Asterix and Obelix

As a kid, I absolutely loved Asterix and Obelix. It was the perfect mix of humour, history, and cartoonish chaos. Studying Latin at school and being fascinated by Roman history made it even more enjoyable — I got such a kick out of the clever historical jokes and wordplay. I adored Dogmatix (especially when he’d get upset about trees being cut down), and I always looked forward to the grand feast at the end of each story, with the bard gagged and tied to a tree while everyone else tucked into roast boar. Obelix’s obsession with wild boar and his delight in biffing Romans never got old. It was pure, joyful fun — and somehow still feels timeless.

Favourite toys as a kid: Lone Ranger and Tonto

I had several action men as a kid but my favourite was the Lone Ranger and Tonto. Many hours were spent playing with them. One of the reasons they delighted me so much was my love of westerns as a kid including The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and western movies we watched at Eight Bells. I especially loved western movies that featured Indians.

Favourite toys as a kid: Lego

Apart from my model trains, my favourite thing to play with was lego. Jo and I spent countless hours building things. It was pure bliss.

Favourite toys: Labrador puppies

I had lots of furry toys as a kid including several dogs, a bear, a rabbit and bambi.  But my favourite was my two labrador puppies.  How I loved them.  They slept on my bed throughout my childhood.

Playing with model electric trains as a child

I addition to stamp collecting,  my greatest passion as a kid was to play with my electric model trains. I spent countless hours in the outside room at our house in Bertram Crescent, making them run. My model trains were one of the things that deepened my connection with dad. He was as passionate about trains as I was.

I've just spent a wonderful hour trawling the Internet for photos for some of the exact trains I owned. Pure and utter, glorious nostalgia.

I brought my train collection with me to Sydney but a couple of years ago, I gave them to Andreas's son, Sebastian. They really are meant to be played with rather than collecting dust. He was so ecstatic.

Stamp collecting: British mint stamps

I have rekindled my love of stamps of late. They bring so much nostalgia. Stamp collecting was my first true passion in life.  It is where my love of collecting and curating began. Nothing would excite me more as a kid than getting stamps on my birthday or going to the stamp shop to purchase a new set.

Here I will be posting my favourite British mint stamps so that I have a record online. It's been wonderful going through my albums.  A treasured possession.

I got the images from Stamp World, an awesome online catalogue of stamps.

1881

1935

1936

1937

1946

1948

1949

1951

1959

1963

1964

1965

1966

1967

1968

1969

1970

1973

1974

1975

1976

1977

1978

1979

 

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988