Most liked posts in thread: The Retro Cards of Christmas

Yep, that all looks about right, Matt - basically, the whole system's/world's pretty much FUBAR and SNAFU...

The card blends in smashing with the Indus GTs and that classic and quite unique 800 of yours.

Like you say, we get some great ideas in bed/ in the bath/ on the John sometimes, then can we feck remember them afterwards when it comes to writing em down but by hell I like the sound of your Merry April's Fool card which could be sent out on the 41st March to completely bamboozle us all!

Nice one, mate. Glad it made it through and you know, if I can sneak a few more classic Atari tapes through to you in the future, then you know I will.

 

Excellent, Dave.
I am looking forward to a card from the land of cuckoo clocks, cheese and chocolates very much indeed!
Thanking you in advance.

 

It's rubbish these days, aint it Paul?

I don't understand why people aren't protesting about it and saying enough is enough.

Clearly many folks prefer armchair banking, mailing and shopping but what about those real people in the real world who like real-world interactions with real people... in real circumstances featuring real goods in front of you that you can examine and peruse - for real.

Is it that our communities and society is no longer... for real?

DISCUSS!

 

I'm afraid it looks that way, my old mate.
Look at the rate in loss of good old boozers:

In 2018, there were 47,600 pubs in the UK, 15,900 fewer than in 1990, a decline of 25%. There was a small decrease in the number of pubs between 1990 and 2000, with 4% of pubs closing. The number of pubs started to decline more steeply from 2001. Between 2001 and 2017, the number of pubs fell by 22%.

and...

994 pubs closed in past 12 months.

Soon, there'll be sod all left.

Shocking, Paul.

 

We'll soon have nothing left, mate.

Nothing that marks us out from being any different to the rest of the "globalised homogenised" 21st Century pox(y) set-up!

Larkin got it right back in 1972 with this prescient piece:

I thought it would last my time—
The sense that, beyond the town,
There would always be fields and farms,
Where the village louts could climb
Such trees as were not cut down;
I knew there’d be false alarms

In the papers about old streets
And split level shopping, but some
Have always been left so far;
And when the old part retreats
As the bleak high-risers come
We can always escape in the car.

Things are tougher than we are, just
As earth will always respond
However we mess it about;
Chuck filth in the sea, if you must:
The tides will be clean beyond.
—But what do I feel now? Doubt?

Or age, simply? The crowd
Is young in the M1 cafe;
Their kids are screaming for more—
More houses, more parking allowed,
More caravan sites, more pay.
On the Business Page, a score

Of spectacled grins approve
Some takeover bid that entails
Five per cent profit (and ten
Per cent more in the estuaries): move
Your works to the unspoilt dales
(Grey area grants)! And when

You try to get near the sea
In summer . . .
It seems, just now,
To be happening so very fast;
Despite all the land left free
For the first time I feel somehow
That it isn’t going to last,

That before I snuff it, the whole
Boiling will be bricked in
Except for the tourist parts—
First slum of Europe: a role
It won’t be hard to win,
With a cast of crooks and tarts.

And that will be England gone,
The shadows, the meadows, the lanes,
The guildhalls, the carved choirs.
There’ll be books; it will linger on
In galleries; but all that remains
For us will be concrete and tyres.

Most things are never meant.
This won’t be, most likely; but greeds
And garbage are too thick-strewn
To be swept up now, or invent
Excuses that make them all needs.
I just think it will happen, soon.

 

You guys speak my kinda language.

I knew we had more in common that just retro micros.

Why aren't communities screaming out to stop this complete reduction going on in the quality of our lives?

As you guys say, it's not just one thing it's everything: high street banks, post offices, independent stores, corner shops, friendly, local retailers and our beloved pubs and clubs.

There needs to be some kind of enquiry to stop this deliberate march towards hoovering up all the trade (and profits) into the pockets of the rich, mega multiple multi-nationals that all you guys can see greedily grabbing every last penny out of our shopping budgets.

Again, you fellas see it and I think it's laughable that some people QUEUE in their cars for 20-30 mins for some stupid trendy coffee drive-in drink - and pay a small fortune for the privilege - when you can sod off home and make a frickin hot drink yourself for a fraction of the price - so why do they do it - has the world gone mad or are the powers of persuasion so powerful that these "new trendy" folks are just brainwashed into consuming Costa, arm-wrestled by Amazon and Feebayed by Ebay? It's like the world and his dog have been hypnotised by hype.

I'm with you blokes all the way - the high street needs saving and we need to spend there, support our independent shopkeepers and keep it local...and yes, open a few more Tandy's, Al!

 

Some more retro cards (and cats) of Christmases past and present...







Eeeh, it's alright for some...

 

LOL! I'm sure Felix is a beaut, buddy and you, Cindy and Serena must enjoy having him around.

My sis came round tonight to see how Bev is coping and she couldn't believe how big and beautiful this creature is.

She is thinking of starting up his own FAN CLUB! (Poor Bev didn't get much of a look in)

Here is the beast featuring on the cover of his own 2020 Christmas card range...