Groundhog Day

I am not sure why I have used that title as many other days would be closer its meaning than today. Yes, I hav ejust bought my third game of Totopoly from the net, at a really silly price so I am now able to make two world class sets for resale and the best of the rest for the home version, all with lead horses with four legs.

I have been asked what is so special about the lead horses. Well they are proper horses which look a lot like the  CGI versions which were taking part in the virtual Grand National this afternoon. Wasn't that a great idea and for it to be executed as well as it was is a credit to ITV and their technical animation and heuristics team. Red Rum won the Champion of Champions race on the line,  and Potters Corner won the 'proper' race with TigerRoll a gallant fourth, but who knows what would have happened if ASO had not fallen at the second last?

But back to Totopoly. Waddingtons launched the game on the back of the success of Monopoly in the late 1930's. The lead horses were a key feature of the game, but the Second World War intervened so Waddingtons were denied supplies of lead and so reverted to one dimensional paper horses in wooden blocks until supplies of suitable metals were restored. They then had one dimensional metal horses in blocks before introducing one dimensional metal horses with cast bases, which then continued into the future.

The problem with the lead horses was that in the hands of children the legs broke, the jockeys snapped off and the tails got damaged. Finding a good set still intact is, therefore, a joy. Ironically it took me nearly two years to find a good set on e-bay, I have bought the second and third set within a week and for a combined price less than the first set. Watch this space to see what I can turn them round for.

Now on to today's little adventure.  I had planned to replace some security bulbs in our lights, however, when isolating the circuit in the fuse box, the alarm went off and I could not get the blighter to switch off. I know how annoying it is when a neighbours alarm goes off so I prayed for the 20 minute limit to kick in. No such luck. After about 3 hours I managed to find a security engineer to come and fix the problem. A fuse had gone on the main circuit board of the alarm, and the standby battery was not fit for purpose. anyway he sorted it out for me and all is peae and light once more.

The knock on problem is that we now have no power in the kitchen, save for one rogue plug which is powered independent of the ring main. It seems that the circuit breaker for the other plugs is faulty. Our sparks was happy to come over to fix it, but at the moment we can get by and I don't want him making unnecessary journeys when with an extension lead we can just about cope.

So no DIY, and no gardening as by the time the alarm was fixed I had run out of enthusiasm for scarifying  the thatch out of the lawn. I can do that tomorrow.

We weakened and watch a film on Netflix last night, The Hustlers, don't bother it was rubbish so we switched over to Masterchef. I don't know why we watch that either as I have hardly heard of any of the ingredients they use, I just enjoy the torture they go through when something goes wrong!!

It's is due to be warm and sunny tomorrow, lets hope everybody is sensible about their social spacing should they be tempted to venture out. Stay safe everybody and lets hope the reductions shown in the trend analysis today continue.

New disaster hits Emmerdale

Not, not really, it is just another bit of my past which is disappearing as part of the meltdown of the traditional high street shopping portfolio. Mothercare are suffering and I know I shopped in there when number one son was on his way, Habitat used to furnish my houses in London, I purchased loads of music from HMV and who did not get kitted out in the underwear department of M & S. The real hit though, has come with the announcement that House Of Fraser are shutting a large number of stores in it's portfolio.

Beattie's in Birkenhead has been a keystone store in the Pyramid Centre for generations. It was purchased by House of Fraser about ten years ago. Birkenhead has already lost the M & S store so with this double whammy the life has been sucked out of the centre. It could very quickly become a ghost town, with charity shops and discount outlets the only surviving stores.

Plymouth, like Birkenhead, will see its store close as well. It used to be called Dingles and was the biggest single shop in the centre of Plymouth. When I was at school in Plymouth,  I was in there all the time, either with my parents buying sensible things, Christmas presents or food in their excellent top floor restaurant. Boy that was a bit treat.

When I and my chums were studying for our O Levels, we would meet at the reference library early in the morning for about 4 hours revision. It was then down to Dingles restaurant for our lunch and home to do a bit more studying. Three of the S-Club were in the group, and when we had sat our final O level examination, we decided to spend the whole day in the Dingles restaurant.

We managed to achieve that, by buying just enough food and drink at intervals which kept the staff from throwing us out!! Dingles was a Plymouth institution, and I remember Stuart, one of the S-Club, meeting some Cornish rugby supporters in Twickenham. 'I guess you can only press your noses against the window of Dingles' he said, intimating they were Country bumpkins and could not afford to shop there. That nearly caused a right to do!!

It suffered in a major fire about ten years ago, which started in the restaurant area, but it was rebuilt to its former standard and will be a sad lost to the Plymouth centre. Initial plans from British Land who own the site, indicate it could be turned into residential units with retail on the ground floor. Time will tell.

Interestingly at the time I was in Plymouth, the 'girl next door' was called Belinda Lee, she is now Belinda Earl OBE, and is style director at M & S. Let's hope her job remains secure in the churning retail marketplace.