I don't really understand why people would buy "winter tyres" for a 4x4. Just look for All Terrain tyres in whatever size you need next time you come to change them. I had the BF Goodrich ones for a while and they were brilliant on everything, be it 70mph on motorway or crawling up rocks at walking pace in the snow. Wear rate was no worse than a normal tyre and I didn't notice them being remotely skittish in the wet. You can keep the same set all year round with no ill effects and they'll give you a bit of an edge getting out of that soggy car park in summer as well as for snow.

It definitely explains where all the spacers went. If you came across that while clearing the old wardrobe you wouldn't necessarily realise it had anything to do with a camera, so it probably wouldn't find its way onto ebay along with the rest of the camera gear.

Talking of camera porn I must make a brief Youtube video of my SV when I finish the film in it. There are loads of clips showing how to use a Spotmatic on there but nothing earlier.

That may well have been it. I know it had knurled edges like that rather than the flatter shape of the ERC securing screw.

I have what I believe were the legs from a very old wooden tripod in the attic here, although they may equally have been from an easel (three legs which can be slid and locked at different lengths, no other hardware was found aside from the remains of an enlarger). I keep meaning to have a go at making a new head/centre section to turn them into a usable tripod.

I think I still struggle to decide what other people will find interesting. I do try to capture normal life for the reason that I love finding scans of old photographs from the 1920s or earlier and how much information we can get from them, but how far do you go? I've been making a conscious effort to go and get some decent shots of the frankly dull trains at our local station as I know few others will bother, so in twenty years or so there'll be little record of the type of units used or how the station looked (for example).

I definitely intend to make the inevitable xmas shopping trip much more entertaining by secreting the MV1 with a roll of B&W film about my person. See what odd corners I come across in between the repeat-loop WHAM! and enforced jingling cheerfulness.

It's also interesting to see how much slower things changed then. My brother was born in 1987 and I recognise a lot of the baby toys there as things he had, so they clearly didn't change the selections as often as they do now.

According to the BBC an average wage in 1985 would have been £8,890, to give an idea of the real cost of the contents of the catalogue compared to now.

They also have to have that variety of tarmac/concrete which causes tyres to screech at barely walking pace, so you can pretend you're in The Professionals...

I took a shot inside the new St David's 2 car park in Cardiff ages ago but wasn't sure whether it was worth trying again, these images have convinced me to make sure I have a camera handy next time I'm down that way though.

Impressively done - I think the only way I'd be inclined to photograph something like that would be from the other side of the room with a big lens!

Interestingly I recall reading that some xmas tree suppliers in the USA are using mantis as natural pest control. It's a great idea but has caused some consternation, as the mantis will often lay eggs on the tree ready for spring. Of course, when the tree is brought into a warm house the eggs tend to mistake this for spring and hatch, to the surprise and potential alarm of all concerned!

Ahh, that explains it!

The thing I saw must have fallen out of an ERC or tripod then, as I hadn't a clue what the spacer bush looked like I assumed it to be one.

I noticed that too. This must have been at the time of the changeover to A series lenses and bodies, presumably surplus ME Supers were being attached to the new lenses and sold via Argos - possibly as a way of shifting old stock before the Super A/Program A hit the market?

I know the original 3 K series bodies (and of course a lot of K1000s) were sold with M series lenses after K series production finished, presumably for the same reason.

He also looks not unlike Gordon Freeman from the Half Life games. Just add crowbar...

I remember Argos selling multipacks of film, and those rectangular chocolate-bar shaped 110 cameras. Not convinced the Fiat offered as a prize with something-or-other amongst the photography listings will have lasted quite as well as the ME Super though!

I also have a scary number of the Lego sets shown on later pages (the only childhood toys I've hung onto, because Lego is always cool)...