The House Opposite

The House Opposite by J. Jefferson Farjeon is apparently the second Ben the Tramp story. 

Ben is the main character of this tale, a good old gentleman of the road who stumbles upon mysterious, and even murderous, goings on in the house opposite the one he is squatting in.

Ben is reluctantly drawn in to try and solve the mystery. The story is fairly unusual, and the main character is quite novel, but at times i found the story a bit hard going. I've always found dialogue written in a strong dialect is a bit tedious to read but i suppose it makes Ben more authentic. Once the story gets going its worth the read but getting there (without giving up) takes a bit of effort.

Lego roses

I didn't know Lego had a botanicals range, including red roses. Well, as it was Valentine's Day yesterday i thought it would be nice to make the Lego roses to give to my Wife instead of natural roses which will be dead in a few days! It has been a few years since i built a Lego set, i went through a bit of a craze about ten years ago. Maybe i might make a few more Lego sets in future.

Bash Street Kids Annual 1993

The Bash Street Kids comic strip from The Beano began appearing in collected volumes in 1980, old strips from the comic accompanied by some new features and artwork. Part of the fun of the annuals is (well for me anyway) trying to work out when the comic strips appeared in the Beano originally.

Early on in this annual there is a hint, the story TV or not TV features the kids as TV mad and watching breakfast TV. It is likely this is mentioned due to breakfast TV being new and novel at the time, that would put the stories in this annual around the 1983 time frame. 

Olive also appears as the cook and she did not feature until 1981, earlier annuals had different and unnamed school cooks (though just as inept!)

This is a good annual anyway, not quite as good as the annuals released in the 1980s which featured strips from the 1960s and 1970s, a true golden age.

A mini greenhouse

I've wanted a greenhouse for awhile though didn't really have enough space for it, but then i saw this mini greenhouse and thought it would be a good stop gap until i eventually have enough space (whenever that will be!)

I built the greenhouse this morning and have sited it next to the kitchen extension. It will get a lot of sunshine during the afternoon and evening, well it will when the rain finally stops anyway! I have moved the spider plant, which has just about managed to stay alive under the cloche, to the greenhouse.

A trip to Honeybourne

I have been to Honeybourne once before but that was some time ago so it was high time i returned and updated my ptography, the village is in Worcestershire so will be in my fourth book. Honeybourne is a nice village on the border with Gloucestershire and on the edge of the Cotswolds (though this seems to cover a rather wide area).

A nice church, some thatched roofs and it didn't really rain much so a good day! You can see my photos here.

Little Star

As well as old calculators, i also collect typewriters. I currently have 39 in my collection, though as yet no chimpanzees.

The latest machine to join the collection is a rather nice Italian typewriter from the 1960s, an Antares Little Star. It works fine as well, it didn't even need a new ribbon. The longevity of typewriters can be rather impressive.