I couldn’t resist writing a new Brexit related post after observing this weekend’s social developments. There were reports of a million people marching in London to demand a “people’s vote” on the exit arrangements and, regardless of the actual turnout, the aerial views of the crowds in London were remarkable.

In addition, the Revoke Article 50 petition has now attracted more than five million signatures. Here’s a link so that you can sign it if you feel any solidarity with the protesters - https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/241584. 

I am scratching my head a bit on this, but I think this may be the first time I have ever seen a protest of such a size and scale that has been orientated around preserving the status quo – or at least sense checking things before making dramatic change.

Bearing in mind that in 2016 there were 51 million people registered to vote, of which 46.5 million actually voted, the volume of signatures on the petitions and the number of folk taking to the streets, is statistically significant. More than 10% of the voting population has taken part on an online poll that hasn’t even been properly promoted.

May’s government is in a total mess, the PM’s time at the top must be almost done, the situation in Parliament is pretty much stalemate and at some point, there surely has to be a reality check.  I don’t see how our elected members can ignore what is going on all around them.

Personally, I’ve had enough of Brexit, I don’t think our MPs are capable, I don’t think we should leave with May’s deal, or no deal at all.

To use some clichés, I think that –

“a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”
“the grass isn’t always greener on the other side” and
“wake up and smell the coffee”.

What we have is fine, it works, let’s just stick with it.

Or at the very least, get the people involved in approving the final agreement.
​
I have put my name to both petitions.

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I am stupidly excited today because I can report that I am now the owner of a complete set of Lyons Maid Superman’s Superheroes lolly sticks. 39 years after my dad binned my incomplete collection and, more recently, after seven years of periodic web site posts, an envelope came through the door today with the figures required to finish my set.

In terms of excitement, I state stupidly because I am 48 years old and we are talking about 12 five-inch strips of plastic with no intrinsic value …

… yet for me, today feels like Christmas. And that Christmas feeling isn’t the adult, low-key experience, but the kind of childlike jump-around-joy with a present (and that’s what the sticks were) that I haven’t experienced since my parents bought me a talking Action Man in the seventies, or my first Hornby trainset in the early eighties.

Over the last few weeks, the dialogue generated by the Superman ice lolly (launched by Lyons Maid in 1978) has been really interesting - lots of blog comments, contributors swapping stuff, sets being completed for other enthusiasts, and much reminiscing. To finally have a stick set for myself is wholly unexpected and quite amazing.

Like Crispin Lowery, one of the earliest contributors to my blog, I am going to find a way to display the collection so that others can enjoy it too.

I hope that the marketers and engineers that were responsible for bringing the Superman lolly to market in the first place are still around and able to appreciate that their efforts continue to generate joy all these years later. They might not have thought that a lolly would be a kind of legacy, but they might be pleased to know anyway.

And on the matter of legacies, in a recent post I mentioned that I fully expected to die before completing the stick collection, but instead, I can now report that I’ll be keeping these things until I do.

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Related Posts
2012 https://www.adrianbaldwin.net/lyons-maid-supermans-superheroes-ice-lolly.html
04/12/2012 http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/the-sequel-to-the-supermans-superheroes-stick-story
25/02/2015 http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/fantastic-plastic-perranporth-find
15/02/2017 http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/first-class-ice-lolly-cool-cornwall-catwoman
10/03/2019 https://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/lolly-stick-happiness
13/03/2019  https://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/lyons-maid-supermans-superheroes-lolly-sticks-in-colour
July 2020 My stick collection framed (you may have to scroll)

Superman’s superheroes lolly sticks, one of my site’s more ‘niche’ subject areas has, unexpectedly, proved to be rather popular with visitors, and a much richer vein of content than originally anticipated.

In recent weeks, one of my older (but periodically updated) posts has been attracting enthusiasts, commentators and collectors alike, and they have even started communicating amongst themselves as a result of their interactions on my blog.

Yesterday, something cool happened and I thought I would share it with you. As a result of some on and offsite engagement, a very well-spoken gentleman with some obvious enthusiasm and an encyclopaedic knowledge of Lyons Maid telephoned me to share some of his insight.

We talked for a while about the lolly sticks and he sent me the photo associated with this post. The image of the sticks in a painted state is great because it not only evidences what can be achieved with the right skills, the right coloured paints and the right level of patience, it also helps one to understand the details of the mouldings. Bearing in mind that the white sticks can be quite hard to photograph and, as a result, discern the intricacies of the figures, the paint really brings them to life.

And, though the sticks are in a slightly different order, I am convinced that they are the same sticks that are seen in the black and white image originally sent to me by Peter Bird in 2012. To appeal to newspaper editors and for press coverage benefits, that image obviously had a child added for effect.

It’s great to see the things in colour, don’t you agree?

During our conversation, we even got into some debate about the engineering issues that must have been faced by Lyons Maid in making the lolly. It hadn’t really occurred to me before, but when you appreciate that a production line could be accommodating twelve sticks with differing, irregular plastic shapes, inserting them into the lolly and maintaining consistency, quality and presentation standards would have been challenging. There must have implications for tooling, or the batching of production that weren’t faced when using traditional wooden, regular shaped stick alternatives.

Our conversation was genuinely fascinating. I was delighted to talk to a site visitor for a change, it made my day and inspired me to take to my keyboard once more.

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​Related posts
2012 https://www.adrianbaldwin.net/lyons-maid-supermans-superheroes-ice-lolly.html
04/12/2012 http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/the-sequel-to-the-supermans-superheroes-stick-story
25/02/2015 http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/fantastic-plastic-perranporth-find
15/02/2017 http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/first-class-ice-lolly-cool-cornwall-catwoman
10/03/2019 https://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/lolly-stick-happiness

Seven years after the first piece on the subject (see related posts below), I am delighted to write this latest blog in the Lyons Maid Superman’s Superheroes saga. As a result of my earlier articles and the comment-based dialogue that ensued, I can report that two of my readers, who were able to make contact with each other through my site, have swapped sticks to each complete their respective collections. For John and Tim, forty years of collecting efforts have finally reached closure. It pleases me that my website has helped, in a very niche space, bring together like minded collectors/enthusiasts.
   
In the best of playground type transactions (because that was how it was for us all back in the seventies), The Riddler was traded for a Robin. And two forty-to-fiftysomethings are very happy.

For me the excitement has just got reignited because John sent me four sticks (Catwoman, Doctor Destiny, The Joker and The Flash) to get me going – that’s 25% of the set already. As chuffed as I am with the sticks, I am even more bowled over by the kindness of someone I have never met. Thank you John.

Bearing in mind that it took Tim and John forty years to complete their collections, amusingly, I have to expect that I'll not live long enough to have a full set myself … but it will be fun to see how many I can amass in the years I have left (hopefully a lot … of years that is).

Wish me luck everyone … not for the long life, but for the full set.

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Related posts
2012 https://www.adrianbaldwin.net/lyons-maid-supermans-superheroes-ice-lolly.html
04/12/2012 https://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/the-sequel-to-the-supermans-superheroes-stick-story
25/02/2015 http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/fantastic-plastic-perranporth-find
15/02/2017 http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/first-class-ice-lolly-cool-cornwall-catwoman