Welcome to my first ever foray into bloggerland. I would like to point out that I have no political affiliations, no hidden agenda, no axes to grind and no hate.
I am as normal a person as you could ever meet, though some that know me would argue the fact. I have many interests and have always been a man of action. I only comment from personal expierience and rarely speculate. I have always had hobbies and interests. Some were of the type that did not require sharing, they could be energised from the bedroom floor or shed. I began collecting at primary school in Battersea, I used to collect bugs. My desk used to have old tobacco tins full of caterpillers. I would gather them from bushes outside the school along with some leaves, punch holes in the tops of the tins and keep them in the classroom. Observing their life cycle and finally returning the crystali to their native environment.
On one occasion I found a massive 3 inch long stag beatle that had been emptied by ants, all that remained was the glistening black exoskeleton. This was my pride and joy for many weeks until it was stolen from the display tank in class.
I then found a very large toad near to the railway embankment at Wandsworth common. I carried it to school in my cap. It lived in a leaky tank for many weeks. We used to feed it worms until the teacher decided it had served its purpose of education and should be returned to the wild, somewhat fatter.
Next I took a hedgehog home in my blazer. I never realised until then just how many bugs lived on a HH. My mother threw a tantrum and my father threw the HH into the alley at the back of the house.
Collecting is a funny business it goes through many stages. I sense that in the new millenium young people have little concept of the hobby. Though I suspect Pokemon cards could have helped generate a new generation of collectors. It is an odd urge that initially you feed without the slightest thought of COMPETITION. Then when others begin to collect similar things the male ego kicks in and it becomes competative.
Who has the biggest number of airfix soldiers? how many stamps are in your folders? Then there were cigarette cards. The only place I could get these was from smokers in the Plough. I used to hang around outside the pub asking all the men (and it was almost exclusively men in those days) for the cards from their packets. On good weekend I would end up with a good few swapsies. Odd word but they were the dealing part of collections. You possess two of something your fellow is missing one. You begin to barter and in the end do a deal.
I joined the cubs then the boy scouts, we used to have first pick of the jumble we collected. That was a fantastic time for me and looking back now the items that passed through my hands would be worth a small fortune now. I am not sure how much information on the past you, The reader, would want. Suffice to say I could spout on for paragraph after paragraph as I have been gifted with a partial photograhic memory. As I write these opening comments a film is running within my head. Not just images but odours, textures and emotional shadows. Quite a weird experience.
In fact as I write this it has just dawned on me that we all collect memories. Every single one of us has them, keeps them and if lucky we can retrieve them. My daughter just commented that her biggest memory jolter is smells and songs. I wonder what yours is?
I am not sure as to how to run a blog so I will simply allow it to run its course. Whatever pops into my head I will type so be prepared for a bouncy trip. I will however give you a start and finish point.
This was the start. The end will be where I am at this point in time with my collection. I now collect edged weapons mainly from the ww11 period and primarily of German origin.
My other interest is songwriting and playing the guitar and in a sense I collect my thoughts, my life and my experiences in the words of my songs. Looking back chronologically at the lyrics I see a map of my life and a map of all the people I knew and their lives. The best writing is from these sources and is in fact a melodic diary. I may even try and post some snippets of song once I work out the medium.
Thank you for popping in. I will now sit back drink some brandy and see what happens. Us old gits need to be pushed a little.
