Just a bit of fun. I spotted this Ladybird book at the car boot at the weekend and had to have a flick through. I don't think it had ever been opened as the pages didn't fall flat.
This is a picture of "A working tractor" and I had to buy the book as I remembered my Dad making these for my sister and me when we were small. We used to race them! You had to wind the match round and round and then set the tractor down on the table and it would the propel itself along! I know it doesn't compare in any way to today's toys but we did enjoy playing with them. This very image brought back lots of long hidden memories.
I don't recall having the book as a youngster: I would have remembered this next image, "The Balancing Man" made from 2 knitting needles, 2 nails , some plasticene and a cork!
Next "Doll's furniture" made from matchboxes and matches. I made lots of these and there were no warnings about not playing with matches! The legs for all the furniture were matches! How times have changed!
Finally all self respecting girls (and even some of the boys) had their own "Knitting machine" made from a wooden cotton bobbin (now selling for silly money on e-bay). We were forever making long strands of these knitted snakes from Mum's wool scrap basket only to have absolutely no idea what to do with the end product. If I'd had this book I'd have known to use them "to make reins for a baby brother"as it suggests.
Isn't it weird how something so innocuous can stir so much in you? I recently persuaded my daughter to try Marmite having refused to eat it for the last 13 years. She thought she hated it. As soon as she had tasted it she recalled a scene from nursery aged 3, eating sandwiches with the other childern and loving it. It is now a store cupboard favourite again...
A picture, a smell, a taste can all stir so much that has long been filed in our memories. Perhaps that's why so many of us love vintage...
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