My Halloween History

Halloween is a great time of the year with monsters, ghosts and tricks or treats, I know my kids love it and we decorate the house the week leading up to Halloween. growing up for me we didn't decorate the house and there was no trick or treat, this was something you heard Americans say on Halloween themed movies and TV shows, for me it was penny for Halloween or penny for the lantern. We used to knock around In a group (now called a gang) we got ready for Halloween by collecting a few turnips unwittingly donated from the farmers field, we then proceeded to hack out the flesh from the turnip, this was like spooning concrete after it had set (we were allowed to use a real kitchen knife and spoon with out the fears of self harm) the flesh was kept as our mams used it for turnip mash.

We then carved the faces mainly triangle eyes and nose with a pointed triangle teeth formed mouth, turnips were like etch a sketch circles were not doable the masks were from the cheapest place possible as they were disposable. Now we were set armed with a couple of turnip lanterns and our scary masks we canvassed door to door with the ever so repetitive words "penny for Halloween" or "penny for the lantern", younger kids like me were the ones who went to the doors the cute factor and all that, oh! and obviously you never just got a penny cause back when I was growing up we still had half pennies yey!. As not to step on the toes of others we always stuck to our own area which covered about 30 to 50 doors, excluding the ones who didn't answer and the ones genuinely not at home we happily came out with enough for an ice cream from the ice cream man and some sweets this was repeated for a few days up to and including Halloween itself. I remember my brother having a horror makeup kit and it did produce some pretty good fake scars and injuries.

I remember Halloween being a happy time we used to go out with out parental supervision and there was more of a community so everyone knew everyone else sadly something lacking in today's society.

A toy a toy my childhood for a toy Pt2. Star Wars Special

 

Growing up during the birth of the Star Wars era I quickly became one with the force and all the it brought too, toys I mean Star Wars merchandise is in its own galaxy far far away, growing up this was the main fix for mine and my brothers birthdays and Christmases.

The Star Wars toys I had as a child were played with as a child would, but looking at what they are worth now does bring a tear to my eye. So the stuff we had was heavily out weighed by all of the things we wanted just like every other Star Wars loving kid. Figures I had (crying as I type) I had numerous figures Luke, Han, Chewy, Darth Vader they were the most used toys ever. Luke, Obi Wan and Darth Vader were the lightsabers wielding figures, their sabers were slotted into the right arm with a small bit of plastic at the base of the lightsaber allowing you to extend or sheath your light sabre, sadly this was one of the first things to be lost and I quickly replaced it with a matchstick a used one was better as the end was already tapered for the whole in the figures arm.

Me and my brother also had original lightsabers, I remember them being white plastic tubes black handles and turned blue when you pressed the button, with this I was Luke Skywalker fighting for the rebels though this was short lived as the way me and my brother braid them together in our Jedi battles it was only a matter of time before they came to a shattering end 'literally'. Our sabers went to the graveyard of broken toys AKA the dustbin. one of my other favourite Star Wars toys was my Han Solo blaster know I was small back then but this was quite a large gun, I remember running round the garden on a sunny day blasting imaginary stormtroopers and saving the galaxy. 

our passion for Star Wars didn't stop at toys we had our bedroom covered completely in Star Wars wallpaper, we used to use the paper as target practice for our darts when we didn't use them on the dart board, by the time my Mam re-papered the bedroom it looked like a pincushion. They were good times and yes we were allowed darts without adult supervision it wasn't frowned upon and there wasn't a risk of choking.

The Star Wars movie was also the first ever movie I went to see, from watching cartoons on a 28" colour TV to sitting in the front of a massive cinema screen blasting out the theme tune and me watching in awe as the yellow text faded off into space then the Imperial cruiser flying in space was pants wettingly brilliant 'though I didn't wet my pants really!', I also came up with a nickname for Chewbacca I called him Chewbackyash lame but hey I was young.

Now onto the toys I never had the I can dream wishlist the Star Wars toys on this list were mainly vehicles and even back then were quite pricey so weren't even considered. 

The Millennium Falcon this was the toy every kid of my age wanted this thing was huge and so was the price sadly but it was the toy I wanted all through my Star wars childhood, it came with a removable roof allowing for in ship playing. even as an adult the thought has crossed my mind on more than one occasion to buy one but my conscience (my lass) wouldn't allow it. Darth Vaders tie fighter was a want purely because it was Darth Vaders and that it looked sooo! cool. The scout walker and the AT-AT were purely an impulse want and I wanted them the AT-AT was about the size of a small dog have to say iv never seen any of the above toys for real only on the web (boohoo! me) as for the Scout Walker I do remember playing with one of these just cant think as to where sure a friend had one or something like that.

We know that the Star Wars merchandise and movies are huge and the fan base that it has is even bigger. but now that Disney have the rights to Star wars and have begun releasing movies, a whole new range of toys for old and new generations of fans will emerge and may the Star Wars reign never end.

A toy a toy my childhood for a toy Pt1.

In the eyes of my kids Dad's old, telling them about growing up as a child of the 70's and 80's they seem to have the interest of a sleeping fish. So I've decided to inflict my memories onto my readers, aren't you the lucky ones, I will try my hardest not to waffle say "back in my day" or "when I were a lad".

Toys of my childhood were wonderful, amazing and could endure the most destructive of children or so I remember. There were no electronic gadgets as there are now and the world was in black & white..., time was simpler, the sun always shone and sweets were plentiful.

The earliest memories of toys I had or believe I had when I was young were simple toys but I loved them and played with them all the time.

Spinning top

The spinning top was a toy I had it was so simple yet had hours and hours of fun. If you have never seen one before red handle on top base on bottom and you would pull then push the handle repeatedly making the circular centre spin, ah the fun no stupid laminate flooring needed these toys were made to work on carpets.

View Master

The View Master if you have never used a view master you have never lived, or so I thought when I was a child. For those of you reading and thinking 'what the freak' a View Master was and still is a device that allows you to insert white card discs into the top of it, on each of the discs were a sequence of about 14 to 20 themed micro colour negatives. I remember some titles such as Superman, Batman, Star Wars but there were many more. Once inserted you looked into it aimed toward some form of light source, we had natural sunlight in them days not like now, next you would use the black trigger on the side to cycle through the images. Now this might sound pap put there were no consoles, mobiles or tablets so it was fun.

Fisher Price

Fisher Price a toy brand that's been around since the dinosaurs. I'm pretty sure everyone has had at least one Fisher Price toy in there day. The toy I remember having was the Fisher Price car parking garage with elevator, mine was the exact same one as in the image, it was made of 70's plastic which was stronger than steel probably. The small green thing at the bottom of the ramp was a fuel pump attached to a cord with a nozzle, all the fisher price cars came with a tiny hole on the right hand side of the cars allowing you to fill them up with childhood imagination lasts longer than petrol. On the side of the elevator which is the tall cage looking tower there was a turning handle which allowed you to move the elevator up and down, this was a toy I constantly played with even long after I lost the people and cars, just used my corgi cars instead there was tons of parking for my cars and the ramp was so smooth that they flew down braking on the carpet, I miss my garage.

Playmobil

From this I evolved to Playmobil, it had everything cars, boats, airplanes loved the Playmobil people they were so interchangeable, or they were after pulling their heads, arms and legs off allowing you to mix arms and legs, the only drawback of this was over time there arms became so loose they wouldn't stay up and kept flopping to their sides making holding things a pain and tiny teeth marks on their hair and heads. The accessories that you got with playmobil were great to tools, weapons and clothing not to mention the vehicles and buildings.

Me & my Big Wheel

One of my favourite toys the Big Wheel, when I was little the big wheel was the equivalent of getting an Xbox One I was so excited when I got it. This was a moulded plastic trike for want of a better description two little wheels at the back and one big wheel at the front hence the name. I remember me and my brother used to take the big wheel up to the top of a huge hilly road at a caravan site near where we lived, one sat on the big wheel and the other gave them a push with the gradient of the hill I'm sure we must have hit about 15-20 mph bearing in mind this has no brakes other than your feet it was absolutely mint, remember the gaping hole we eventually made in the front wheel. So glad I wasn't brought up in this nanny state era.

Etch a sketch

Etch a sketch another great toy from my childhood a red rectangular drawing tool all be it you could only draw straight lines and the had to be connected drawing a car was tricky. The Etch a Sketch was made up of tiny metal filings spread over a plate as you turned the knobs on the front they attracted the filings bringing them to the surface allowing you to draw a straight line one you were done all you had to do was give it a shake and it was gone simples.

Speak n Spell 

Speak n Spell the reason I'm such a mint speller, well that and auto correct, this was probably my first electronic toy it was a toy made to help with spelling and it did exactly that it was pretty light and robust in design and came with a lot of function. This was a great toy very battery hungry but great, non the less the hours I spent with it, it was a wonder I didn't have an American accent. I can't remember if I out grew this or took it to bits as I had a thing for disassembling electronic devices.

Board Games

Board Games one thing we never were was bored, yes there were hundreds of games around in the 70's and 80's a lot of them being vomited back up now as toy manufacturers don't have any new ideas shame. Anyway back to the games this is something I could go on about for ages but I'm not I'm choosing my four favourite games and yes my brother, sister and me did have more but so did everyone of that era. Rant over.

Computer Battleship simple but strategically satisfying you got five ship and had to place them in a way to out whit your opponent (AKA my brother). The Computer side of the game was the noises the peeewwwwww! and Pshhhhhhh! once you sunk all your opponents ship (cheating permitted).

Countdown as a kid you were the top safe cracker and listening for those counters to drop got you ever closer to opening the vault ok it was a blue piece of plastic with white turning wheels. This is another one of those toys I played with long after the novelty wore off.

Next the top two Operation so simple but what a mind FECK of a game no wonder surgeons get paid so much, the amount of time I dropped body bits and heard that BUUzzzz! is why I work in a shop maybe, I remember one Christmas me my brother and sister finding some of our presents in the loft hatch getting them down and playing them on the landing, shock horror as we hear a key go into the front door and then it was one mass scramble to get the game back in the box and the box up into the loft (mission impossible music) required for suspense. Bit of trivia the Operation I had the patient was naked and now he has a lovely pair of pink heart boxers (NANNY STATE).

Finally Monopoly what can I say the board game that began wars, think of Adolf Hitler and then Poland's PM Władysław Raczkiewicz sat playing Monopoly and oh! Władysław Raczkiewicz wins so what did Hitler do invaded Poland. This game has so many variations from the original ones over the decades to the specialist games, such as Game of Thrones, World of Warcraft junior versions, Star Wars and hundreds of others. This is a game of kill or be killed, or like me go off in a huff; great when you're playing against a noob not so much when it's against a hardened player.
I know there were thousands of other toys of this period and probably hundreds more I could have mentioned so maybe ill save these for another post stay tuned.

Me Myself and Tinnitus

For the past five+ years i've had Tinnitus won't say i've suffered with it, I mean its just there I just put up with the constant tone in my right ear. Tinnitus for those who aren't aware of it is a constant noise inside your ears this can be a different noise for each individual who has it the causes are anything from possible high blood pressure to prolonged exposure to loud noise, the Tinnitus noise for me it's a high pitched whistle with a heartbeat like pulse. The the pulse part of my Tinnitus is tolerable and fairly relaxing when i'm trying to sleep its the whistle that is the irritating part always there always on a major pain to be honest.



Over the past few weeks my Tinnitus has become decidedly worse my left ear now has the same issue as the right and the sleepless nights are beyonde a joke, I goto bed for around 10.30 and like clockwork im awake a 3am try to get back to sleep only for the Tinnitus to go into overdrive and them im tossing and turning drifting in and out of sleep next thing I see the clock showing 6am, bearing in mind my kids are up for School at 7.30. Been like this nearly evey night with the exception of the nights im that shattered that I get one full nights sleep.

This is one a condition id not wish on anyone but nearly everyone would have experienced it at one point, have you ever had a ringing in your ears after a night out, a football match or music concert well that ringing is Tinnitus if only on a short scale. I did eventually bite the bullet and go to the doctors they took my blood preassure and checked my ears and eyes, my ears and eyes were fine but my blood preassure was high so was asked to go back and have my blood taken so guess I will have to wait and see. 

If you would like further information on Tinnitus please visit Action on hearing Loss.

All Men are... and I take offence

I was at work the other day and in part to a conversation a woman said "all men are the same" which swiftly got my back up.

This age old metaphor that all men are knuckle dragging beer swilling football obsessed genital thinking Neanderthals.

Certain people think men would be starving living in there own filth if left on their own.

A man didn't create fire because he was to lazy to be bothered to rub a couple of sticks together, nor did he create the wheel as he was to busy fighting over which one was better the square one or the round one. 

This post might be the post that crucifies my blog, but this is me defining that all men are DEFINITELY NOT the same.

I know that men in general don't do themselves any favours, I have seen men which are an insult to the species.

First we have swilling my life away, with matted hair and the trademark nicotine stained fingers, the well trained beer belly barely covered by the last night’s TV dinner t-shirt bought ten years ago but in their eyes still fits, and sporting that oh! So strong perfume of week old urine on there what used to be grey jogging pants with just a hint of body ordure.

The man in question has a staple diet of liquid breakfast followed by a nice leisurely afternoon at his second home the local pub.

Next type of all men are the same is the undom aka ‘undomesticated and not going to change’ this is the man that can’t cook won't cook unless it goes ‘Ping’ or it has takeaway in the title. This man’s idea of cleaning is pushing last night’s takeaway cartons on the floor to make way for the new stuff he’s just ordered, his definition of laundry is if it smells clean it is clean or if he’s lucky enough mammy or his lass will wash it. The most famous undom that springs to mind is.

These are just a couple of examples possibly the worst two but the ones most women think of when tarring all men with the same brush. Could have mentioned the I’ll do it tomorrows and the cheats and liars but think there too obvious.

Now the type of man that most and I mean most women forget is Mr. Average, this man can cook using a real cooker does the laundry using the correct setting on the washer and is wise enough to separate colours from whites. He cleans house not to OCD standard but clean enough to be happy with, changes bedding and generally keeps himself washed and groomed. This man enjoys nights out with the lads and nights in with the missus he’s not a meathead nor a slob just a do anything for anyone average Joe.

Now the twist to my tale Is that everything in this post can be easily used as reference to women I know of women who think housework is something you squeeze in between Jeremy Kyle and neighbours and a balanced meal is chips, sandwiches or Greggs. I’ve seen customers at my work who look like they’ve just crawled out of a bin and some smell like it too.

Finally a lot of men and women choose to live as the types above, but the majority of people get into it through financial issues or just not knowing any better, so next time you look at someone and prejudge that all men/women are the same just take a step back maybe get to know that person and don’t just go off looks and face value.

And if you’re wondering yes I’m a Mr. Average I don’t strive to be above average, and will ‘I like to think’ never be below average.

The Horror on Amazon

The other day I went to work and happily left my lassy on my PC as I have countless times before. She likes my PC because it's got a bigger screen and she enjoys playing The Sims 4 and Minecraft on it, as well as using it for youtube and general internet surfing. so yesterday before I was about to head off to work and decided to check my emails, to my horror I was greeted with half a dozen emails from Amazon stating that my orders have had their payments declined.

This was news to me as I haven't ordered from Amazon for about two months, once i'd seen what they were the penny dropped and realised that my lovely daughter had been looking at the toys as she has done hundreds of times before though this time has decided to go a little further than looking. Sadly because of auto saving my login details on Google for speed and convenience my daughter was able to login to my account, which is a case of a few mouse clicks and no reading of what you're doing.

At first glance I thought she had just ordered one item to which I easily cancelled, wasn't until I had went back on my emails and seen the full extent of her shopping spree. Not only did she order the cancelled item but she also ordered two more items both at x4 quantity all of it totaling to around £70, but the cherry on top of this nightmare shop was she also had also signed up for 'drumroll' Amazon Prime have to say seeing that just topped it off, i've been stung by Prime before and I bet countless others have to. For safety and peace of mind I quickly removed my payment information from Amazon and i'm reluctant to re add it incase Prime strikes.

So horror shop over and disaster averted, what i've learned out of this is yes saving info like login and payment details is good for ease of use but even when it's your own PC bad things can still happen.

The blame game, I do blame myself for being lazy and saving all my info but also happily blame Amazon and probably most other online retailers as ordering items from any site is as easy as child'splay as it's been proven.

Conclusion easy payment options would really benefit from some kind of pin to confirm any orders so even if this happened again the final transaction couldn't be confirmed without the proposed pin.