A Caravan Shaped To Suit Your Style...

Glen Crawford's an artist.
His medium is aluminium.
He's made all the wonderful aluminium pieces
on The Flying Tortoise.
The guy's a genius with the genre.
He's also a Hot-Rod enthusiast and has just made this retro caravan called the Slikstream, shaped in the style of his '56 Chevy.
He'll be making bespoke caravans, custom built and unique for anyone who wants
something different and special.
Shaped to suit your style,
whatever style that might be.
You can email me for more information...

A Caravan Shaped To Suit Your Style...

Haha, I Was Joking...

Haha, I was joking, you're not really adopted...
Image from Daily Picks and Flicks

Really Banal And Boring...

Last November the Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key, sat down with wannabe MP John Banks, at an Auckland cafe to have a cuppa and a chat about how they would play in their sandpit together after the election, and who would have what toys.
Their boring and utterly banal conversation was inadvertently recorded by a media person and caused more than a storm in the proverbial teacup.
The PM complained to the police who then set about raiding the offices of the free press.
The folk over at Boing Boing have a copy of the leaked tape and if you have a few minutes to waste you can hear it here...

How To Easily Make A Simple Little Woodstove...

This is another variation on a very successful little cooker that you might use camping, during a power failure or in an emergency
like the end of the world.
Just remember to have these few tools and cans with you. You'll probably be so impressed with this little gadget that you'll carry all the bits to make it around with you hoping you need it or just to impress your friends.
Some people use Spaghetti and Apricot cans but I prefer Baked Beans and Peaches.
I don't know why.
You'll need a few bits and pieces and in minutes you'll have made this simple, super efficient, fun little woodstove.
If you don't believe me, look 'how to' here...

All Dressed Up For Ollie...

Mike, Joel and Des from Whangarei's Classic Hits Northland radio station dressed up and went on the town yesterday to raise money for little Oliver Lodewyk, a gorgeous little boy who has Morquio Syndrome, a very rare degenerative metabolic condition that's now confined nine year old Ollie to a wheelchair.
The radio guys went to great lengths to do it for Ollie even having their legs waxed to raise money to send Ollie and his family to San Francisco for the year long treatment that will hopefully restore life to normality for this appealing little boy.
In New Zealand, donations can be made at the ASB Bank, A/C 12-3072-0535155-50 in the name of Mrs RJ Lodewyk and Master OV Lodewyk. Or go to www.facebook.com/classichitsnorthland
There are so many good causes in the world and now there's Ollies...

Postcard From Whangarei...

Just a few minutes ago.
An after dinner stroll along
Whangarei's Town Basin Marina on this balmy summers evening.
Yachts from many foreign ports calling this beautiful place home for as long as the fancy takes them.
Sometimes the fancy lasts forever...

The Fun Police Strike Again...

It seems to be the same whatever place you go these days and my friends Rod and Sandra go to lots of places.
Often they'll just take off on a whim to Australia for the weekend.
They came home last week bitterly disappointed and distraught. Totally dejected and in dire need of counselling.
All they wanted was a bit of fun and took their tent with them especially instead of staying at the Hilton as they usually do.
They got to their favourite park and found the Fun Police had been there before them and it was now against local bylaws to have a bit of fun doing anything.
They're both on medication and will possibly make a full recovery.
Get well soon Rod and Sandra...

Tiny Colourful Cliffside Homes In Italy...

Manarola is a cute and colourful cliffside fishing town in the province of La Spezia in Ligura, Northern Italy.
I found it the other day over at Amusing Planet.
Dating back to 1338, it's the oldest little town in the region.
It seems the fishermen take their boats home with them after their day at the office.
The simple life with wonderful wines and walking trails. Doesn't it look gorgeous.
You may wish to visit...

One Man's Junk Is Another Man's Castle...

Victor Moore built his junk castle back in the late 60's when the Whitman County didn't require anyone building a structure costing less than $500 to obtain a building permit.
The Build was part of his thesis for a Masters degree in Fine Arts from Washington State University.
The castles bright colours, its turrets and spires are straight out of Disneyworld but it's all made of junk including washing machine parts, dryers, bedsteads, car doors and windscreens.
You can read more about it here.
Vic's friend David Patterson shot the images.
I wonder if he used Kodachrome...

Northern Lights Shine Over UK...

Due to some strange solar activity happening at the moment, including the sun reaching the peak of it's twelve year cycle, the Aurora Borealis, rarely seen in the UK, was putting on an impressive display a night or two ago.
It wasn't visible like this to the naked eye but specialist photographer Reed Ingram Weir knew the signs and managed to get this really long exposure from Amwick near Northumberland.
Stunning isn't it.
Londoners may get a glimpse of this phenomenon next weekend, the first time they could be visible since 1939.
My thanks to Susanne, one of TFT's intrepid Roving Reporters.

Oh Mama. They've Taken Our Kodachrome Away!

"They gave us those nice bright colours.
They gave us the greens of summer.
Makes you think all the world's a sunny place
oh yeah.
I got a Nikon camera.
I love to take a photograph.
So Mama don't take my Kodachrome away..."
So sang Paul Simon in the '70's on his famous hit song Kodachrome.
Now after seventy four years, Eastman Kodak have ceased production of the wonderful film that showed us that the world was not
black and white.
One of the best known Kodachrome images was shot by Steve McCurry of Sharbat Gula, the Afghan girl at Pakistan's Nasir Bagh refugee camp in 1984 who peered hauntingly at the world from the cover of National Geographic magazine.
On Mama, what have you done...

London Says Smaller Is Smarter...

London's new bus using green electric diesel hybrid technology and collocqually known as 'Boris Bus' is smaller, smarter and more manouvarable than it's recent passenger perambulators.
Mostly using its electric motor, the diesel motor only runs when the battery needs charging.
You mightn't hear them but you'll see one at a bus stop soon...

China Says Bigger Is Better...

While some of us are downsizing,
China has it says, made a momentous step forward for public transportation by unveiling the world's longest or largest bus, capable of carrying three hundred passengers.
A fleet of these 82 foot monsters, each made up of two ribbed sections which enables it to turn as easily as a regular city bus, will make up the Bus Rapid Transit Service in Beijing and Hangzhou.
I guess the front section is 'first class' and will cost more as these passengers get to their destinations much earlier than those way down the back...

Very Cute Tiny Green Pea Car...

Created evidently in 2005
for a Birds Eye Peas TV commercial,
this delightful little car was custom made by Asylum Models and Effects in the UK.
It's chassis's from a go-cart, the headlights from a VW Beetle, the indicators are Lancia,
the engine is Honda.
The rest is bespoke.
And this sweet little pea looks as fresh and tempting as the day it was shelled..
Here's a tasty looking pod of them.
Delicious aren't they..
Almost good enough to eat...