Hobbies and past times,what do you do.....

[smokiejoe]

LOL.it keeps us outa trouble bry mate.i could write a book on what ive done and what ive seen and all the places ive been too in my life.ive met some famous and some not so but so far lifes been good to me.I think life is too short so you gotta take by the balls and go for it.

[Robusto]

My parents were insane. My Mum was an alcoholic through and through. My Dad was in the Army so we were always moving between military camps. My Dad put me in a military boarding school to escape wild scenes at home. I was stripping guns and firing at targets and being marched around a parade ground from the age of eleven. We were treated like Royal Marines.

I was a good boy. I got my exams and never got caught drinking and smoking at school. I kept that for holidays at home.

Boarding school tends to make people become either very conservative or very liberal. I'm one of the more liberal ones.

Because it got boring when we weren't out on night exercises in Sherman tanks, mates grabbed guitars and I got on the piano. We played kids' versions of Sympathy For The Devil, Talking Bout My Generation, Led Zep tunes, Elton John Funeral For A Friend.

I'm still at it, and it's fine.

I love the idea of smoking Havanas and restoring cars during the day.

I'd like to have the mind I have on my head.
And be a plumber rather than be a teacher.

[smokiejoe]

You know mate my life has many stories to tell,but i wouldnt have changed it EVER.I had a really good child hood mate,i was one of eight in our family,,well they didnt have sky or colour tv,s then and there wasnt much else my parents could do but make lots of kids,lol.We lived in crediton on a small council estate but it was a decent one and everyone got on with each other,my mother was a small woman of about 4ft 8 and father was 6ft 5 and built like a small outhouse,lol.back in those days our house always seemd to be full of neighbours and the kettle on the gas stove was never cold.It was hard for all us kids as money was always an issue as my father used to like his going out and having a few,so me and my sisters always made a few bob down at the farm by bringing in hay,straw,apples or eggs so that mother could feed us,but we never went without as we done the best we could.but it was such an adventure going out and making money,we always had a smile on our faces.it was a good life.well to me anyway.kids nowadays dont know how lucky they are.

[smokiejoe]

Hey robusto you got good tastes mate,,oh yeah i like the bit on the settee mate ,having a snooze,,im like that mate after a hectic day at work as i rarely stop for a break as there is too much to do.I just pop a cigar in my mouth and im happy as a pig in cow dung.

[Robusto]

Smokiejoe - Looking at your initial thread on here, you seem to have a great life, mate!

[smokiejoe]

Hey gary i tried golf once mate but was banned,my first time ever on the coarse and with my brother who is a member of crediton golf club,anyways there i were all ready to T off and bloodly golf club slips out of my hand and flies off over one of the bunkers and clobbers the chairman of the golf club right across the top of his bonce,cut the poor buggers head open and knocked his hat into the nettles,i was banned instantly.i didnt even get to play.bloody spoil sports.

[smokiejoe]

Hey mate dont knock it,as all these collectable things mate are worth keeping.and worth big money...he he.

[Wildwood]

Yeah, didn't mention the old tool collection did I?

Ho hum! I'm hoping the drinking and smoking will get me before I start collecting toenail clippings from one-legged sailors, or something extremely rare like "nice things my mother-in-law has said about me".

Take me now Lord...I'm ready!

Wildwood (sad b**t**d)

[smokiejoe]

Yeah all that advertising stuff is making a big comeback now,nearly all my olds bottles the americans always bought,now there into cigar memoribilia and advertising,the old enamal signs with caburys and tea or coco all that sort of stuff,trouble is finding the bloody stuff as it aint about so much now.I used to go to farm auctions and buy furniture and clocks ,books ,toys and enamal ware,but havent seem any auctions like that in ages.keep hold of any comic books,dan,beano,rupert,early enid blyton books as thes are becoming rare.

[Gary]

I think my hobbies / past-times are a little more basic (for want of a better word) than most of the above. I enjoy a lot of sports (watching and participating), including football, rugby and golf.

For many years I collected football memorabillia (with regard to my local team), things like programes, tickets, photo's, badges, shirts, signed objects, posters, pictures etc etc, and like cigars it can be a very expensive hobby once you collect the "easy to get" stuff, I must of spent a right few thousand on it, but a least I've still got all the stuff and will probably get my money back at least should I ever decide to sell.

Other past-times include watching movies (favourite is Kelly's Hero's), especially going to the cinema, cigars, obviously, now collecting and beginning to age, shortly I plan to get a wine cooler and turn it into a humidor that will hold approximately 20 boxes, maybe more, also over the last couple of months I've been getting into wine and would like to/plan to try to learn more about it, the different growing regions in different countries, how to tell one wine from the other etc etc.

Apart from that I don't have a lot of time for much else what with work, beginning a part-time degree and home life.

PS - I also enjoy DIY and love tools and tinking with stuff

[Wildwood]

Aaaaargh! Smokiejoe - how could you???? Next time such a thing happens, all you have to do is drop me a line, and for a small consideration I'll take them off your hands!! At least you'll know they've gone to a good home!

Happens a lot actually mate...wish I had all the original Rupert annuals I had as a kid...been trying to rebuild that collection for years, but need a new mortgage each time I buy one!

BTW - have you seen how much smoking memoribilia now costs?? I'm desperately trying NOT to start a new collection...perhaps just cigar stubs...what do you think?

Wildwood

[smokiejoe]

Hey wildwood im glad you mentioned about the books and postcards and the tea cards as these are making silly amounts of money now mate,back a few years ago i did a very stupid thing,i have a massive amount of 1920 upwards of tea and cigarette cards of which i found in an atic of this old house i bought,they were in full sets,,i also found an old gild gilted mirror up there too so dicided to give a local antique dealer a call,he came and gave us a fair price for the lot inc mirror,well about ?90,,didnt think anymore about it until last year when i were looking at collectables on ebay and had the biggest shock ever,those cards i had were worth shite loads,,?200 a set and more ,,i had over 150 sets,,,i was pig sick.still one of those things eh.

[Wildwood]

Hobbies and interests? Got lots of them...probably far too many and I end up having to rotate them all. I'm a bit sad about collecting things as well.

Here goes:

Sport: love cycling (doing and watching), sailing, and cricket. Less wild about football these days - used to be a Southampton fan where I was a student hundreds of years ago, so that says it all really.

Passions: classic cocktails (from 1920s/30s - no plastic umbrellas in my drinks, thankyou!); single malt scotch; cigars (though it's been a while, really getting back into them again now, thanks partly to you guys); screwball comedies - again from the 1930s (I'm just out of my natural time); World film - especially French cinema; a humourous American writer again from the 1930s called Thorne Smith; the fantasy works of Thomas Burnett Swann; the science fiction of Jack Vance.

Collections: (this is where you can all mock me a bit) Rupert Annuals; early Edwardian postcards; tea cards; jigsaw puzzles; tarot packs and many others

Other interests: reading (got an English degree and I am an academic librarian by profession); old sailing ships; old board games etc etc. Been doing quite a lot of family history stuff over the last 3 years...back to 1626 now...

Got 4 kids (2 grown up, and 2 under five), and another due in December/January, so actually don't get that much time for all the above, but that's what mostly fills my head when I'm not thinking lascivious thoughts about some French actress totty!

There - story of my life. WAKE UP NOW!!

Wildwood

[Robusto]

Brother!

[Renefatdude]

I play music in 2 bands (Blues) I sing and play bluesharp.
Got dogs and cats.
Love to drink whisky and smoke cigars to really relax.

Rene