From the Long Beach Antique Swap Meet -- Sunday, December 16, 2018

The packaging is a bit beat up...

This is a Kyosho (Japanese brand) 1/43rd scale model of the 007 Movie car.  Someone bought it in Japan originally (has a price tag on the end flap in Yen;  it was 3,000 yen - about $30)  Toyota did not build a convertible version of the car for sale.  They modified two cars for the James Bond movie so that Sean Connery could fit in the car (he was too tall for the coupe...).

This is a very nice 1/43rd scale model of a 1970 914-6 (with the 5 lug Fuchs wheels).  It's a European spec model (can tell by the turn indicator color).

Nice Dinky model of the Mercedes-Benz 220SE.  This picture was taken on my desk (these sit just below the monitors).   I've got the car in four different scales on my desk...

The tires are cracked and the Right Rear is missing.

Didn't know what these were when I bought them.  I knew that K&E is a German maker of Drafting Tools (I have other K&E stuff) but had not heard of a "Spline Weight."  Looking online, I discovered that they are used for bending thin pieces of wood used in either drafting up boats or making bent wood pieces for models of boats.  They have a sharp pointy protruding pin on the front that is lower than the base of the weight, so that when the weight is sitting flush, the pin is below the surface of the table it sits on.  The pictures are not showing the colors correctly.  These are a light green color and are painted with wrinkle finish paint.  They're made of lead and are quite heavy.  I like the whale shape that they were cast in...

Picture from the internet showing how the splines are used.

Manhattan Beach Pier -- Sunday, December 16, 2018 (can see the exact time on the clock)

The flag was at half-staff & was showing that the wind is blowing in at a moderate speed.

Christmas-New Years break in the UK -- Part 3 -- Bath

The main hot spring bath from the Roman days.  It was excavated starting in the 19th century.  The original Roman structure goes up to about waist high.  Everything above that was a Victorian era construction in their image of how things might have looked in the Roman days & may not be truly accurate, but it's how it is and it's how it's going to stay.  Even these "newer" parts are over a hundred years old.

The Bath Cathedral is right next to the Roman Bath.  This pictures is deceptive;  there's actually open space between the two...

Touring the Roman Era Bath that's been excavated and is now a historical attraction.  This is part of the under ground level water control system that the Roman had built.

The stone workers inscribed the stones that they carved with their own logo to show that they did the work & thus deserved to get paid for the work.

The Romans also moved the hot spring water around using lead pipes.  I some places, the pipes were routed along the surface in channels carved into the stone floors.

Excavated Roman sauna room that had a floor above the stacks of large flat bricks.  The heated moist air moved under the floor and came up through the floor.  The large spaces between the stacked bricks allowed for airflow and for workers to do any cleaning out that was needed.

These "hollow" bricks were used in some of the curved roof structures.  They allowed the roofs to be lighter and thus less likely to collapse due to their own weight, even in an arch shape.  Pretty amazing levels of engineering 2,000 years ago...

Lead pipes (fabricated from lead sheets).

Again, everything above about waist level is not Roman era but this is the original "source" pool that was used as a reservoir for distribution to the many pools and room of the Roman baths.

You can sample the hot spring water to see what it tastes like.  It's pretty bad to drink!

The food (street or otherwise) was pretty inexpensive because the Dollar is very strong against the British Pound at the moment.

In a nearby park, from the Roman Baths, they had set up a holiday outdoor skating rink.  People were waiting to get back on the ice, after the Zamboni had finished resurfacing.

There was no real parking in the central area of Bath.  Had to find and park in this public parking area several blocks away from the center.  You have to go to a parking pay machine and get a ticket to put on the dash of the car.  The machines only took cash and I didn't have any coins!  Someone told me about one machine, elsewhere in the large parking area, that took credit cards.  Fortunately, I found the machine and was able to park and pay.  Parking and parking tickets appears to be a rich source of revenue for municipalities in the UK.  Reminds me of Santa Monica...