Too much information

[ladyofastolat]

Curse you, internet, for making information so easy to find! It's quite killing conversation! I often find myself wondering about the answer to something, and mentally composing an LJ post about it, thinking that it might prompt a bit of conversation. Then I Google it, and find loads of other conversations about it, and all my questions and debates are answered, and never get around to making the post.

A few minutes ago, I was chasing a childhood memory. "Does anyone else remember...?" I was going to post, before describing the half-remembered item. "Oh! I remember those, too!" people might have said. "Now what were they called...?" And there would have been nostalgia and memories and brain-racking, and then someone would have supplied the name, and there would have been gratitude and praise.

But Google has told me. They were Wade Whimsies. And I never really liked them much, anyway.

Comments

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

Neither did I. But inamac still has a some of the more collectable ones...

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I would not have known the name, but I think I had a hippo and a pig, which used to have a wallow in the top of the pot in which the rubber tree plant lived. I suspect they left us in the pot when the rubber tree died.

Do people still have rubber trees...?

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I don't think mine were ever allowed out to wallow. My toy animals had a much less exciting life than yours, it seems.

I have no idea if people still have rubber trees, and I refuse to Google it on a point of principle. We never had a rubber tree, though. I have vague memories of coming across them in books and coming up with entirely the wrong impression.

[leesa_perrie]

I had a rubber plant, which I guess would have grown into a rubber tree if I'd kept it long enough!

Is this where I admit to having been a Blake's 7 fan and calling my rubber plant Avon? No? Okay, I'll leave that embarrassment in the past then!! :) :)

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Iknow there are quite a lot of avid Blake's 7 fans on my Friends list. Whether any of them would name a rubber plant Avon, though, I don't know! :-)

I didn't watch it myself. Ditto with Doctor Who. My parents didn't really do TV (or cinema), so I watched all the BBC post-school stuff (i.e. until my Dad came home from work) but missed out on loads of other things that everyone else my age gets all nostalgic about. :-(

[leesa_perrie]

I think most B7 fans would not call their rubber plant Avon! In my defence, I was a teenager at the time and didn't have any pets that I could name!! Though bizarrely, I was a Vila fan, but the plant felt more like an Avon to teen me!! *wonders about my mental state back then* :D :D

You could buy some of these shows on DVDs, but I have a feeling they'd feel very dated now. Though possibly still fun, for all that!! Just avoid Space 1999 - I watched that a few years ago and thought that Gerry Anderson's puppets shows had less wooden acting in it than this live action one!! I was a little disappointed, 'cos I used to love it as a child - ah well!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

"the plant felt more like an Avon to teen me!!"

This is superb. Very modern art. :-D

[leesa_perrie]

Well, it was a dark-leafed plant and Avon liked to wear black/dark colours...! :)

Very modern art

Always thought there was an artist underneath that inability to draw much more than stick figures!! *is pleased*

[leesa_perrie]

I had Wade Whimsies, but only a few. I sold them on eBay some years back now. I had the kitten with a ball of wool one, and possibly another one or two. Not sure now, as mum-in-law gave me all of hers to sell too, so can't remember what were mine or not! I only remember the kitten because I won it at a birthday party when playing pass the parcel - first time I'd won anything, so made an impact on me!! This was before the days of every kid getting something to take home with them, of course!

They're still collectable, though eBay has brought the price down for the more common ones.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what happened to mine. I didn't have many, and didn't really prize them, so chances are, they found their way to a charity shop when I was a teenager.

I used to win Musical Bumps at most parties, dropping straight to the floor with my legs folded outwards on either side. I still sit on the floor like that, but I've learned the hard way that it's a whole lot more painful when you try it when playing Musical Bumps as an adult. It's much further to fall! And then you sit there groaning in pain, and don't get any prizes at all!

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

I remember them well. We had some in crackers one Christmas.I think I might still have some somewhere.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that reminds me: my aunt brought along some crackers one Christmas in the last 10 years or so, and they contained small arctic animal ornaments. I don't remember them being as shiny as the ones from my childhood, but I wonder if they were the same sort of thing.

[rubygirl29.livejournal.com]

You can tell me. I have no clue what Wade Whimsies are. I don't suppose they have anything to do with Deadpool?

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Deadpool? True to the spirit of my post, I'm resisting the urge to Google it. :-)

Wade Whimsies are (were?) small collectible ceramic animals, about an inch tall, and very shiny with glaze. I expect they were made by a company called Wade, but to be honest, I had no memory of the name until I googled it yesterday. I expect I just thought of them as "those shiny little animal ornaments that grandma keeps getting me."

[bunn.livejournal.com]

So tell, did you actually google for "those shiny little animal ornaments that grandma keeps getting me."?

If that worked, that's quite an impressive piece of search... :-D

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I googled "small shiny animal ornament 1970s" and got nothing immediately useful, so deleted the "shiny" and up came Wade Whimsies. :-D

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Aw, I was hoping that there was something specifically grandmother-related about them.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Does anyone else remember the NatWest pigs? They crop up occasionally on antiques programmes, where complete sets are highly valued.