Flares weren't the only good thing to come out of the 70s

Toys - they don't make 'em like they used to. Well actually I think what's on offer for kiddywinks today, in all their colourful, musical and educational guises, is rather brilliant, but there is something special about resurrecting  the toys of your past and passing them on to your children.
My parents, bless them, have been neatly storing all remnants of our childhood in the loft for three decades, so they were poised to entertain the moment grandchildren arrived on the scene. And so, week by week when we visit, the little man is being introduced the very best the late 70s and early 80s had to offer.
To begin with, the classic Fisher Price telephone made an appearance. Okay, the receiver is long gone and the decoration faded but it still rolls its eyes when it is pulled along and the bell gives a cheerful jangle as you turn the dial. The little man loves it.
Then chugging into 2012 came our plastic train set, together with the battery-powered Thomas the Tank Engine and that other red one nobody knows the name of (the latter was mine - my brother always got the best toys). Never mind the years that have passed, they still go like the clappers.
My faithful Fisher Price Little Snoopy with the wonky wheels is now making his wobbly way around the living room again, trailing behind my son as he used to behind me.
And at bathtime, all my old favourites can be seen bobbing about, from the life-like plastic crab which always gave me the heebie-geebies (still does if I'm honest) to my little wind-up duck that lies on its side and goes round and round in circles as if in its final death throes. It did that thirty years ago so I wasn't fooled for a minute.
Watching my son getting pleasure from these things, as I did so long ago, couldn't be a clearer indication that for me the circle of life is ticking along quite nicely and, softy that I am, this gives me a lovely warm feeling in the pit of my stomach.
Now step aside son, it's mummy's turn.

                    Here is the little man with my old toys, and a newer shinier one in the background.