TV FILM MEMORABILIA - The SEQUEL... (Updated)

Images copyright their respective owners

Recently, I revealed (here) that I discovered I was one issue (#2) short of a full set of TV Film Memorabilia, a monthly magazine that lasted for 20 issues (and an 'Annual') around 15 or so years back.  I promptly jumped over to eBay and there was the very ish just waiting for me, complete with free gift.  However, I could no longer recall whether or not I ever had the gift that came with the first issue, so I tracked one down, bought it, and it arrived yesterday.

I still can't remember if I had the first gift at the time, but at least I have it now, even if I had to buy a second copy of the first number in order to obtain it.  As they're at hand, I thought I'd show you the cover of #1 plus its freebie, just so you can see what they looked like.  I'm still a bit puzzled as to how I never noticed I was missing #2 until 15 years later, as I always believed I had a complete set, but it just goes to show that even my mighty brain has its blind spots.  (Okay, who laughed when I said 'mighty brain'?)

Anyone ever buy this mag back in the day, and if so, what did you think of it?

******

(Update: Turns out I already had the first gift after all.)

'BOXING' DAY BLUES...

This was a great wee TV back in 1983/'84

You may wonder why I'm showing you a picture of an empty box, so let me explain.  This box is around 38-39 years old and has sat in a cupboard for most of that time.  There'll be a picture on the blog somewhere where the television that once inhabited it can be seen, but it's safe to say that the box outlived the TV by a very wide margin.  For many years the box has been home to various dilapidated items which had belonged to my parents and were no longer used or useful, so I had a clear out of them recently, rendering the box somewhat surplus to requirements.

However, nearly 40 years is a long time to own something, even if it resided out of sight in a cupboard, so it was a bit of a wrench to let it go; that's why I took a photo (took a few, actually) of it, just to remember it by.  When I was folding it up to put in the bin, a label on the side of it started to peel away, so I decided to keep it as a memento of something that has been there for nearly two thirds of my life.  As I type, I find my thoughts now turning to another box which lives in my loft, which I acquired in Southsea in Portsmouth over 41 years ago.  (See pic 3.)

You don't need this caption to tell you this is a label

I acquired it to pack books and records into for my return to Scotland after living in Pompey for nearly four months back in 1981, and it's served that purpose ever since.  Maybe I should've stored other stuff in the TV box and moved it up into my loft also, but the thought occurred to me too late to act on it.  The box had been sitting out in my back garden getting rained on for several days, so it was too soggy and floppy for the practical purpose of packing anything into it again.  I've got the photos and the label (as well as pics of the TV itself) so in a way, the box lives on.

Anyway, this has been a Crivens Service Announcement on behalf of the Bonkers As A Big Box Of Badgers Society, of which I'm President and Chairman - make of it what you will.  But tell me (and your fellow Crivvies) - have you ever owned anything for so long that it was difficult to part with once it was no longer needed, and did you miss it when it was gone and regret getting rid of it?  Tell all in the comments section and soothe your saddened soul in the process.

It's the Tesco Spanish wine box on left.  Pic taken on train home in 1981

Footnote: The box and TV might be even older than I at first thought, as (now that my brain has woken up), something at the back of my mind suggests I may've bought it a year or so earlier than I remembered when preparing this post for your perusal.