Entertainment For Lively Minds
These are a few of my favourite things
In my non Word Blog life (yes I do have one) I run my boys Sunday football team. In my pre training chat tonight I talked to the boys about the importance of keeping possession of the ball, to make my point I asked each of them to name the favourite thing they owned and explained that they wouldn't give them away without a fight and that's how they should treat the ball. I know what you're thinking and yes I'm ready should Fabio ever stand down. Anyway, without hesitation they all named their favourite thing, X box's and Playstations mainly but there was a guitar and a bike in there too. One of the little loves turned the tables and asked me and after a second of panic I mumbled something about my Ipod but deep down I knew I don't own a "favourite thing" even after thinking about it for an hour or so I have come up with nothing that I hold so dear as those boys and their X Box's.
So if you had been among that sea of faces tonight thinking "When is this old fool going to shut up and let us play football?" would you have had an answer for me, do you own a favourite thing?
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Martin DCME
Six string acoustic electric. Practically plays itself. Which is handy, as I am no Jeff Beck. It is undoubtedly my most prized piece of hardware.
That's a beautiful thing
Thanks Andy.
I tell you, my kids were hungry the week I paid that one off!
Easy...
...my 1978 Fiat 238.
This year we're planning many more trips, including one through Germany - Dusseldorf, Hanover, Berlin - and heading north around the fjords to Copenhagen, across to Sweden and back.
Officially jealous!
With that, and my guitar, we could tour! Can you play bass?
Well...
...only since I was 12, 32 years ago.
Well then, to quote Sly Stone..
...all we need is a drummer....and a career break...etc...etc...
Enjoy yourself, pocket. I'd need a bleedin Winnebago to carry my troupe around!!!!
Thanks Iain
We are only two (and dog). Speaking of Winnebagos, we went to Coachella 08 and rented this thing in LA...
Sleeps eight, eight-litre V10 engine, expanding sides, helipad...
VW Camper
I'm very jealous too. I went to Glastonbury in 1984 in a VW camper and have swooned everytime I see one since. I've often thought of asking for one when my company car comes up for renewal but I don't think I'd get away with it. I could bring my prize possession a gold top deluxe Les Paul '75 and become the second guitarist.My Kyham XXL tent comes a close second too.
Sorry to go on...
...I had a '78 VW camper before the Fiat. It cost four times as much, was four times less practical, and they're everywhere, the buggers.
That they're everywhere is something of an advantage for the prospective buyer as there's a load to choose from, but prices have gone haywire with their popularity. Choose carefully and you could have an alternative that is really useable and a lot of fun for a fraction of the cost of the equivalent VW.
Do it, Lunaman!
More info please
You have a rapt audience. What alternatives?
There is a load of alternatives...
...the reason VWs are so expensive is because they're so fashionable, arguably now more than ever. The upside to that is the massive residual parts and specialist supplier industry. There are about six monthlies dedicated to VWs, including two just for campers, and they're crammed with ads for services and suppliers, as well as many vehicles for sale.
But the rear-engined models (all of them until about 1990) are hugely compromised in terms of useable space on the inside, because of the big lump hanging out behind the rear axle.
So, what are the alternatives? Well, there are many. Most campers are built by third-party conversion companies, creating a camper van from either a panel van in to which they stick windows and an interior, or by building an entire body on to a bare chassis and cab supplied by vehicle manufacturer. So, to say 'Ford' or 'Fiat' or 'Citroen' etc is to tell only part of the story.
One really good van, built by the base-vehicle manufacturer, is the Mazda Bongo. Very reliable, automatic, electric everything, pop-up roof, sleeps four and in plentiful supply from about £4k.
Have a look on eBay and see what you can find within your budget. Choose carefully, looking for low number of owners, lots of service history, unmodified from original spec etc and you should get years of pleasure. We certainly have - it's the best thing we ever did, after actually getting married. The ideal vendor is a sweater-wearing pensioner in Rye, or thereabouts.
Let me know if you need any more info / advice.
Not that I have even a relatively modest 4 grand
to spare at the moment, but I would be interested to hear your thoughts on one aspect of the camper life. The FPO and I (and our 4 and 6 yr olds) like the idea of some kind of mobile home. I tend to favour the self-contained world of a motorhome / camper as depicted in your very appealing pic above, but she favours a caravan. One not unreasonable point she makes in favour of a caravan is that once settled on site the car can then be used for local exploring, whereas with a camper there would be the palaver of packing everything away just to go to, say the next village.
If you can give an insight into your experiences in this area it would be much appreciated!
Did it have
its own satellite?
Two!
.
Aaaaargh
Oh fuck!
Dont ask him if he can play bass..
Love that Fiat
Where would one go about searching out a vehicle like that? Is there an owners club?
Me too
want one want one!
Unfortunately, no owners' club...
Hi Lee,
There is a German-language website with some info and a (very slow-moving) forum:
http://www.fiat238.de/
I've picked up a few bits from members there and the odd vehicle comes up for sale from time-to-time.
I got mine via eBay.de and flew to Frankfurt to pick it up. I bought it from a middle-aged gent who'd owned it for 15 years and had really looked after it.
Other places to look would be www.ebay.it; and this site, where there's a few for sale as we speak:
http://www.subito.it/annunci-valle-d-aosta-italia/vendita/usato/?q=fiaT%...
There are two for sale here, too:
http://tinyurl.com/ygclqef
The Weinsberg is very similar to mine, same conversion and pretty high-quailty (Germans!)
I've never seen another, so they're pretty rare and I'd be surprised if you'd find one for sale in the UK, so Europe's your only bet. Good luck and let me know if you pursue!
Well
I will drop it into the conversation toward the end of our bottle of wine tonight and see what Mrs Rimmer thinks. I have always had a soft spot for old Citroens and Fiats - but didn't know something as pretty as a 238 existed.
woops
double
Oh, me too...
I have a Citroen fetish, especially for the SM, and a bit of a 70s Fiat thing. I also own this 1974 128:
Let me know how you get on with 'dropping it in'.
A Citroen Fetish?
I assume this has leather seats?
Actually...
...they're warm leatherette, which is entirely Normal.
What beautiful light...
is preserved in that photograph.
Thanks Patrick...
...that's a Suffolk October for you.
Whereabouts in Suffolk?
(Writes a Tractor Boy in exile.)
Lawshall...
...near Lavenham.
Familiar?
Thought it might be to the west...
Though I was born in Sudbury, I consider myself as being from Woodbridge where I was raised.
Oh fuck!
Dont ask him if he can play bass..
There's a few...
but probably at the moment my favourite thing would be a ceramic sculpture I bought recently by an artist called Amy Cooper.
Here's a link to her work...
http://www.amycooperceramics.co.uk/gallery.htm
Brilliant!
The one in the middle looks just like an old fashioned telephone!
May I have my coat please?
Yamaha RM1x
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_RM1x
Lets me be The Human League all by myself...
my
Mac
a good
raincoat never lets you down
This
A Suzuki SCT-128 Chromatic Harmonica:
My Washburn
Washburn HB-50 - rare, beautiful, sounds amazing
Endless fun
I bought my first guitar in 1977. I've bought loads of them over the years, and sold nearly all of them. I own several lovely guitars, but in terms of Return On Investment, the £12 that I spent on this lovely piece of daftness is hard to beat.
I bought it because the band I was doing a gig with had to play "Maggie May", and I busked the mandolin part on the uke. (You don't get much of a mandolin in that price range). Since then, I have had countless hours of fun, plinking away at all kinds of tunes.
And this venerable beast
The best guitar I ever bought - or if it's not, then the winner is the other Jimmy Moon guitar I'm lucky enough to have. This one has done hundreds of gigs and has always been absolutely reliable. It's still great fun to play.
Jimmy made it for me in 1986, and it's never let me down.
My Fender Stratocaster
A 1962 re-issue. A machine to move the soul.
Is that a duvet?
The angle makes me think the guitar is saying, 'Come and play with me, you naughty boy; you know you want to.'
Guitar porn?
that sounds like a whole new thread!
Yes it's a duvet
Thanks for the comments about the angle, although normally I feel it's saying, 'Look, if you can't do it properly get off!'
I have a favourite thing.
I keep it safely tucked away. It is highly portable. But if I put a photo of it on here I'd be banned for life. (And put you off your breakfast.) :-)
thanks for not sharing
Yr
welcome.
Ah yes...
the Agent Provocateur 2010 desk calendar featuring Ann Widdecombe. You're right, it could frighten the horses...
-
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At the moment
it's probably my new toy, the Tangerine Dream* (Reverend Club King RT):
Sorry, I don't have a picture of the guitar without me in shot :-)
*Don't you name yours?
After careful thought...
...I think my little camera.
Even though it's only a compact, I've been getting 'into' photography and for the sheer pleasure it's given me - from having a decent enough camera to take landscapes I'm happy with, to capturing portraits of my friends - I think I'd now be lost without it.