Pleasure at both ends of the spectrum

I don't need to tell anyone here that even though many of us seem to be tapering off our collecting activities as we get older, it is still a pleasure to acquire a nice top-end model from time to time.

For example, not long ago I got myself a Plymouth Barracuda by Ace Models of Australia. Not cheap, but nice to have.

That was followed by a Mercury Park Lane by Goldvarg. Again, I would hesitate to reveal the price to my lady wife but I was happy to splash out to get it.

And most recently came the '59 Cadillac Coupé de Ville from Stamp. And I don't have to tell you what THAT cost me, but it is very handsome indeed.

So, I can still push the boat out when I feel like it. But you know, when some of these models arrive they provoke an "Oh, wow!" reaction and I put them in a prominent place and keep looking at them, but with others (however classy they may be) I can just get a feeling of "Ho hum, tick it off the list and put it on a shelf with the others" and it kind of fades into the background. Which is a shame when I could have got a months' supply of cigars and brandy for that money.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the scale, you can come across a cheap model that gives you the same pleasure of discovery as in those early days of collecting when every chance find was a delight.

I went into a local charity (thrift) shop a few weeks ago and found a couple of 1:64 vans by Corgi in the livery of Ocado, a supermarket delivery outfit. They did a series of 10, with different fruits on each, but since I no longer suffer from modelling OCD, two examples will do me nicely.

Just toys, but I felt like a kid in a toy shop again. They cost me £1 each. And just a few days later in the same shop, amongst the plastic bath ducks and rubber dinosaurs, I found something a bit classier - a couple of 1:43 racing sedans, a white Mercedes and a black Audi. Very sharp, with nice wheels, liveries and detailing. £3 for the pair.

And then the icing on the kiddie cake, a German Porsche police car. Again, it's just a silly little toy, and not much to look at under normal lighting

but put it in a darkened room and press the light bar . . .

Ho boy, now that's fun. It also has a siren sound, although I had to turn the hearing aid up to 11 to be sure it wasn't just the tinnitus playing games with me. The Porsche probably needs a new battery, which will cost five or six times the £1 that I paid for the model. Goddam high-maintenance toys.

It may (or may not) sound odd to some, but in a way these bargain buys gave me as much delight as the top-end stuff. It's partly just the joy of roaming the shops and finding things by chance, as opposed to clicking a "Buy it now" button on a website.

Oh, and if anyone was hoping that the reference to "Both ends of the Spectrum" implied something more exciting, well, we cater to all tastes . . .

Note to the Awards Committee. Please don't put this in the prize draw for Most Pointless Post of the Month. There are so many deserving candidates out there and I don't want to spoil their chances. Thank you.