Adrian Baldwin
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New team GB to help humbled Hornby handle Olympic blues

9/25/2012

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It was a shame to read today that Hornby has had to advise the City that it will not make its figures and will at best break even in its current financial year.

Hornby, a British institution, also owns/maintains the Scalextric, Corgi and Airfix brands and really should be one of the most important businesses to the male population in this country. 

As a kid, all the brands above were important to me and, as an adult, the same still applies; but what’s better is that I can (within reason) buy anything I like from the ranges. As a kid, I got to ‘wish’, as an adult I get to ‘have’!

And have I do – a train set from Hornby (along with a considerable fleet of locomotives and rolling stock), a car park of slot cars, a decent collection of Corgi Whizzwheels/Rockets/Juniors and a roof space that acts as a hanger for a squadron of assorted plastic and painted Airfix aircraft models.

These collections have been built over years and some think I should be embarrassed by them. Me, I disagree but then, to be honest, I couldn’t care less what anyone thinks. I am a nostalgic soul and these things make me smile. Peter Snow, Pete Waterman and James May would undoubtedly agree with me.

I have made sure that my son, now nine, knows and appreciates the brands too because Wiis, 3DSs and television just cannot be the only entertainment a modern child enjoys.

My son has an Airfix Wellington bomber on his bedroom shelf that I made years ago (and to my pleasure, he coveted it), but next to it is a Hawker Hurricane that he and I built together during a visit to Duxford last year – we
bonded over it just as the glue bonded the parts together and he was very pleased with his efforts too. As he gets more patient and more dexterous, I will actively encourage him to make more models – he’s already artistic and I am sure he will love the challenge.

When I was a kid I made Airfix models and, whilst it was fun making them, they were basically shit – glue everywhere, no paint to decorate them and transfers applied to bare plastic (if they would stick at all). When I was in my twenties, I was determined to do something creative, that would force me to slow down and to concentrate, and so I started making models again. This time I found the experience very rewarding indeed. Of course I had tools, a decent range of Humbrol paints (also owned by Hornby) and much more patience than I did in my youth. 

When I was my son’s current age, or thereabouts, I owned my first Hornby train set, an Intercity 125 set in the original BR blue and yellow 70s livery; and I loved it! Years later, as an adult, I got to interact with the train sets owned by uncle and my brother-in-law and, to my surprise, I got as much pleasure then as I did as a child. The engineering quality and paint finishes on a modern Hornby steam engine are just amazing and I defy any bloke with any interest in mechanics not to be impressed.

When my wife was pregnant with our son, she suffered badly from morning sickness and was tired most of the time. She often went to bed early and I needed a distraction. That was all the incentive I needed to build my own
train layout in the loft. We didn’t know what ‘model’ of child we were going to get but, just in case we had a daughter, it made sense to invest in the ‘boy toys’ early. All these years later, my son shows the kind of enthusiasm towards the train set and Scalextric track that justifies the time and money spent.

On the subject of slot cars, at the tender age of 41, the last slot car, a RS200 was bought only about six weeks ago. And I got a couple last Christmas too.    
 
So my call to all male readers out there is get out to your nearest Hornby, Scalextric or Airfix retailer and buy something to take home and enjoy on your own or with your children. If your partner is pregnant, think about building your own train set as well as decorating the nursery.  If your life is a bit hectic and you could do with a relaxing pastime, think about model making. If you like a beer with the lads, get them around your house and race slot cars whilst enjoying the ale – believe me, the competition is as much fun as it was when you were a kid.

Alternatively just buy presents for your children and broaden their horizons a little. 

Together we can protect this British company and ensure its future. JJB Sports is readying itself for the receivers; it would be unthinkable for Hornby to be in similar circumstances.

It’s a shame to reflect that the Olympics, so good for morale in the UK, and so powerful in terms of uniting the country, has caused a lot of damage to one of our great British companies. Let’s create a new Team GB – ours will be Team Get Buying! 

I am writing my shopping list now – why wait until Christmas!

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An escort agency says ‘hi’

9/20/2012

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A great website moment this morning – I smiled enough to write another post.

One of my earliest blog efforts has just seen a comment left against it by Lynnwood Escorts.

Bearing in mind that the IP address for the commentator was in the US, we are not talking about a Ford dealership here.

Someone in the adult entertainment industry left me the following message!

“Just taking a quick coffee break and wanted to post a hello” 
 
WOW!

As an imaginative sort, I can tell you that my mind was racing; a break from what? The mind boggles! 

Somewhere in the States, after escorting a satisfied punter; Sindy (a made up name), tired and tousled from her exploits, takes a few moments to relax and write to me over an Americano (black no sugar). 

Obviously all complete nonsense but an amusing thought process to occupy the mind on the dull journey to the office.  
 
The one line comment really only comes down to one word – and in response, and in my best Leslie Phillips voice: 

“Well hel lo”

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Parenting payback

9/20/2012

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Sometimes being a parent has its little rewards, it’s not just a constant and stressful battle of wills and differing agendas. Here’s today’s proof of the occasional parenting payback.

The picture is of a little ‘present’ that my five year old hid in my briefcase last night and that I found this morning. So sweet it’s prompted the creation of its own blog post. 

Aaarrrrrhhhhh!

Today will be better for this folded Pizza Express napkin.

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Death defying motorcyclist

9/18/2012

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Just a few days I wrote about death and motorcycles, and today I have just read this incredible story on the BBC. 

Whoever the unnamed rider of this motorbike is, he is very fortunate to be alive. I have written about bad luck before; clearly this chap was unlucky to crash but, crikey, he was lucky to survive, despite his injuries, for three days afterwards, and to be found by the Police.

I am not a great believer in fate or destiny but every so often a story makes me think. 

I love the written works of Terry Pratchett – in the Discworld series, Death is a character that carries hour glasses for all life forms. When a life form’s sand runs out, Death is there to collect them.  

This rider joins Erin Langworthy in the ranks of those whose time just wasn’t up. 

I wish him a speedy recovery.

UPDATE: 19/09/12
The rider's name has now been made public -
Anthony Margrave, 40, from Goole, East Yorkshire.  I am not surprised to find out he's a Yorkshire man; they make them hard up there!

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Things with wings – a Sunday in Stratford

9/17/2012

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This Sunday saw the Baldwin family head to Stratford, the initial destination was Mary Arden’s farm. We have been to this attraction three times over the past year because, for adults and children alike, it’s a good place to while away a few hours. 

This Sunday was no different, my son got to have a go at archery (twice), my daughter got to run around and look at all the animals and I got to hold an eagle owl (and let’s face it, that’s not an opportunity the average person is going to get very often). 

The picture shows me with the impressive creature on my arm. I was genuinely thrilled to be able to interact with it and I was grateful to the falconer who was prepared to let me. Rarely do I publish pictures of myself but in this case I’ll make an exception - large, beautiful, powerful, and potentially dangerous, I think the owl makes this photo worthy of sharing (the bloke is just an arm for the bird – you can ignore him). 
 
After the farm, the Baldwin family headed into Stratford to the second venue of the afternoon – The Butterfly Farm.  This place is brilliant and it has remained a firm favourite of my children for years.  

Inside, the second of my Dr Dolittle moments were recorded. Check out the wings on this monster! I took the pictures with my own phone so apologies that one or two are not great. 
 
The butterfly was large, the biggest I saw during the visit, it attached itself to me and then wandered up my arm, across my shoulder, up my neck and then up on to my head. It was big enough for me to feel every step it took and whilst that would have freaked out many, I was impressed by the robust nature of this insect. Butterflies are usually fragile things but not this one, it was big and wiry and almost alien in appearance.

My daughter really didn’t like it at all and to be honest, Mrs Baldwin was also a little uncomfortable watching this creature crawling on me. This butterfly’s legs were long enough to have a distinctly spidery look about them and that is probably why the girls were keen to go elsewhere, and quickly! They didn’t fly but they did get in a bit of a flap and take flight.

Me, I was just impressed that a Sunday in Stratford resulted in me being able to interact with these winged wonders.

If you fancy a visit to either place – here are some links:

Mary Arden's Farm
The Butterfly Farm

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Motorbikes, death, desire and divorce potential

9/13/2012

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I was looking for a photograph on my PC last night in order to create a birthday message for a good friend. In doing so, I came across some other photos that prompted me to write this latest post. 
 
Earlier in 2012, Daventry town centre hosted a motorbike festival. Some beautiful bikes were brought along and I took the kids and my camera into town to enjoy the event. Amongst many exhibits; vintage bikes, custom choppers, a squadron of Vespas, some 70s superbikes and most bizarrely the motorcycle hearse you see before you, were on show. The hearse was like a big sidecar attachment to a powerful Triumph and I’d never seen anything like it before. 

Have you?

The hearse was genuinely used for funerals, the chap that owned it was interviewed live on air by the master of ceremonies (for want of a better description) and he had some amusing anecdotes to share. The hearse bike was apparently in demand – people dying to have a go – ha ha (his joke). 

Actually the bike was popular (perhaps not the best choice of word) with the Hells Angels types and I can kind of understand why. Although it’s a bit macabre, I guess if you live by the bike, possibly die by the bike and then go to your eternal rest on the bike then there could be some sense of balance/continuity.

On the subject of funerals, Mrs Baldwin is ‘dead’ set against motorbikes and has threatened divorce if I am ever tempted to buy one. My seventies stuff has generated similar threats in the past but in this instance, she means it too. 

So the beautiful yellow seventies Honda Super Sport (also pictured), though coveted, will not be appearing in my retro ‘things’ gallery. That’s not such a bad thing either because the Super Sport was much better at ‘going’ than ‘slowing’ – and I am not ready to ride in the hearse just yet! 

I guess if the mid-life crisis bites and I get the urge for two wheels, the cost per mile calculation will have to take into account the monetary hit from a divorce and maintenance payments (child not bike). The droopsnoot Firenza is therefore a much better financial proposition and Mrs B. would even support that. 

Although I may have mentioned, I did see a beautiful Vauxhall Monaro the other day…

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The Flashing Blade of nostalgia

9/11/2012

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This morning’s journey to work was entertaining thanks to Chris Evans and his Breakfast Show. Chris played the theme tunes to some of the old TV shows that I grew with.  I sang along, which was fun, but the highlight for me was when the theme tune to “The Flashing Blade” was played. As a child I loved this show; the main characters, Francois de Chevalier and Guillot, were like a swashbuckling, French Bodie and Doyle – think horses and swords instead of Capris and guns.  

I distinctly remember sitting down in front of the TV with my note pad over a number of days in a row trying to scribble the words down so that I could sing along properly. It was a long and slow process too; a verse at best transcribed every couple of episodes or so. 

The power of the internet means that kind of manual and time consuming labour has been forever consigned to history.  And to be honest that’s a good thing but part of me misses those much simpler times.

A Google search this lunchtime helped me find a great site about the programme – and that’s where the world-wide-web is so useful – everything is out there somewhere.

Amongst some great content, which I need not reproduce (but that you should read), the site presented the lyrics to the theme tune. Here they are so that you can sing along too.

You've got to fight for what you want
For all that you believe
It's right to fight for what we want
To live the way we please
 ------------
As long as we have done our best
Then no one can do more
And life and love and happiness
Are well worth fighting for
------------
And we should never count the cost
Or worry that we'll fall
It's better to have fought and lost
Than not have fought at all
------------
Let's always take whatever comes
And never try to hide
Face everything and anyone
Together side by side
 ------------
You've got to fight for what you want
For all that you believe
It's right to fight for what we want
To live the way we please
------------
As long as we have done our best
Then no one can do more
And life and love and happiness
Are well worth fighting for
They're well worth fighting for


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London 2012 Top Trumps – Paralympics versus Olympics – a score draw?

9/10/2012

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This year’s summer of sport would make for a great Top Trumps game (or series of packs for that matter) because the fact is that the Olympics and the Paralympics were so closely matched for brilliance that in a card game – a winner would be far from clear. In some respects there was nothing between the events – think GB’s performance overall in the medals tables – third in both.   

David Weir, Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis, Jonnie Peacock, Hannah Cockroft, Greg Rutherford, Sarah Storey, Sir Chris Hoy, Ellie Simmonds, Rebecca Adlington, Mandeville, Wenlock  – who would trump who?

Last night’s Paralympics closing ceremony was terrific; in fact in my opinion it was better and would therefore trump the Olympics equivalent. Where the Olympics ceremony felt disjointed in places because of efforts to cram
so much in, the Paralympic closure was more consistent. Rather than multiple bands and multiple music genres, Coldplay had the stage for the evening and the band was fantastic. 

The BBC coverage for the Olympics was better than the Paralympics Channel 4 coverage.

But a ticket for the Paralympics was much easier to get than an Olympic ticket.

How would you call Lord Coe’s closing speech versus Lord Coe’s closing speech?

The theme throughout this piece is that there is no justification for discriminating between the two events. The Paralympics was not the poor relative to the Olympics and in my mind the former was greater in many ways. 
 
From a personal perspective, the Olympics was gripping; when it ended I was uncomfortable that the Paralympics would be much lower key and that would look and feel like discrimination (and there is too much of that nonsense
as it is). If that had have happened, it would have been an embarrassment for the UK.

Aside from my belief that the BBC really should have covered the Paralympics too, I think that the UK can take some pride from what has been achieved. Disability was not hidden from view, or avoided in discussion, the athletes were not treated like freaks and watching them perform was not presented as some kind of voyeuristic spectacle.   

Instead what commandeered our minds were willpower, effort, achievement and celebration and these, more spiritual qualities were no different between the games. The noise in the venues and the support for the athletes was huge and again there was no discernible difference.

The whole country has received an education and from a personal perspective I have learnt a lot about how disabilities are classified and how they are mitigated in sporting terms. 

During the Olympics I reflected on just how much the human body and mind is capable of – in the Paralympics I reflected even more; I was amazed and humbled.  
 
The UK has raised the bar on disabled sport and I for one hope that the bar gets lifted even higher! Lord Coe stated in his closing speech yesterday that disabled sport would never be the same again and I think that we all owe it to ourselves and the country to make sure that he is right.

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Last night’s Paralympic athletics was just awe inspiring

9/7/2012

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What a night of sporting achievement! If you missed it, you missed a treat.

The golden performances of Hannah Cockroft, David Weir and Jonnie Peacock were nothing short of brilliant. It was truly gripping stuff.

It is a shame that the Paralympics has not been as‘supported’ as the Olympics because the fact is that the action, the determination and the achievements of the athletes have been every bit as engaging and dramatic (in fact more so in many instances). I just wish the BBC had covered the Paralympics in the same way as the Olympics – more coverage, the iPlayer, no ad breaks etc. 

Last night the Baldwin family was as excited as at any point during the Olympics. We were jumping up and down, shouting support and celebrating and I only wish I thought to record it so that I could post a video. 

The Olympics was brilliant but in many ways the Paralympics has been even better. It has been exhilarating and yet humbling; disability has been celebrated instead of commiserated; adversity has been overcome and then ignored.

And Jonnie Peacock with one leg and a blade was only a second slower than Usain Bolt over the 100 metres.  Absolutely amazing.

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Unforgettable, unmissable – The Sweeney documentary

9/5/2012

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Last night at 9pm on ITV1, a one–off special ‘documentary’(for want of a better description) called “Unforgettable” featured the writers, producers, cast and crew of “The Sweeney” reminiscing on that legendary seventies TV series. Unforgettable may be name of the programme but I’d rather label it as unmissable.

I have written about the series before so regular readers will know that I love The Sweeney. From a personal perspective, it was fascinating to hear from those responsible for the creation of it (and indeed an ex CID man of the time). Interesting insights included:

Shooting on location in London without attracting the wrong attention from the legitimate rozzers. 
 
How Ford stepped up to supply the cars when other manufacturers were a bit precious (did the reluctant manufacturers learn nothing from the Italian Job?). So successful was the sponsorship for the manufacturer that many used The Ford Squad as an alternative label for The Flying Squad).

And most unexpectedly, how the creators had the ears of the police and the criminal fraternity and were able to use knowledge shared to make the scripts/scenes more gritty and realistic. I thought it was amazing to hear that genuine villains rated the series highly enough to be prepared to liaise with the producers and crew.

The final fascinating fact for me was that success, as in most things, came down to everyone pulling together and working bloody hard. The cast and crew knew each other and the series characters so well that improvisation and script deviation were not unusual or frowned upon. There was genuine comradery and respect and everyone connected to the series worked long hours –  in fact the documentary drew parallels between the hours put in by the crew and the real Flying Squad. 

If you missed the programme, I recommend that you catch up with it online. 

Separately, John Thaw was a class act and I think there was something almost career like in his law enforcement roles – Jack Regan to Morse to Kavannagh QC. Maverick cop to respected chief inspector and finally to judge – funny to reflect that Jack Regan ultimately became a QC. Interestingly, Martin Shaw, another 70’s TV hero achieved something similar – Doyle in the Professionals, Inspector George Gently and Judge John Deed.

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