1982.... A metallic blue Raleigh Esprit. Totally unexpected. Me da had a big dumb treasure hunt style game around the house designed to lead to it. Joy uncon-fucking-fined!I wish I could post a pic but ....... struggles to hold it together, though it's 27 years after the fact......fails.... falls about, shaking fist and cursing fate..........regains composure..... ahem, it was stolen.

Got a Commodore 64 in 1984... which was nice, but I always thought Spectrum owners had more fun: especially with Daley Thompson's Decathlon and jet Set Willie..

Was just discussing the merits of the Spectrum with a friend a few nights ago, I still love games like Manic Minor, Tornado Low Level, Jet Set Willy etc. Enjoy your present.
As for my presents, they were all pretty great this year, here they are:

Music:
1)Live At Shea Stadium- The Clash (CD)

Vinyl:
2)20 Dynamic Hits-Various K-Tel Records
3)The Artists And Songs That Inspired The Motown 25th Anniversary TV Special
4)The World Of Billy Cotton
5)Whipped Cream & Other Delights-Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass
6)Accordian De Paris-Jo Basile, accordian and orchestra
7) Stardust-The Music Of Hoagy Carmichael
8) Take Five- Dave Brubeck Quartet (single)

Books:
9) Conspiracy Theories-Robin Ramsey
10) Renegade-Mark E Smith
11) Berlin, The Downfall 1945-Antony Beevor
12) John-Cynthia Lennon
13) My Word-Terry Christian
14) Halfway To Hollywood-Michael Palin Diaries 1980-88

Various:
15) Mystery UFO spinning disc
16) New leather belt
17) 6 Bottles of Timothy Taylor ale
18) Box of homemade fudge
16) Bottle of Glenfiddich
17) Beatles Stickers
18) Tennants Lager Glass

Mr Blue Sky, your greatest ever present remains the greatest ever present I never received - harken to my own Faustian tale ....... back in 83 I was 15 and when asked by the old dear what I wanted for Crimbo I answered without hesitation : a 48K ZX Spectrum. I told her where to buy it, how much it was was, and essentially took care of all logistical possibilities that possibly would stop me getting me mitts on said bit of kit. Money was too tight to mention all my puff up until that time when my dad - a sparky - actually had a reasonable run of employment so there was some scheckles for some pressies that year.

Life was miserable then for me and had been for years - knocked about at school and at home, when the oppo arose for my very own slice of modernity, and the happiness I had playing games on mates' computers, my own ZX81 (with its whopping 1K of RAM!) and on coin-ops down the arcade would soon be mine in the family homestead, time seemingly took on the consistency of treacle as the days to Crimbo seemed to drag on forever.

So, on Xmas morn, imagine my delight when I espied the Clarks Shoes' sized box under the plaggy tree and guesstimated that it was freshly delivered from Sir Clive's underground laboratory only last night - I ripped off the cheapo parchment to find .... an Oric 1. Now, despite the instant anguish of knowing that if I set up a caterwauling along the lines of "where's my feckin' Speccy!?" then this would result in being on the receiving end of another weapons-grade beating, I casually asked my mam "no Spectrums then?", I was informed that "the nice man at Smiths said that this is a better machine with a real keyboard!". Any geeks oot there will recall the Oric had keys like Tictacs, had 0.1% the software support of the Speccy, and was about as popular as a fart in a spacesuit. Pure Faustian, nicht wahr?!

Best pressy though? Last year, the missus unexpectedly bought me a Playstation 3 with zero percentage hintage on my part - attagirl! When I first spotted the present, for a mo I did wonder if it was an Oric Atmos!

Best Regards,
Freaky Trigger

It was a Tri-ang Hornby Brush Type 2 in green livery.

More recently, my first iPOD and my second iPOD.

between my first Scalectrix circa 5th birthday and the 26in racer I got when I was about 12. I was usually using one or the other till I left home.