Thirteen may be unlucky for some, but this round sees our tally bust the 100 mark. Yep, Bonkers About Batteries is now officially "Ton Up"! Here's our first brand for this round:
Guang Neng! Apparently a "Ye's Production" from the People's Republic Of China, no less. These were found by The Gobmeister on top of the PA system cupboard at St.Chad's Parish Church (where he looks after the PA system). The presumption being that they were left there for him by an anonymous benefactor. The Gobmeister would like to thank this man (or woman) of mystery for their diligence and generosity.
Here's a brand we've featured before in a couple of guises, but The Gobmeister insisted on including a photo of this delightful blue Hi-Watt livery.
Found by Mr.& Mrs.Gobmeister in Romford's "Poundland" store, and better known for their cars, we have these:
Seen..., bought..., and used (as you can see by the less-than-full pack).
Johnny 5 gets the credit for this next one. It's a "Super" "Lamina", found in a DVD remote control while he was at work. The name of the battery wraps around the circumference of the cell, so below the picture you will also find a link to a video clip. If the clip doesn't play when you click on the link, then try right-clicking, saving the file to your hard drive, and playing it from there in Windows Media Player, or Winamp, or your preferred video-player.
Very good Mr.5, but don't let your boss catch you merely pretending to work...
Next we take our hats off to Mrs.Gobmeister for having the presence of mind to check the innards of a "Sleeping Pony" which was brought in with some books by the book man at work.
Yes, that's "Vinergy" batteries. Powered by wine (we presume).
Now, there's a fair chance that some of you are going to want to complain about this next one, 'cos it's a rechargeable and The Gobmeister hasn't allowed them before. So, feel free to complain vehemently and at great length, but not to The Gobmeister. This one has been allowed in for the following reasons:
She found it in a digital camera - Katie is our youngest contributor to date (she's the daughter of The Golfmeister's partner Amy).
"Hooray!" for Katie, and "Hooray!" for Jialee!
The Gobmeister was somewhat "found out" by Katie's next offering, as this email to The Golfmeister (Nigel) will reveal:
Hi Nige,
"Thank you" to Katie and to your good self for the battery. Eastpower does not yet feature on the website, but when I tried to save your photo as "eastpower.jpg" in my website folder my computer informed me that a file of that name already existed in the folder. Further investigation has revealed that this original file is some 2 years old (20th Aug 2004)! It had slipped through the net in the early days of "Bonkers About Batteries".
I shall include both photos when I post Round 13.
Please enjoy these photos while The Gobmeister waits for his ego to recover..........
Katie's is the blue and white one - which appears to have some Russian text around the bottom!
The Barkingside shop in which The Spinmeister found this next brand has now closed. And judging from the rather lumpy look of the batteries The Gobmeister is not surprised! Just have a look at the shape of the single battery shown below! And that's new out of the packet!
Spinmeister Rob reports that their performance in use, while by no means impressive, is nevertheless rather better than expected. He has pressed them into service in his noise-cancelling headphones (which he uses on the way to work on the bus). He reports that a Tecnocell battery generally does OK for about a week-and-a-half, whereas a Maplin alkaline lasts for about 3 - 4 weeks. The Gobmeister wouldn't have deigned to put a battery that looks so dodgy into any appliance, frankly!
Due to the fact that The Gobmeister hasn't bothered to remember who or where this next one came from, it will have to remain uncreditted for the time being...:
"Novacell" - not to be confused with "Nova" (which featured in Round 2).
Well, Round 13 is proving to be a corker isn't it? But you'd better strap yourselves in, the ride is about to get a bit bumpy.....
This next offering comes from Kathryn Peake, wife of "Bonkers About Batteries Baptist" minister Steve (see previous Rounds). She emailed her photos along with an explanation to the Gobmeister:
Not to be outdone by Steve & Adam, I have attached photos showing the batteries from the TV remote control in our holiday apartment on La Gomera (one of the minor Canary Islands, highly recommended for a peaceful holiday in beautiful surroundings). Since Steve is so keen on scouring the tiny shops in the remotest villages in search of obscure offerings, I decided to get in on the act. He has some batteries for you, but for some unknown reason rejected these!
Kathryn
Those of you who are fully fledged members of the "Bonkers About Batteries" fraternity will know full well why Steve passed over the batteries in the remote control, and The Gobmeister's email reply to Kathryn will come as no surprise:
Hi Kathryn,
glad to see you are joining in the fun! Nice photos! You will be delighted to know that I will be featuring your find on the website when I upload the next round of Bonkers Batteries.
However, "Thomson" is by no means a top drawer Premier League find. Like Steve's first submission ("Black & Decker"), Thomson is a reasonably well known manufacturer of electrical equipment (my TV is a Thomson), so it's not altogether surprising that their name has found its way onto some batteries (and this is probably the reason Steve rejected them). I am therefore including them largely because it's your first effort, but also partly because the pictures themselves are so good.
So, "Good effort. Thank you for joining in, but don't necessarily expect me to be this lenient forever!!".
;>)
To her credit, Kathryn replied in feisty and upbeat fashion, thus:
But have they all got Spanish words on them!
Hasta luego!
Kathryn
And she's right too! "les pilas de acuerdo con las simbolas +/-". Great stuff! So The Gobmeister concluded with this reply:
So they have!
Gracias y buenas noches amigo!
And finally......., those batteries Steve Peake found in La Gomera, which Kathryn alluded to earlier:
"Jupiter" and "Leiva", nice! Well done Steve.
"Thomson" well and truly tipped into a cocked hat!