I came across this cute duck, looking through some of the old toy cases the other day.
He's quite nice, he's got a spoon there, which you put a coin on, and it's one of those coin banks,
but look at the the detail there; and when the spoon's put on it - well I'll do it on
the table first, and then I'll lift it up to show the thing working; I've got a couple of coins...
and there was originally a little sucker which held it down in that position, but it's
not working very well, so I'm just going to hold it like that, and then let go.
Did you see it go? No, it's so quick. I'll do it [again] and I'll lift him up to show you what's going on.
Here we go...
There they are, the coins are inside, and I'll recycle them. So it's just that action
from there to there, and it knocks that, and knocks it up
so the coin then flips in every single time you do it; the coin goes exactly where
it's supposed to go; which is absolutely brilliant. I can get them out of the bottom, and do them both again.
Will it do both together? No, I won't try. So here he goes; here he is from the front -
well done duck, well done Donald - you're doing a good job here; let's put one more in your mouth,
here we go! This is a penny going in now; yup you've done it. Good stuff. So that was a nice find,
because it's one of those coin banks which is animated, and kids love that;
because they're saving money, and it's having a bit of fun, isn't it! Here's something I picked up
from that same case which I completely overlooked and I had no idea what it was;
I mean, it's supposed to be a bookmark;
It says 'never judge a book by its cover'...
That's good advice isn't it. Yes, always look into the content;
What I hadn't realized was that it's more than just a bookmark, because although it's
very slim there, it gets a little bit fatter at the top end, for some reason or other, and at the
very top end - look at this - I suddenly spotted something I didn't see this initially...
I'll see if I can get this really close to the camera because it's gonna need lighting...
and I've got to squeeze it, top and bottom, and you'll see a little light there;
it's a bit weak now because this is about 20 years old, so the battery is very weak;
it's a very very thin battery because look how slim this thing is, but in there
there's a light, so when it was brand new and quite strong you could light the pages. Illuminate the book I suppose.
What an extraordinary idea that is to have a torch in the form of a bookmark. Well, there we are.
The last item is something that I saw on the second visit to the Nuremberg Toy Fair
which I was astounded by, how inventive it was. This is something
that the lady who was showing it to me said her father invented it in the 1940s...
bits of plastic, all they is little 'gates' like that - each one is just the same;
he made thousands and thousands of these in all different colours and they suggested if
they gave me a packet that I could start making things with it, and they show some examples
on the back; but I don't think I'm quite up to this; so I asked them on the last day
if I could possibly have something that was very special sitting there, which I was absolutely
amazed at, all coming from a piece like that, multiplied by several hundred times, and several
hours of work, and this is what you get from it. From that to this! Isn't that amazing?
This is one of those wonderful toroidal things which goes like a smoke ring, round and round
and round; I'll do it this way as well; absolutely superb bit of construction; the mind that
conceived this was really quite something... something that's way beyond me, so I was more than
happy to be able to take this away to go with the packet, to show what could be done
if you're really gonna get serious with a constructional toy; and what could be simpler than
a little gate like that. Wonderful! So, Dusyma... ace company!!