Dream Toilet Griddles With Eggs

Oh my, just when I thought that I had seen the ultimate toilet seat cover with the kitten covered one a few weeks ago I find this. I don't know if it's the hat, the jaunty shorts or the total twee effect that would make me barf first. Still, if you have one of these I bet it looks great with the musical ballerina toilet roll stand and loo brush. I do think they have missed a trick by not providing a toilet mat that looks like his feet, now that would be cool.

Fortunately or unfortunately depending on your point of view I have yet to meet somebody who wears attire like this, certainly take away food shirts are the way forward and I wholeheartedly recommend wearing one to your next job interview. Who could not be wowed with your confidence to wear such snappily dressed cutting edge fashion. Now if it had pizzas on it I'd have two in a snap.

Probably not quite accurate but I like their enthusiasm to use all capital letters for their product. Can't help feeling as a kid you may not be getting accurate information across from this.

Dad! Look what I found, it's a Dog!

No son, that is an Ostrich, now take off the lead, put down the bone and let it go.

Dad! Look what I found, it's a Pig!

No son, that's a tig... Aaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!! Rrrrrrrippp! No, no, nooooooo! Gurgle.

Now this I like, wake up on the tasty side of the bed with the griddle equivelent of the Teasmaid. Pure genius, imagine waking up to the smell of sizzling bacon, get that early morning munchies over from the comfort of your own bed. Just be carefull when you wake up a bit dopey and try to reach to switch the alarm off, on the plus side those 3rd degree burns would wake you in a snap. Look carefully, ever detail is there, a nightlight feature and a snooze button that preheats your muffins so to speak.

You really can't beat the Japanese though for pure inventiveness, why use an egg when you can use a sausegg? No more pesky egg shaped eggs to contend with which are so eggy and SO yesterday, get the cutting egg-dge Sausegg and banish all your egg based woes in an instant. Also available butter in the shape of a dog - the Dogbutt and a new range of Cat shaped marangues, the Catamarangues.

In our continuing series of inappropriate toys and items and can't help feeling a little uncomfortable with this. Go on, feel it, you know you want too. Urgh.

But for a whopper topper stopper of a doorbell guaranteed to deter ALL doorstop callers try this. Just don't press it too hard... Seriously, why? Or maybe your thinking, why not? Either way an ass a day keeps the callers away I suppose.

Bunnyopolis Phase Three

Although the veg and herb garden has started to show signs of life it's still not been particularly good for growing much at all. The weather, as usual, remains unsettled so as a bit of an upgrade to help them along we have decided to start Bunnyopolis phase three earlier than planned. Initially we were going to do this after the growing season as it involves deconstructing two veg beds and combining them into one mega bed inside of Bunnyopolis.

Each one is made from made from nine untreated railway sleepers that are extremely bulky (1.8m) and very heavy to lift, their new position is on a slope so also needs extensive work to get level. Plenty of earth shifting to begin with, then cementing of blocks to create a level foundation followed by moving the sleepers and using bolts and assorted treated wood to secure them in place.

As you can see, upon being told Iona was only half interested, that half being access to fresh food.

So we have began, it's going to take some weeks to complete as we need to dismantle the sleepers carefully and rebuild them whilst bunny proofing at the same time especially as they could easily make convenient steps for the residents of Bunnyopolis to make a dramatic, if what simple escape attempt.

First sleeper in place, cemented in, just a twenty four hour wait and I can start to build the foundations on which to lay and secure the other railway sleepers. Can't be as bad as building Bunnyopolis can it?

 

Fly The Flag

In the cold light of day deciding to hold a Jubilee party for the entire street unannounced during a 4am merry imbibing session seemed a little foolhardy, after all with only 36 hours to go would anybody come? So much to sort out too; invites, drink, food, decoration, tables, chairs, music and of course to top it all the weather.

Six hours later things didn't look good. The weather was shocking for the official street party day, even the Queen looked a bit damp on her barge after four hours in the drizzle and we could only hope that it would clear up for our impromptu one pencilled in for the 4th with a 4pm start.

Miraculously we managed it with a little help from our friends, the garden looked generally Jubilee, invites were sent, food prepared and beer and Pimms chilled, even the sun decided to pop out in time to bring a lovely afternoon glow to the proceedings.

So by 4:30pm things were starting to roll, neighbours both old and new came along, old school friends too, each bringing something different to the party. Then it got even better, a neighbouring party had hired a live band to play so we were treated to a great and free concert too, what a jubilating way to Jubilee!

I hope you all had a great Jubilee break, I'm off to deflate my balloons, un-twirl the bunting, fold up the flags and start the first stage of the big Jubilee tidy up.

Modelling Models

Unable to fit a full sized horse, tiger and pelican in the studio I decided to do the next best thing and get some models to work with. Admittedly they look rather normal at this stage but with a bit of makeup...

A plasticine work over changed a normal stallion type thing into the Crystal Tipped Unicone. The tail had to be inverted, as on the model it was between the legs so to cope with that I heightened the rump too and then made little ice cream swirls for it's mane. Finally the head was remoulded and the cones added. The side of the mountain to the left is a yoghurt pot, the rest is all plasticine. It was really all for the shadows on this one, trying to paint them any other way would have been so difficult. The colour was changed during the painting to a dappled white, basically to blend in with it's environment, after all for a beast that only appears every ten years it needed to be well camouflaged.

But the modelling went to a whole new level with Pompidoos French Fancy Filly, basically a tall boy with a head and open drawers. Even the paving slabs and stone work behind was carefully created and measured for accuracy. Matchstick strengthening helped the support due to its ability to easily overbalance and little items of clothing were cut out of an old cloth and scattered in for effect. Both were time consuming to do taking two days to complete and oodles of more time to paint them.

Lady Pompidoo

Lady Pompidoo, one of the most respected French aristocrats and a direct descendant of Empress Eugénie who fled the Tuileries, a royal palace that was destroyed in 1871 for Great Britain had been settled in Britain for many years but still held a passion for French pastries and sweets. The arrival of a new chef at her estate Pompidoo Hall was greeted with delight, finally she had managed to secure one of the most revered chef and master of the new ‘fondant’ method first pioneered in 1877, Chef Charles Ranhofer (November 7, 1836, Saint-Denis, France — October 9, 1899, New York) for three months.

Charles Ranhofer set to work in the extensive kitchens and produced some of the most magical creations of his career, from the huge Crème de la mountain fountain to the fabulous Choux Pistache aux Fruits Rouges with Rum Baa-baa et Flambé. His crowning glory though was a delicate little cake filled with a fondant cream and decorated with four delightful colours each one to represent memorable characters in Shakespears plays. Othello was represented by chocolate, Desdemona by white, Lago was coffee and the fourth pink after Rosalind from ‘As You Like It’. A drizzle of a second colour set off the whole thing and they quickly became Lady Pompidoo’s favourite.

The three months went very quickly for Lady Pompidoo and she amassed vast stocks of French Fancies which were kept securely in a special room called the Cakeararium, an exquisitely decorated room reminiscent of a pre French Revolution boudoir filled with rare and expensive furniture. Only Lady Pompidoo was allowed entry and she would sit for hours looking out over her vast estate delicately eating her beloved French Fancies.

Then one day she noticed a rather odd thing, a gap had appeared in her precious stocks, immediately she summoned her servants. It was impossible, not only did all the servants deny taking any but they also pointed out that Lady Pompidoo had the only key to the room.

After much discussion Lady Pompidoo allowed one of her most trusted maids to hide in the forbidden room whilst a tray of French fancies was placed temptingly on the table in full view. Shortly before midnight the maid heard a noise sounding like footsteps and leaped out to surprise the thief. Instead she was surprised to find herself standing face to face with an ornate tallboy in the centre of the room and promptly fainted, a piece of furniture that Lady Pompidoo had recently acquired from the sale of items from Hamilton Palace.

The next day the maid told her curious tale to Lady Pompidoo who, whilst full of doubt decided to investigate. Holding a French fancy up to the tallboy elicited no response, neither did a full plate of fancies so she popped the plate on the table and went to return to the maid. Only then did she hear the slightest noise of a drawer being opened as she approached the door, turning around quickly she caught the sight of a drawer quickly closing.

So there was something in there. Very slowly she took over the plate of fancies and softly spoke to the tallboy. After a few minutes Lady Pompidoos soft and reassuring voice elicited a response. From out of the top draw came the most beautiful sight of a furry pink nosed head with amber eyes and the tallboy tentatively shuffled forward. Delicately picking up a French fancy with its mouth slowly the bottom draw opened to reveal two more woolly faces, this time with lemon and purple noses. Gently the French fancy was passed down to the drawers occupants who purred with delight.

Lady Pompidoo and her French Fancy Filly as she called it could regularly be seen at Pompidoo Hall sharing plates of French Fancies, a friendship that lasted many years and was commemorated in this painting. A painting which Charles Burroughs our renowned explorer was commissioned to paint and eventually formed part of a brief touring exhibition of his works inspiring furniture makers of the time to adopt the French Fancy Filly’s delicate curves and detailing into their work.

Records show that the French Fancy Filly is still out there, so should you come across a tall white set of French drawers don’t forget to check all the drawers and of course always have plenty of French fancies available.

Egg Skipping

The last few days have been spent in the garden enjoying this glorious weather. I'd guess that yesterday and today most people will be either having a barbecue or at least smelling one, last night was probably ideal for that, barbecue+drink+Eurovision, a winning combination. Pity old Hump came second. To last.

Only a week to go until the Jubilee celebrations, you know your getting on a bit when you can remember the first one with its street parties, oodles of bunting and some very 70's food served up in a year with a glorious sunshine summer. I remember the regional television news programs aired around this time that used to show the more quirky side of British life, Midlands Today, Look East and many more formed part of the BBC's Nationwide news program featuring skateboarding ducks, reports that sitting in a comfy chair is good for you and the strangely compelling yet disturbing man who claimed to be able to jump on an egg. That image is burned on my retina; a man, in his fifties I would guess, dressed in shorts and a dubious top jumping over an egg in an egg cup and trying to tap it with his foot as he went. Classy.

See, I even managed to dig it out for your viewing pleasure. Anyway, where was I? Ah, yes, the Jubilee.

The silver Jubilee in 1977 bordered in an era on the edge of taste, in were flares, Englebert Humperdinck was at his peak and the new trimphone was launched and everybody wanted one. Star Wars hit the screens and the government admits that inflation has pushed the cost of living up by 70% in three years.

Sound familiar? Replace the above with flared jeans, in fashion I'm told, Mr Hump himself, a new iPhone later on, Prometheus at the cinema and inflation pushing the cost of living up by the same amount and we are back in the day. Not much has changed really, all I need to do is strip down to my smalls, get out a small egg and leap like a pixie in front of the camera for that authentic Jubilee feeling, more shockingly is that its suddenly dawned on me that I'm nearly the same age as Mr Egg Skipping Shorts Wearing himself. Eeek!

 

Bloomers

With just over a week away to a double bank holiday Jubilee weekend and the supermarkets are filling to bursting point with bunting, flags and assorted patriotic items. A quick glance though confirmed my suspicions, all of them have been made outside the UK, shame. As you can see we are joining in with the celebrations by getting out the union jack cushions for a nice splash of colour , the plan is to decorate Bunnyopolis too, not quite sure what the occupants will make of it though.

Still, any excuse to put up bunting, wave a flag and have a good nosh up is fine by me and this weather at the moment is also an added bonus. Yesterday I decamped to the garden and the studio followed me for a spot of painting outdoors. Better light, a nice warm breeze and three bunnies lolling around on the lawn made for a nice day, if only all days were like this during the summer.

Halfway through yesterday though Aaran was decidedly too hot and decamped to a bit of shade underneath their new 'naughty step', looks grumpy doesn't he?

The blog has been neglected again for a day or so because I am so busy, plenty of writing and background work to do at the moment working around the tour has meant it's been at the end of my priorities for a while until I catch up with my backlog.

A couple of things have sparked my interest recently though, none as much as the weird announcement that the Queens knickers were on eBay for sale. I know times are hard...

Listed as an “item that has been previously used” does not place it in good light, it gets worse when it goes on to describe 'some yellowing with age'. :(  Still it does cheerfully goes on to describe it as a “once in a lifetime opportunity to acquire and own a piece of collectable Royal memorabilia.” For those that are still reading and not gagging at this stage the 'soiled' item in question eventually went for £11,390 to an unknown bidder. The mind boggles on what use they will put them too, I wonder if it's the same bidder that bought Queen Victoria's knickers in an earlier auction?

Can you really believe I have just blogged about the Queens knickers?

Hot Yellow Globe

Looks like a little bit of Summer has surprised the UK with a sudden appearance overnight. Its a bit of a shock after weeks and weeks of greyness, coldness and dampness but the plants are loving it with many shooting up as fast as possible.

Bunnyopolis has gone on snooze mode with all the buns deciding to sleep through the heat, no doubt they will be up and at it later today. No, wait, here comes one right now. A few steps out, a sniff of the breeze and a trot up the garden only to be followed by Jura and Aaran.

I wonder what new word would describe today? Shinetabulous is not bad, how about Suntastic? No? Well then I shall call today Sunnylicious.

Bits

The studio has been a mass of models recently, some of which have been quite ambitious and involved plenty of plasticine and time to get right. This is all that remains of a scene that involved a quaint English garden complete with stone terrace and of course a Lost Impossimal.

The Squirly Tailed Pendulum Panda though required the aid of a Tesco's wine carrier which doubled up as the inside of a casement clock. The pendulum is a pipe cleaner suspending a plasticine weight and in the background of the clock, just behind the panda, is a set of modelled cogs and gears. Again, this was used to give accurate lighting and depth.

This though, the Giganticus Titanicus Atlanticus was a monster to make. It used oodles of modelling material  encasing a foil body, each tooth was cut individually and the whole body twisted to give movement. It was placed in an inky black sea, basically an oven tray filled to the brim with coloured water, and icebergs and ice cubes were cut out of the clay. The ship bottom left was supported and allowed to float with the aid of a weighted cocktail stick for support. It was about 18'' long when finished, detail was added with a felt tip pen.

My Abracacooper needed to look quite mystical so digging out a desert photo I place this behind so I had at least a backdrop to work with. Cushions, a fez and a miniature backgammon set was added to the muscled  figure and a small cartouche on the left it taken from the notes of Howard Carter and of course Tutankhamun.

Hu-huh

 

L-vis here, wanna be like me baby? Uh-huh, stop being a hound dog and be cool daddy-o, thank you very much.

See, you too can be as popular as Barry, just take one LP, for those of you that are not familiar with LP's they are as big as EP's and not as small as singles.

Strike a pose, let your body move to the music and vogue. Instant celeb stylee, don't you look fabuloso dahlink!

Don't get too carried away though, look what happened to me when I used one of these, hu-huh, downer baby, downer.

Also make sure you use an appropriate celeb, not so coolio now are we daddy-o, like the shorts man they look rinky-dinky-do.

You can use props to enhance your cool, just drop the gender bender, nobody likes a cross cat I thank you.

My final piece of advice is use something real, cartoons are cool but to pick up chicks, not so, take a tip from the L-vis man, swing your hips, buy some big shades, get a few sideburns and say hu-huh at least fifty times a day. once you start buying outlandish day glow all in one adult romper suits and start wearing at least five gold rings yours there baby, you are so there your jailhouse will be rocking all night.

I thank you and goodnight.

L-vis has left the building.

 

The Piano Playing Arthritic Dinosaur Fawn

There has been some pretty weird stuff in the news recently. I'm not talking about all the doom and gloom that is dished out to us on a all too regular basis either as I'm sure that everyone has had enough of that, I'm on about stuff like this, real news, a squirrel playing a piano? Now you're talking!

Sammy it seems can bash out a few notes, admittedly not in the same order every time but he may make Britain's Got Talent yet. Imagine this, Sammy on the piano and a dancing dog, wow, what an act! I'd buy that for a dollar!

Some headlines do seem to defy logic though, this article was along the lines of if a tree falls in a wood and nobody sees it does it make a sound. Basically if you are caught short in public and nobody knows or indeed sees is it still unacceptable? I have no answer for that as I always make sure I wear my Supersoaker-triple thickness-elasticlegged-caughtshortagain-ohno underwear, works every time. Apart from the sloshing noise.

 No here's a surprise, fawns being chased have an escape plan. i.e. run like hell. Wonder how much this particular study cost? You will probably find the same discussion in any pub after heavy drinking. Escape cover or nearest refuge, pretty much what you decide at closing time.

 I had to reread this several times before I realised it had no bearing on the article. I was expecting half naked fruity text to spice up  this article on Olympic security, instead I was severely disappointed that there was no titbits of scant titillation, no naked inserts and definitely no rampant scintillating hot gossip to be had. What I did find out is that many who turned up for the day didn't expect rain and thus wore 'insufficient clothing'. Gutted.

Said Mr T-Rex Stalisaurus from the Jurassic Period. 'My arms are always killing me, it's bad enough I can't hug anything never mind the pain'. Our reporter Ne Anderthal revealed this dramatic revelation before being clubbed by his neighbour and thrown out of his two up two down cave after not paying his pebble tax.

A perigee moon, such as the one we had recently, is a wonderful thing and I thank this article for helping me to sleep at night as scientists confirm that a full moon does not cause werewolfs. I thank you Mr Scientists, now could you turn you attention to other pressing matters like sparkly vampires and Godzilla as I'm sure finding out the truth about these will also help me sleep at night.

Jab

I don't think the residents of Bunnyopolis, Aaran, Iona and Jura will be too pleased a little later today for their daily routine will be broken by a visit to the vets. Yes, it's inoculation time to make sure they are well protected from VHD and Myxomatosis over the next twelve months. We have a specially built crate to move them in, after all 80lbs of rabbit takes some shifting.

So later this morning expect some grumpiness as they are briefly taken away from the confines of the newly decorated Bunnyopolis complete with hanging baskets and made to travel in reasonable comfort in this.

Which will of course have blankets, food etc and everything else for them to ignore on the short journey whilst they plot their revenge, which rabbit style means I will ignore you and if you get in my way I will give you a little nip to show you who really is in charge.

Well, they are back after emitting a few Grumpit faces and they did rather well, they are still a bit moody but give them a couple of hours and they will be fine. I wonder when it would be best to tell them we do it all again in two weeks time?

We did get a chance to weight them as a group, it totalled 69lbs, less than our estimate but its still an impressive 23lbs each no wonder our arms ache lumbering them into the car.

Through The Round Window

Guess which one will it be today children. The arch window? Or will it be the square window? Maybe the round window?
Readers of a certain age will remember this from the popular children's program Play School, immediately you will be now thinking of Big & Little Ted, Humpty, Jemima and the rather peculiar and strangely spooky Hamble accompanied by many various presenters including Brian Cant, Floella Benjamin, Derek Griffiths, Toni Arthur and of course Johnny Ball. What prompted today's entry was reading how the BBC had junked many 2 inch Quadruplex videotape master copies of this program in the assumption that they were no longer of use and the few remaining episodes was sufficient to retain. I can't help feeling that by doing this we are chucking away more than just a roll of TV sentimentality, we have irretrievably chucked away a way of life that will never return.

Now one can say that I'm looking through rose tinted glasses at the past and really the programs were awful products made by adults to give kids what adults thought they wanted. In reality it was actually a burgeoning time for children's TV, production costs were limited and most programming although produced on a shoe string budget were fashioned with great skill, consideration and above all a passion. None more so than programs created by Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate who even today are remembered for Bagpuss, The Clangers and Ivor The Engine and probably summed it up in an interview I read many years ago about what made making all these programs worth it. In his reply he talked about a letter he received from a girl, now an adult, who thanked him for Bagpuss with it's gentle nature and make believe world as it had been her only escape from child abuse for fifteen minutes each week.

The destruction of Play School marks a watershed of changing attitudes to the way children's television has evolved, gradually we have moved away from the gentle nurturing of childhood and promotion of certain values and into a more, should I say, aggressive style of nurturing. Gone is the 'Watch with Mother', a special time set aside on television for mother and child to share, gone also is real after school children's programming, even the stalwart Blue Peter has had a dramatic makeover to appeal to hip children. The TV schedule today has no special format to allow a more progressive children's programming and the multitude of 24 hour children's channels nullifies any special aspect of a program.

Not a criticism just an observation, time as they say moves on, society cannot live in the past but sometimes the greatest things are gone before we have a chance to save them. Wasn't it more beautiful when you believed in everything?

So for the sake of preservation here are a few of my special programs that helped me through my childhood. First the unlikely Mary, Mungo and Midge, a girl, a dog and a mouse all living in a perfect block of flats that requires a mouse touch to operate the complex lift button. It's quirky home location was one of the first programs to place a character in an urban setting to reflect it's viewing audience. It always started and finished the same giving a sense of familiarity with a small adventure taking place in between.

Bagpuss needs no introduction, repeated regularly since it's release in 1974 it remains firmly at the top of the greatest children's programs ever made. Bagpuss wakes to find a lost often broken object, throws in some tall tales and a few facts to help restore the object then places it back in the window for it to be found. He then sleeps. Simple. It was Bagpuss that first made me realise that imagination is unboundless, from simple objects great delight can be sought, it also fired my passion for creative writing and a love of stripes.

Making use of things you find. The Wombles lived on Wimbledon Common in secret from humans making use of all the discarded house hold items we disposed of. Orinoco, Tobermory, Great Uncle Bulgaria and Tomsk became household names in the mid 70's and even spawned a real band that went on to narrowly miss the number one slot for Christmas in 1974 with Wombling Merry Christmas peaking at number 2. At least we saw them on Top Of The Pops on Christmas Day.

Another set of characters that need no introduction, The Clangers burst onto our screen with a sense of surreal in 1969 and remained firmly lodged in my head. With a peculiar whistling sound they experienced adventures beyond imagination, musical trees, iron chickens and plastic creating machines that cannot be turned off are just a few examples, couple this with a Soup Dragon and assorted Froglets and you have a perfect springboard for perfection.

The Herbs on the other hand is remembered for something completely different, it was the first program I saw in colour as a child. I was awestruck. A new television was delivered and as it warmed up, yes, you really did have to wait for it to warm up, a yellow faced, green mane talking lion lit up the screen. The sophisticated writing style and narrative delivery often went over the heads of children watching but it's hypnotic quality worked on so many levels.

For pure surrealism though you can't beat Mr Benn. Imagine pitching this idea to a television company today. 'Well, basically it's about a civil servant who likes to dress up in weird clothes, he has an arrangement that allows him to indulge his fantasy with a fez wearing local fancy dress shop owner. He strips down to his smalls, dresses in his fantasy attire and opens a mysterious door into a world where he can act it out with like minded individuals'

On paper it shouldn't work on television though under the creative guidance of David McKee it became a gentle classic.

So far we have looked at animation but programs of this era went even to even simpler yet still charming with programs such as Fingerbobs. The inventiveness placed numerous objects in front of Fingermouse and his friends who throughout the ten minute program created a new use for them. Simple but effective all delivered by Yoffy, a live actor who didn't hide the fact that Fingermouse and his friends were indeed puppets. The magic came from the interaction and clever use of objects, Yoffy talked to all his 'finger' creations. The theme tune lyrics probably explain the whole thing.

"Yoffy lifts a finger, and a mouse is there / Puts his hands together, and a seagull takes the air / Yoffy lifts a finger, and a scampi darts about / Yoffy bends another, and a tortoise head peeps out / These hands were made for making, and making they must do."

Hidden away in the listings and often after Pebble Mill at one was The Flumps. Small balls of wool filmed in a stop motion way. Father Flump was an inventor, Grandfather Flump played a Flumpet and Pootle guided us through the Flumpet world. Cute, cuddly, innocent with a very real familiarity for the viewer.

The eBay of the 70's this 1976 launched program allowed children not only to swap unwanted toys and gifts but also communicate directly with the program they were watching. For a children's TV show this level of interactivity was truly ground breaking. Unfortunately it was also one of the first programs that started to hype up children with celebrities, cartoons and other road show appearances to bring the ultimate in interactivity to it's viewers. It has it's place and influenced me greatly with it's genuine skilful approach to Saturday morning television but this was to me more of a turning point and by the time Swap Shop aired it's last ever episode in 1982 the gentler approach was already on it's way out.

Still going strong though from it's 1972 launch on ITV was Rainbow, an innovative format that delivered songs, stories and strong ties between the characters. Over a 1000 episodes were produced in total, Zippy, Bungle and George were very British about everything and retained a naivety to anything and everything, Zippy was the hyperactive child whilst George was the quiet shy type and as most children could relate to one or the other it worked perfectly.

Chigley, Trumpton and Camberwick Green, gentle tales set in the fictional Trumptonshire delivered with the unmistakeable voice of Brian Cant. It's probably one of the only children programs that covered most jobs of it's day. Not only do we have a postman , firemen and builders but also characters that seem so out of place today, a miller, milkman and chimney sweep. Even the description for the resident artist, who incidentally has no name, is classed as an un-named transient is quite naive and probably apt all at the same time. Set in a real world they existed and worked as one unit, problems were solved together and even though there were policemen and firemen there was never anything other than mild peril. Trumptonshire was a place that children of the time imagined that they were growing in to.

When it's gone, it's gone. Losing these programs and memories would be such a mistake. The creators of these programs believed with an unbridled passion in what they were doing and in turn created something very special for most people, a childhood.