture] we have 2 members of Her Majesties "Royal Air Farce", a comedy act close to my heart. Feeling fully relieved is an officer of at least Air Rank,,, [he's got scrambled egg on is 'at] In need of relief is a Senior Aircraftsman [probably photographer] about to do the needful. Now the interesting thing is the Air Commodore [or whatever] is on his wife's pushbike,,, and the SAC is in a brand new Morris 8 tourer!!!!! Ha ha ha,,, you don't get such social discrepencies in real life,,, but when you're building your own world you can do what you like. Don't get me going on the Paralympics,,, I feel embarrassed to be able bodied!!! How do they do that!!!

Don't time fly !!!!

Just look at this we are nearly a quarter of the way through September and not a blog to be seen,,,,, but don't time fly when your bashing your head against a brick wall,,, and that lovely semi-conscious feeling and jibbering smile when you stop. What's the picture all about,,, well if you look closely you will see not only were we at the Great Dorset Steam Fair again,,, it's not an event it's an annual pilgrimage,,, but that is Winston Churchill in the background being pulled on and off,,,, it's trailer,,,, about every 2 hours. The Wednesday was a complete washout,,, the organisers stopped all movements of anything,, but one,, cars and caravans were sliding down hills at 45 degrees to each other,,, great fun,,, the somewhat soggy Dorset Constabulary were turning people away with gay abandon,,, 25 tonnes of groaning Burrells were making lovely trenches in somebody's corn field and the only movements that were allowed were pedestrians into the largest beer tent in Europe!!! and there were lots of them,,, all happy most soggy, damp, some were even moist,, perhaps nothing to do with the inclement weather but more related to my over active imagination. A sing song ensued,, the Garrett supporters trying to out do the Fowler types and everyone completely ignoring the usual bunch of Swinedon supporters with their manchy top hats and pewter tankards dangling from their waistcoat belts,,, wittering on about the benefits of 7' as against 4'8n half" Oh get a life will yer,,, yer curdling me beer. Anyway don't lets forget October the 20th where we will be strutting the Chelmsford boards just for a change,,, I'm looking forward to this one,,,, as I'm stopping with an old RAF Germany calling colleague from circa 1968-70. HO HO there be no blogging after that weekend for a bit. Enjoy,, and if you'd like to make yourself known you could win the Polo,,,, if you like mints that is.