Mrs Cook was an old lady who lived next door; she took my sister and me to see Peter Pan (or was it Hansel and Gretel) at the Arcade Cinema (long gone) around the corner. One day she gave me a big tin can, perhaps it had been used to hold biscuits, full of interesting things; I was six or seven.
Many years later I saved (over years) all sorts of little things in a big tin can and one day gave it to the two young boys next door; they played with the things for weeks.
My second tin can is almost full:
four plastic tickets to an auto and technik museum
World Cup Brazil football card
18 small cards
9 starzone cards
12 football cards
paper crown from a cracker
piece of leather
coloured string in a bag
stick-on Tattoo
11 Xmas cracker mottoes
pink wrist name band
red heat-sensitive fish (place on palm)
blue and orange truck
plastic spacecraft
coin with black chimney sweep
2 heavy Engeltaler coins
decorative piece of metal
2 metal buttons
small folding magnifying glass
yo-yo
yellow horseshoe
plastic horn
pink spinning top
blue ring with water pistol
red and gold ribbon
small bell with red ribbon
small bell with gold ribbon
2 silver bells
rabbit pendant with gold ribbon
pink ribbon
yellow ribbon
3 red plastic roses
12 piece jig-saw puzzle in a matchbox
4 bandages
Skat playing cards in a box
green wooden block
pink furry pig
small white porcelain pig
5 cotton reels
red propeller
ping-pong ball
2 red spoons
tape measure
yellow jumping frog
2 red/black cracker tricks with rubber band
3 pipe cleaners
short yellow pencil
tiny picture
artificial violets
black mole
lurid-coloured ball-point pen
red wooden rabbit on a stick
11 hair bands in various colours
2 pairs red balls joined with elastic
small CD
2 fir cones
bottle stopper lever-operated
red Mickey Mouse watch
white bead hair band
4 small wooden balls
2 folding maps