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.

Forbearance

When things are as tough as they are at the moment and people are confined to barracks, it is important to be considerate to each other. Now the initial panic is over, there is no need to stock pile food, road rage should be a thing of the past, given there are hardly any vehicles on the road in our part of the Country, and people can adhere to the 2 metre separation guidelines as there is loads of space in our parks and on our footpaths and coastal borders.

The boys in blue are keeping a watchful eye on  Birkenhead Park walkers and riders so at the moment The Wirral is doing OK.

That is more than can be said for the people who find they are out of work, or the back street entrepreneurs who find their once profitable cottage industries blown away in the blink of an eyelid. It has also hit multinationals and all those companies and organisations who sit in between, certainly in size terms.

Martin Lewis used the definition of forbearance to try to get us all to understand the struggle that business has at the moment, and it is useful to take that on board. My mate and I had paid a lot of money to a golf travel agent to go to Augusta for the Masters golf in April. When the event was postponed and then rescheduled, we asked for our money back. Rightly or wrongly , that was not one of the options they gave us, so rather than fight a battle over what the definition of 'force majeure'  is, we have given them the slack they need and said we will rebook for 2021. They are now fighting battles to repatriate other golfers they have sent on holiday and,  I suspect , their cash flow to ensure they are still in business next year.

We have a milkman and he has been delivering to us for years. I have just paid in advance for the next three weeks to help his cash flow and hopefully see him continue the service he provides to us and to allow him to keep his milko's employed.

I am also philanthropic in a small way towards my ex-rugby club. I'm in it as a business venture, but have today let them know that there will be no further payments due to me in 2020. That may help their cash flow somewhat as they will suddenly have nil income from rugby for 6 weeks and social functions and catering for probably three months. The grass will need to be cut a few times, but major outgoings like rent, rates  and utility  bills  still need to be sourced.

I have a small part to play at the golf club as a result of the closure of all courses for the time being, so the lockdown provides opportunity. Having just completed the painting project, we now have to redress the room. I have discovered the sofa springs are out of life so that forces me to participate in my favourite lockdown game, buy on e-bay. So far I have brought one new golf club, a pre-war Totopoly game with proper lead horses with four legs (fans of horse racing games will know why this excites me), an extra five horses of the same structure for display purposes, and I am now in prime position to win a Mont Blanc pen for a steal as it is listed in the wrong category!!!

Unfortunately the sale of my mothers old flat has had to be put on hold as a person in the chain is an NHS worker and does not feel she has the bandwidth to handle a house move just yet, but hopefully that will proceed in due course. We shall see.

So time to rehang the curtains plug the TV back in and resume some sort of  normal like, although we have not really missed the TV these last few weeks, I wonder if we might be right in the middle of a permanent life style change. Husbands and wives talking to each other, now there's a side effect I didn't anticipate!

Men at Work

This is Mark, working diligently at his bench in the heart of Liverpool city centre. Mark is a furniture restorer and is married to one of  SWMBO's girl friends. He invited me to the workshop to look round, and I must say it was a bit of an Aladdin's Cave.

The workshop is on the ground floor of an old cotton warehouse. Chris, an upholsterer, works on the first floor beside the stripping and varnishing sections. There is work in progress all over the place.

Next door is the showroom where all the restored items, and some originals are displayed for potential buyers. Mark pointed out the restoration work on some items, which to the untrained eye would be impossible to spot. Some areas of the showroom were fitted out as period rooms, such as an Art Nouveau lounge and a country kitchen from the 1950's. I was interested to see one of the artefact's was a vintage  Totopoly set, but only had paper horses so was not in the same league as my cast iron version.

While the market in brown goods has hit the floor over the last few years, good pieces like chaise longue, desks and dining chairs still continue to command premium prices. Wardrobes and tables though don't.

We have some dining chairs which need repair so Mark and Chris will be on the case for those soon, and Mark very kindly offered me some bench space and the use of the industrial saws, for when I start to do my own work. I have enrolled at the local technical college to do a basic carpentry and joinery course so will welcome access to some of his tools.

The basement area is suffering from damp, so is not used for the furniture, but they have set up a 20 metre shooting range to pass the time in their lunch breaks!!

My shed is progressing well,  to the point where there is lighting and  bike storage available so just a few shelves to put up and I can finish the sides. Just need a good downpour to test out the internal drainage system now.

Gee up Neddy

If Carlsberg ran auctions on e-bay then I would have probably purchased the best item I ever could.

I have a vivid childhood memory of playing Totoploy at my friends house when I was about  9 or 10.  Totopoly was made by Waddingtons, and was the companion game for their greatest hit, Monopoly. For those of you not familiar with Totopoly, its a horse racing board game. There are two tracks, on each side of the board. You play the training track first to gain credits and chance cards to help you during the race, which takes place on the other side of the board.

There are twelve horses, all names after previous winners of the Lincolnshire handicap, and they are colour coded to represent the four training stables.

Now I remember these horses to be die cast lead horses with four legs, a tail and a jockey, proper three dimensional playing pieces.

When I purchased a set a few years ago, the horses had morphed into one dimensional plastic, supported on a plastic base. I was devastated, and set about trying to obtain an original set on e-bay.

Now this search  has taught me many things; firstly the set I was searching for is a 1939/40 first edition set, and the only one which had horses as described, secondly it is as rare as hens teeth, as the set I have purchased is the first I have found in the three years I have been monitoring e-bay, and lastly, there is a social history lesson interwoven with the horse manufacturing process.

The set I have was manufactured for maybe a year tops. At the outbreak of World War II, while production continued, metal was at a premium. The horses were, therefore, made out of pressed cardboard and came with small wooden blocks in which to support them on the track.
This was the style of horse which was used into the 1950's. Suddenly metal horses returned to the stables so to speak,  they remained the one dimensional style of the cardboard, albeit with integrated metal support bases. Then in the 1970's came the horrific plastic versions which I had purchased previously.

So I now own a very sought after game which I have covetted for years, but , sadly, I am too scared to play with it, and have nothing with the same sentimental attraction to search for e-bay at the moment. Oh well, it will have to be back to spare parts for the Dyson!!