Monthly Archives: December 2009

Christmas toys, my childhood favorites.

Posted by stiggyworld on

With Christmas day rapidly approaching, my thoughts go to the many happy Christmases I enjoyed as I child it got me thinking about all those amazing toys & games both me & my brothers received from Santa growing up in the late 70’s & 80’s.  Here’s a run down of my favorites received over the years thanks to Mum, Dad & of course the big man himself.

PowerTrack Race & Chase


My sister stood on the Corvette on boxing day & the headlights never lit again. Our Race and Chase set is still somewhere in my parents loft. Maybe after 30 years, I’ll get them working again?

LEGO – Space

Beta-1 Command Base, best present for me aged 7

I still have the ‘TV screen’ LEGO piece in my study drawer:-)

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Kenner Star Wars Action Figures

Tauntaun – Complete with open belly slit for sticking all kinds of crap inside

Speeder Bike -I loved this one, and just like the TV commercial, spent many happy hours under the table with them.

Action Man – The moment he was taken out the box, his war started. He was buried in the garden many times by our family dog, lost a leg and then endured the pain of my dad ‘glueing’ it back on by melting the plastic with a soldering iron and the humiliation of being forced to attend my older sisters tea parties with her ‘Sindy’ dolls!

Commodore C64

Probably the best home computer I’ve ever owned. I have a confession, I actually knew that I was getting this for Christmas because I’d found it hidden in my parents wardrobe a few weeks before.  They never understood why I was so ill with excitement on Christmas Eve.

New Bike

What Christmas would be complete without a new bike? My first was a Raleigh Budgie & my favorite has to be the Raleigh Chopper

Boardgames

I think my list could go on & on here but some of my favorites were

Mouse Trap, Downfall, Ghost Castle, Lost Valley of the Dinosaurs, Hungry Hippos & Cluedo.

Annuals

Every year we would receive one or two book annuals. Mostly they were either the  Beano or Dandy but also Star Wars, Buck Rogers, 2000AD or Eagle.

Hope you have a Merry Christmas!

Star Wars in Concert

Posted by stiggyworld on

We’ve just booked our tickets to see Star Wars: In Concert next March at the Sheffield Arena. Being a HUGE Star Wars fan, this is one event I’m REALLy looking forward to.

Star Wars: In Concert, a unique multi-media event featuring music from all six of John Williams’ epic Star Wars scores, begins its worldwide arena tour on October 1, 2009 at Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

Narrated live by Anthony Daniels (the actor who portrayed C-3PO in all six films), the production features a full symphony orchestra and choir, accompanied by specially edited footage from the films displayed on a three-story-tall, high-definition LED super-screen — one of the largest ever put on tour. The live music and film elements are synchronized in order to create a full multi-media, one-of-kind Star Wars experience.

Accompanying the concert is an exclusive exhibit of Star Wars costumes, props, artifacts, production artwork and specially created behind-the-scenes videos from the Lucasfilm Archives. Many of these pieces are leaving Skywalker Ranch for the first time. The exhibit features many classic fan favorite artifacts, as well as several new and never-before-seen items, including:

  • Full costumes for Jedi Masters Kit Fisto and Plo Koon will be on display.
  • For the first time ever, pages from John Williams’ original hand-written sheet music for Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace will be exhibited for the public.
  • Also on display will be various never-before-seen props from the films, including blasters and helmets from Coruscant, Tatooine and other iconic Star Wars locations.

For more details, visit – http://www.starwarsinconcert.com/

Snow at last!

Posted by stiggyworld on

Well, not here anyways but thanks to WordPress I now have snow on my blog at least!

It’s actually sunny & blue skies here but bitterly cold. The garden thermometer reads zero & boy does it feel like it. Wrapped up in as many jumpers I can find, I’ll be out there this afternoon doing a few odd jobs. Note to myself, the conifers are really starting to get a little to tall – must sort them out next year.

The pond is pretty much frozen apart from about a quarter where the pumps are still keeping the water moving. Likewise the barrel pond is completely frozen with what  must be at least be 2″ of ice.

Our last Christmas present orders arrived from Amazon yesterday so we’ve just got these last few to wrap & then that’s the shopping all done. I didn’t have much hope for the contents inside the battered box when it arrived because it looked like it’d been chewed up by the sorting machine…twice. Thankfully the contents had survived intact.

Right, one last cuppa & then I’m heading out….I might be some time 🙂