Sunday 1 June 2008

Toys that boys used to play with

This photo was taken around 1982 on a school trip to Albany.  My two school mates are sitting in the seats of a Bofors anti-aircraft gun, which was sitting in a park somewhere.  Unlike today, just about everything short of the firing pin was still fitted and working.  If war broke out, they could have painted it green, towed it away, fitted a firing thing and had it working next day.  We had a blast traversing it around and pretending to shoot at buses and things driving past.



These days, all the projecting bits are cut off, the moving parts are welded up and anything remotely warlike is toned down.  If I went back today, I guess it would be painted pink, or melted down and recast as a statue of lesbian peaceniks at a Greenham Common protest.

Boys just love this sort of stuff.  

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