I was over at Longriders place earlier on. Apparently some muppets want to force motorcyclists to wear hi-vis jackets. I won't go into it as he's had a good go at them and besides, I'm not blogging about politics tonight.
As I read down through his other posts I noticed he's been voted number ten Libertarian blogger at Total Politics. I skipped over there to see what other bloggers I read have been voted into the top fifty and surprise surprise, I'm in there at number 23.
I was stunned. Stunned into silence I tell thee. I think I walked round the house tugging at my own ears for at least an hour.
I know some bloggers aren't to fussed weather they end up in this list or not but me, I'm a newbie and I didn't expect to see my name up there. Some bloggers aren't really bothered, like I said, but think back to the first time somebody voted for you. I don't care what others think, this does mean something to me. People actually took the time to vote for me, and to all those people I say a great big thank you. I'll endeavour to keep doing you proud. I've stuck the badge at the top of the blog and I'm going to wear it with pride.
Ok I know I'm laying it on a bit thick but I've never won owt before.
My dad won a Sinclair C5 once.
No seriously. I shit you not.
It was something to do with work. He was an electrical engineer with Hawker Siddley at the time. You know, the folk that built the Harrier jump jet. I was very young and I can't remember what it was all about, just that he won this bloody electric car that got delivered to our house.
It didn't get much mileage. All we did was drive it up and down the living room a few times before he decided it was rubbish and he didn't want it. He told his works that he wasn't interested in owning Sir Clive Sinclairs latest piece of whackery and you know what they gave him instead? A microwave oven.
Again, I shit you not.
The microwave was in it's infancy at the time, and I suppose it got a lot more practical use than the C5 would have done but we could have owned a piece of history.
I was going to say they are going for thousands now, but I decided to check out that sweeping assumption first and it turns out to be way off the mark. That one on ebay is only £460 buy it now, and no body has bought it now. Still..
It's amazing what you get rid of and regret years later.
I sold all my Star Wars figures on a car boot sale for five quid when I was ten and there were loads. I also once had a huge collection of Action Force figures as a kid. When I decided I had grown up (at about fourteen) I sold them all to a mate for forty quid. I'm not sure what happened to the forty quid but I hadn't discovered booze or fags by then so it probably went on something worthwhile.
I didn't see the chap for years but his brother came into a pub I worked in when I was about thirty. I asked him about the figures and he said they were still in his mothers attic. He promised to sell them back to me but I never saw him again. They flattened that row of houses under some compulsary purchase / redevelopement / waste of taxpayers money scheme a few years later. I was tempted to break into the building site and sift through the rubble to see if Cobra Commander and Storm Shadow had survived the apocalypse (They were the hardest ones after all) but I just couldn't bring myself to be that sad.
I also had a large collection of Battle / Action Force comics spanning years. I didn't even sell those, they just went in the bin. It wasn't even a recycling bin cos we didn't have those back then.
I have quite a collection of Star Wars and Action Force figures again, a lot of them boxed. I had to start the collection again by buying them off ebay. It's not quite the same.
Note to people who sell figures in their original packaging on ebay - Don't send them in a jiffy bag you morons. The bubble gets squashed to buggery. Do you think Royal Mail take care of parcels as though they were little kittens?
Where some of us sell stuff we have collected before it becomes valuable and sought after, others collect and keep stuff that will always be tat.
My Grandmother collected a large number of spoons. You know the ones with little plaques on them with place names? Yeah, she had hundreds.
She always used to say to me, "When I go, all these spoons will be yours".
I used to say, "If you leave all them spoons to me I'm gonna sell them at the second hand shop and spend the money on booze".
Sure enough, when she passed on, God rest her soul, I got the spoons. I didn't have to go to the second hand shop though, because by then, some cleaver bugger had invented ebay. I did raise a glass in her memory.
My mum has the same problem. She has a huge collection of Wedgewood. Fair enough, Wedgewood is actually worth something, but it still doesn't really interest me. I don't have room for the cabinet.
"When I go son, all this wedgewood will be yours".
"Mum. Do you remember the spoons? All this wedgewood could buy a fair amount of ale".
You know what she said? "When I'm dead I'm not gonna give a crap what you do with it".
Keep your eye on Southerbys. If you see a large collection of Wedgewood coming on sale, raise a glass for my dear mother.
Having said all that, me and Mrs Bucko long ago decided that we aren't having children so I've no one to leave my crap to.
It's probably going to be one of our friends that says,
"Star Wars figures! WTF! LOL! OMG! Thats like soooo last century. Who fancies a pint?"
Anybody else out there collect crap?
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