Christmas gift thread

A ladder and some BBQ tools. Stoked.

(And to see my 2 year old daughter having a fantastic day playing with her cousins)

@jamie late entry for post of the year (creative category). Proper amusing!

Tomhoward – I have no idea what that is but I love it. Unless you’re a bus conductor and when you turn the handle, a second class off peak return tickets to Surbiton pops out of one of those slits, where can a chap purchase such a lovely object? It’s fab. I’m drawn to that like a moth to a candle. No idea why, but I love it. What does it do? (Serious question. Genuinely intrigued).

Some sort of computer or calculator? I am equally intrigued.

It’s a mechanical calculator.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curta

No gifts for me. I now suspect that my signed & framed picture of Irongrips. Must have been sent via City Link.

Just googled that calculator.

A Grasshopper RC car! Guy Martin book, 24 box set, Star Wars T shirt, Isle of Arran malt, DVD of lady and the tramp (guilty pleasure)

I feel very lucky today.

Merry Christmas all. 🙂

I got one of these from my lovely wife:

Headed out for a 5K run earlier to give it a go.

My daughter bought us a voucher for the Duck and Waffle so will give there a try when we return to London.

A new sleeping bag ( lovely 2 season down one), an alpkit koala, and a pair of salsa anything cages. I think you may be able to spot a pattern…

Lego Unimog. Got permission to start tomorrow.

I got a mountain bike frame for joint Xmas and 40th birthday, a soul or summit, made by kotex I think, not right sure.

+

Santa loves me. My bike also got some mitts. With fur inside. And a spoke light. It doesn’t get much better than this I’m high as a kite! 🙂 Merry Yulemass, you whiskey-drenched droogs!

Chocolate, tons of **** chocolate. I like chocolate but the problem is I have no self control around it. I also got some really nice walking boots from the girlfriend but I was there when we brought them for each other.

That Curta calculator looks fabulous. A blind friend of mine had a mechanical braille calculator back in the 70s and I was amazed what it could do. Nothing like as elegant as the Curta though. Reminds me of circular and cylindrical slide rules. Anyone else ever have one of those?

Wife bought me “This” 😀

Sister in law bought me this amongst other stuff.

In laws bought me 2 cases of very nice Rioja wine 😮

2001 and 2010 on blue ray. And some forks for my 29er that I bought last week 😉

Watching crankbrat unwrap a recovery truck from me followed by a dumper truck from my brother followed by a giant recovery truck from my other brother his shrieks of joy made my mum’s hearing aid play up.

4 bottles of whisky and a changing mat bag thing.

Got a pair of deck shoes from my wife, which was lovely but quite unexpected. I do wish she would check with me first before buying stuff like that though.

Also got a lovely painting and a festive bobble hat as revenge for the his and hers onesies I bought my sister and brother in law last year.

I declare “bandwagon niche” on the Curta mechanical calculator, bencooper also has one so according to the unofficial STW forum rules it states that any object may become an STW Niche aspirational item when two or more members posses an item that when shown in a forum post provokes the following responses :

Tomhoward – I have no idea what that is but I love it. Unless you’re a bus conductor and when you turn the handle, a second class off peak return tickets to Surbiton pops out of one of those slits, where can a chap purchase such a lovely object? It’s fab. I’m drawn to that like a moth to a candle. No idea why, but I love it. What does it do? (Serious question. Genuinely intrigued).

Some sort of computer or calculator? I am equally intrigued.

Just googled that calculator

That Curta calculator looks fabulous. A blind friend of mine had a mechanical braille calculator back in the 70s and I was amazed what it could do. Nothing like as elegant as the Curta though. Reminds me of circular and cylindrical slide rules. Anyone else ever have one of those?

I declare the Curta calculator the STW wood burning stove of 2015[/i]…….and I’ve wanted one since Ben posted pics a few years ago, I have absolutely no need for it but I think it’s a mechanical masterpiece so that’s reason enough for me 😀

Funnily enough somafunk, it was that very thread that got me interested. It’s taken me that long to find one where I was in a position to buy one, but last Saturday the stars aligned!

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/your-most-extravagantridiculous-purchase

Tinners, there’s one on eBay currently…

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/271718505283?nav=SEARCH

I’ve absolutely no practical use for it, but it is a joy to use, but I daren’t take it apart!

Stunning……..helluva price though 🙁 , my Xmas money doesn’t quite stretch that far

My thinking is, now they are an stw niche, the value will rocket with the demand from all the wood burning DE shavers on here 😉

I did great.
Some single Malt
Few bottles of wine
Some beers
Loads of cycling clothes
Some oil painting kit
One of them wifi/mifi/nas things. Lovely dooberry it is. Smaller than a phone, acts as a media server, acts as a mifi device, acts as a wifi extender, acts as a wifi router, acts as a media card reader. Great.
Linen shirt, silk tie

For myself I bought me a shop soiled Lezyene Power XL light, really good commuting light.

I’m still thinking about buying myself a smart watch.

Captain America is Molgrips? 😯

There was a box of various calculator type things in my school just like that one. I wonder if it’s still there…

I got a Womble pepper grinder. It’s rubbish, it only does underground or overground.

Pull up bars from wifey, i think she wants to keep me in peak physical condition. 😯

I got the day off. 😀

Archery Lessons

Pringle bamboo fible socks – the best.
Burberry weekend spray – as usual.
Some cash.
Just the essentials which is what Badnewz is all about at christmas.

Matching bottle cages from youngest daughter (she’s very style conscious).
other stuff as well, but best pressy was new granddaughter a couple of weeks ago.

My wife gave me her Christmas cold. So the sofa and internet are my best friends for the day 🙁

Exceedingly jealous of tomhowards Curta! I’ve wanted one ever since I first read William Gibson’s Pattern Recognition, in which they figure fairly strongly.
There was a dealer in Glastonbury a while back had several in the window, but the shop’s disappeared now.
Not that I could ever afford one…

I got a lovely new Alpkit Filoment jacket from my Mrs, only mentioned it once back in November. Unfortunately it’s a little big so need to exchange it for the next size down.

My father got me this: http://www.hornby.com/sets/digital-train-sets/western-master-digital-train-set-with-elink.html

I’m itching to open it and have a play but unfortunately I haven’t got any space to set it up, the basic trakmat it comes with is 1600mm x 1180mm and I don’t really want to set it up on carpet anyway.

Never having had a train set before, I don’t have any idea about layouts and space saving methods.

Any folk on here have any ideas?

When I was a kid my dad got a piece of chipboard the size of a single bed and built a landscape on it in plaster of Paris. When not in use it could be stood up against a wall.

Loving your work up at the top of page 2, Jamie!

Genuine LOL!