Saturday 26 February 2022

Allotment




23rd July 2022


first potatoes from first row


22nd May 2022
Potatoes and Beans growing


9th April 2022
2 more rows of potatoes and a row of broad beans






26th March 2022
1st row of potatoes


19th March 2022


26th February 2022

19th February 2022

12th February 2022
Start of clearing.

29th December 2021
First visit to assess.




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Sunday 28 June 2020

Tolkien on the Internet



Collections


Blogs/Articles


Actors Public Appearances


BBC Dramatisation


Fan Dramatisations


Hobbit Movie Fan Edits
Keep on Tolkien:

Prancing Pony:

Talking Tolkien:

Signum:

Tolkien Road:


Articles


Tolkien Professor Lectures


Reddit


Facebook
Tolkien Collecting
Action Figures


YouTube

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Wednesday 29 April 2020

Tolkien Best Purchases

I’ve been collecting for a long time are have had many a bargain, particularly in the past from car boot sales and the early days of the Internet. There are not so many bargains to be had these days, what with more collectors and more dealers, however bargains can still occasionally be found. These are a few of my more recent ones.

1st Edition Boxed Set
2010
Impressions 10/7/6
Good Condition
£30


Fellowship & Return King 1st Editions
2015
Impressions 5/2
With maps, but no dust jackets
Good condition
£5


Figure Bundle
2018
This was a large bundle of 53 Toybiz and AOME figures and sets.

It cost £500

It includes a lot of exclusive Toybiz sets, individually quite expensive, but specifically the Arwen and Horse Red Box Horse and Rider Set which is the rarest figure of them all and worth over £1200 on its own.



    

    




Book Bundle
2019
This was a small bundle of books.

It cost £26

All books are in very good condition.

The highlights are:
A 2nd Edition 1st Impression Lord of the Rings set
A 1970 5th Impression Hobbit
A 1st Edition Silmarillion (not specifically rare though)





Posters
2023
2 Posters
£25 offer


Card Bundle
2020
This was an eclectic bundle of film merchandise.

It cost £16

The highlight of this are 2 very rare Flying Nazgul Super Top Trumps worth £25 each and 2 rare Shelob Super Top Trumps.





Card Bundle
2022
£1.20 plus postage

4 Topps clothes cards, 1 Topps artist card and 4 common Decipher sets





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Sunday 22 July 2018

Collecting Tolkien - New Item - Hobbit Lego Dwarves

Collection: Toys


Since Lego introduced their Hobbit Lego series I have wanted a complete set of all 13 dwarves. I had already managed to get all the Hobbit sets boxed, but I didn’t want to open them as they were part of my Tolkien collection and, being Lego were prone to pieces going missing. I already had all the Lord of the Fellowship (in a shop display), so wanted the dwarves loose so I could make a Hobbit display to go with it.
However, Lego is expensive, particularly since the sets were no longer available from shops, and I didn’t have a big budget.  I couldn’t afford new boxed sets, so I had 2 options either a; purchase individual figures or b; purchase used sets.
I investigated the sets option and determined that the Lego sets needed were as follows:
Thorin: Wargs or Laketown or Battle 5 armies
Dori: Goblin king
Nori: Goblin king
Ori: Goblin king
Fili: Spiders or Lonely mountain
Kili: Spiders or Lonely mountain
Bifur: Wargs
Balin: Unexpected gather or Lonely mountain
Dwalin: Unexpected gather or Lonely mountain
Bofur: Unexpected gather
Bombur: Unexpected gather
Gloin: Barrels
Oin: Barrels

I therefore decided that I needed the following sets:
Unexpected Gathering
Wargs
Spiders
Barrels
Goblin king

I liked the idea of getting the sets as this meant I would also have some of the other figures and also some dioramas to 'play' with.
My plan was to try to get the sets required for the same price as the buying individual figures (they were going for approx. £10 each).
I wasn’t fully committed to the project but started to look around for the sets, particularly the Unexpected Gathering set, which I really liked as a diorama, and it also had 4 of the dwarves.
After quite a while looking I finally managed to get one for £50. I was off and running and now committed to the project.
I was in a good position, I didn’t mind if the sets were not 100% complete, so long as it had all the minifigure pieces, and the diorama was generally intact, I would consider it.
By constantly hunting around, after a few months, I managed to get all the sets I needed, some were also very cheap.
Opening the packages was quite exciting as there was no guarantee that all the mini-figure pieces would be there. Sometimes they were put together and easy to locate but other times I had to hunt for the pieces. I struggled to find the quivers for Filli and Killi, but they were in an unopened pack. I also spent an age locating Gandalf’s staff which had ended up under the box when I had opened it.
After I had completed the set, I took a photo of them arranged as in the following film promo picture (see top of the page):
I posted this on my twitter with the usual #CollectTolkien tag.

This was very popular and was liked by a 100 people, the most I had ever had.
Overnight however it got a comment by none other than Jed Brophy who played Nori in the Movie and caused it to be retweeted and liked by another load of people.

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Sunday 15 July 2018

Tolkien Exhibition and Oxford Tour

The plan was to a; see the Bodleian Maker of Middle Earth exhibition then b; see some of the ‘Tolkien’ sites of Oxford, c; experience Oxford.

I did quite a bit of planning, particularly for the Tolkien sites, and had a fairly detailed itinerary:


Parking is not good in Oxford, went for OXPENS which left a bit of a walk (20min) to the City Centre. It was a very beautiful summers day, however following a long delay on the drive up, required a brisk walk to hit out exhibition time, which made us very hot. It would defiantly be worth considering the park and ride (although this would have impacted on travelling to some locations later in the day). Also, the parking was a bit expensive.
The Tolkien exhibition was very good, a lot of original Tolkien documents and particularly his art. It was amazing to see the originals of a some very famous pictures. I particularly liked the fan letter from Terry Pratchett. There was an interesting mix of items from various aspects of his life and the different books he wrote. The 3D map is also very good. The exhibition is not huge, just one room, and it can get a bit crowded (although when we were there on a weekday, morning it was ok). The staff were friendly and efficient.



There was a lot of nice stuff to buy in the Museum Shop, I couldn’t afford a lot of it, but brought some mugs, postcards and a tea-towel. The carrier bags where also very nice and also very cheap, a great souvenir on their own.



Blackwells bookshop next door to the Library is also a must do, they have a small display of rare Tolkien books.
After that we then started our walking exploration of Oxford (to include some specific Tolkien locations).
You can book more official tours of some of the sites (we didn’t have time for that).
Our first stop was Exeter College, which is also close to the Bodleian, just around the corner. There is a bust of Tolkien in the Chapel.
Our next stop was the Radcliffe Camera, which is also close to the Bodleian. Not a Tolkien related site but a wonderful building.
It was then a slightly longer walk to the Botanical Gardens. This is where Tolkien’s favourite tree was (trees being significant in Tolkien’s books), however it is no longer there, having benn cut down a while ago. We didn’t have much time to spend in the gardens.
Next was Merton College, which is right next door to the gardens. I would have liked to have seen Tolkien’s Stone Table on Dead Man’s Walk, however you need to be in the College grounds to see this and we didn’t have time go into the College. We did walk next to it around Merton’s field.
We then walked passed Christ Church College and Cathedral which is right next to Merton.
From there we went up through the town and saw Ashmolean Museum and continued on to the Eagle and Child pub, where the Inkings regularly met. We had a brief look round the pub, but it was a bit crowded to stop for a drink.

We then crossed over the road and saw the Natural History Museum and then went to the Oxford University Parks, which are next to it.
The park was bigger than expected and Tolkien’s Bench is right on the other side (near the High Bridge). The 2 trees planted in memory of Tolkien are not marked so we didn’t see those however it was lovely on Tolkien’s bench, in the shade by the river.


This concluded our city centre tour, so we made out leisurely way back through the centre to the car park.
We then took the 10-minute drive to Tolkien’s house. This was a little bit obscured by trees and hedges but could see the blue plaque clearly.

We then drove a little bit further out to visit Tolkien’s grave in Wolvercote Cemetery. There are little signed along the side of the paths directing you to the grave. The grave is quite simple in amongst all the others.


The whole trip was a great day out. The exhibition was wonderful. I would like to go back to Oxford to explore some the Tolkien aspects of the various colleges.


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Thursday 28 December 2017

2017 - A Summary

TV
Big little lies
Thirteen reasons why

Music
Big Little Lies theme
Pink Floyd Echoes LP

Events
Alex has her tonsils out. Very scary, she has an emergency hospital appointment in Leicester with a cancer scare, but it ends up being very bad tonsils. Once removed her health is a lot better.

On her way back from Melton college, Deb runs out of petrol and Andrew has to come and get her. Only thing is, she has stopped 50 yards from a garage.

Deb starts her new job at Bedford college.

James has a lot of problems with his girlfriend, very possessive and abusive. He finishes with her.

James gets a new car, an Audi.

Andrew car breaks down on the A14 just outside Kettering and has to call the AA.

Kath and Luke have a short holiday in Italy and get engaged, wedding set for October 2018. Katy spends a lot of there in the preparations.

Kath does Strictly schools, and she comes 2nd with a Harley Quinn routine.

Han does first exam for BTEC Sport.

Weekend away in caravan at Saltfleet. It is very hot, Bella is bad in the heat.



Deb starts a Masters.

Hannah does feed the homeless with her school friends.

Hannah starts going to church with granny.

Hannah, Kat and Alex go to Cadbury World.

Deb and Andrew she Rocky horror in open air cinema at Stanwick Lakes.


Alex moves bedroom.

James gets a new Job at the Rose and Crown, Yardley Hastings.

Andrew gets a puncture on the A14, has to call Grampy to get Hannah to East Midlands Basketball and Graham to get new tire (spare is broken).

Holiday Mallorca. Sun holiday, most of the time by the pools. Andrew gets food poisoning, has to go hospital.




Hannah does train trip to see boyfriend (Tayo) in Leicester.

Andy big Ownership project finishes (30 hour shift for implementation).

Hannah 2 full weeks of basketball (during summer holiday).

Andrew gets new car, a white Astra.

East Midlands basketball, Manchester. Hannah is nervous, sick before first game.
Basketball season, Hannah in u16 and Ladies teams.



Deb gets promotion to course leader.

Meet up with Wolverhampton relatives at Statford.



Alex ill with foot and mouth infection.

Looking at Basketball colleges for Hannah (Charnwood Loughborough, Barking Abbey London).

Han 16th birthday



Deb goes to Disneyland Paris supervising a College trip.

France's from work dies suddenly of cancer.

Han does her mock exams.

London coach trip. Go Oxford street shopping and to Winter Wonderland, see the circus.



Han splits with boyfriend Tayo.

Dad is 80, has a birthday party at Graham's.

Skating at Beckworths.



Christmas is good. Kathryn and Luke stay over, James not working. Andrew iWatch, Deb Beats headphones, Han Badketball boots, Alex Chipi robot dog, Kath Swoski Disney rose, James XBox One.




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