Tag Archives: ARP

Muttering about my Life

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Plastic Transport Tokens – Nottingham

 

Looking over my life again, and formulating, with hindsight, a plan for its progress, I should have been a TV critic. I could then have played to my strengths and watched TV  all day. Then I could have written about it, appeared as a talking head, done celebrity quizzes and, if lucky, avoided reality TV. Compared to quizzes it always looks so hard. Two months living in a jungle with people I don’t like would be enough for me to put Plan B. That’s the one where I solve the twin problems of hunger and irritation by roasting one of the more annoying contestants and eating them. I’m a Cannibal, Get Me Out of Here!

I could write a book in jail and have a film deal waiting for me when I got out.

Well, it’s one version of my life and how it could have gone. Other lives, I suppose, are available.

I’m beginning to become more adept at writing short pieces for the Numismatic Society Facebook page.  I think I mentioned yesterday that I had done one on the Loughborough Carillon. That isn’t needed for a week or two, which is a shame, becauseI can easily do two or three a week. They are getting easier and they help me avoid the real work of the September Presentation. That link will take you to a piece I just did on plastic transport tokens from Nottingham Corporation Transport. The pictures are the ones from the Facebook article. If I use them it saves me the trouble of being creative.

Plastic ARP Transport Token – Nottingham – Home Front

 

 

Butlins Veleta Competition Medallion 1954

Day 101 (Part 2)

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I may have been incorrect when I said I would post immediately if the talk was good. The spirit was willing but Julia had pasties in the oven with potato wedges and you know how it is . . .

It wasn’t the most sophisticated of meals, but it was filling and warm on a cool night.

The talk was excellent, talking about 24 different coins and the personalities associated with them. They were rather too old for me as I know very little about ancient coins, but it was interesting all the same. As an added benefit, I now have a better idea of the timings for my talk next year and know that I can cover about 25 medallions in reasonable detail.

It covered the famous Greek coin with the owl on, Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Mark Antony, Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Richard the Lionheart, Saladin and the Duke of Wellington. And the widow’s mite, Legionary denarii, the debasement of coins, the death of Archimedes and Hannibal. That’s quite a lot for one evening. I’m not sure how long it lasted but that is a good sign. Usually, by the forty minute mark I am yawning and clinging desperately to the last vestiges of my sanity.

It was, to be honest, a night of mixed emotions. It was fun and interesting, and has taken the hard work out of planning mine, which is good. However, it has also set the bar rather high in terms of quality. Content is not a problem, but quality of design is another matter. I had enough problem with simple slides and plain backgrounds last time. Now it looks like I will have to do a lot better than that.

The pictures are from my collection. The medallion is from the Butlins Veleta Competition in 1954, which was the the biggest dancing competition in Britain between the wars, and probably up to the 1960s.

The other two show an item from my collection of plastic transport tokens. When I was asked to talk at the Numismatic Society it was on condition I didn’t talk about my transport token collection. There is no accounting for taste.

They were provided for a number of reasons – pre-payment, employees, postmen, school children and, in this case, Air Raid Wardens, allowing cheap travel for various categories of people who needed it.

Nottingham City Transport 1d ARP token - size comparison

Nottingham City Transport 1d ARP token – size comparison

Nottingham City Transport 1d ARP token

Nottingham City Transport 1d ARP token

 

 

 

 

 

A Lack of Ideas and a Tour of the Internet

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I tried another writing prompt – “Write about your day so far”. I’ve only been up an hour and I haven’t actually set foot outside the house. It could be tricky.

So I tried again – “Write about something you got for free”. After much thought I  remembered that I had a free blood test and, because everything went well, my car parking was also free. I think I covered that in several previous posts.

At least I’ve started writing. For a few minutes at the start I just sat and stared at the screen. I’ve been doing that  for the last few days. It’s not that I’m lacking inspiration, it’s just that there’s so much of it that I don’t seem to be able to get any work done.

I’ve just been watching a TV programme where Tanni Grey Thompson has been looking into her grandfather’s service as an air raid warden in WW2. I learnt a lot I hadn’t known before, and was very impressed with some of the things I hadn’t realised.

This set me off  on a tour of Wikipedia as it’s a subject close to my heart. I recently read a piece that referred to people who didn’t serve in the forces as “shirkers”, which didn’t strike me as fair or accurate.

Seven thousand Civil Defence workers were killed in the UK during the war – something I hadn’t realised before. One of my grandfathers was in a reserved occupation during the war. He volunteered for the RAF twice and his employers applied to have him back twice. He served as fireman in his spare time and found himself called out during the air raids on Liverpool and Manchester.

His brother, a railwayman, was also in a reserved occupation. He was in the Special Constabulary when he wasn’t working.

Strikes me that it was hard work being a shirker.