Croyd- gone

 Took a trip down to Croydon yesterday for the first time in ages, and damn if it isn't a ghost town now. 

I can understand the antisocial behaviour and vast amounts of immigrants and that which made it look like it was Africa with trams, but I've never seen it so empty before.

Going through the Whitgift centre and noticing that half the shops are boarded up and closed down. I know the rain kept most people of the streets apart from the Hare Krishna lot who gamely set up a drum circle to preach. But this used to be busier, we had Kangz before along with ever flavour of weirdo Christian and Ispamist. The only nice thing I've seen was a mural of birds you'll never see, including a Shrike, Dartford Warbler and Goldcrest, along with the more attainable Grey Wagtail and Ring Necked Parakeet. 

Full birb mural for you.

Left there empty handed and didn't even check Beckenham because of the rain. 

This is a Saturday it should be packed.

The thing is, back in the day it used to be amazing, posh and upmarket. Went to see Father Christmas in Allders back in the day and in the 90's was a place to buy stuff in the sales. You could get there from Woolwich with either a 54 or 75 both services are much shortened now. I can't understand why this is not on par with Bromley as a hot location in South London. 

Voodoo Plots

 This one must have slipped my net. The Voodoo Plot is basically Hardys go Jazz, as a series of thefts from antiques boutiques lead them down to New Orleans. 

It's a bit more involved than that. The Voodoo comes from a sub plot where a friend of the boys, Peter Walker, has his grandpa threatened so he won't play on their basketball team. It seems that his Grandad is also quite a renowned jazz player with his own club. And of course the two cases are involved when it turns out that the voodoo gang threatening him are also in league with the thieves.

This is also the first time I'd ever come across the no step on snek / Gadsden flag as the American revolution was never covered here in detail. And, yes, there are elements of this in this story too, as someone is dressed up as the Swamp Fox and another as George III. 

Anyway you can read both the UK and US versions here and here. Though there are no differences between them. 

Happy 80th

 As the net is fucked yet again, I'm having to do this as if I'd on holiday, via the phone. 

I will give a big shout to my mum who turned 80 yesterday. Thanks for all you did for me, may there be many more years to come.

Some arcade hangovers

 We have had a nightmare journey to Folkestone today took two hours and stuck in traffic, next to a lorry going and some stop start bits down the M20 going home. It was OK there (Never been) but, fuck this am not waiting in traffic again. 

As an aside. this is a quick update. Mostly for two games I've seen back in Mallorca and never really noticed anywhere else. 

A Whack-a-Mole called Ghost Hunter, seems to be Spanish in origin. Some Engrish, but apart from that, crickets online.

Ghost Hunter

Next is a Japan cab called Dino Land 3. 

Some googling on Jim Breen's Japan Page, gets a Chinese translation of the Kanji / Hanzi on above coin part as Lottery Ticket Outlet. So this I'm guessing is some sort of ticket redemption machine where you win tickets and redeem them for prizes

A bit more searching gets you a ticket redemption mech by Yenox on BeGay. And a search for redemption game gets you Dino land a ball shooting game for kids. Not by Yenox who seem to do parts instead. 

Zombie Trax

 The Track of the Zombie or the Hardys join the circus. It's half right as they are hired to look into the case of a zombie of a Hessian soldier setting fires close to an old house in Burlington, Vermont.

The circus case is one of sabotage, and has almost the entire retinue of Hardy chums working on this. It's also a coincidence that said circus is rolling into Burlington itself. 

Its not a bad case either, not a stand out nor Witchmaster's key bad. It does rely a bit on a detectives kit the boys have but not as much as Trapped at Sea. 

Oh and the only difference is now sic is put in the UK version. You can read both here and here.