The Gobmeister is pleased to report that, suitably chided on his failure to find the "555" battery featured in Round 8, Johnny 5 has rediscovered his former "Bonkers About Batteries" hunting vigour. His latest successes are due mainly to his recent work environment: the BBC's premises at White City, no less! Here's the first:
[Please note, Stewart's pictures are often somewhat blurry because he usually only has a cellphone camera to hand, relying on artificial light. The Gobmeister, on the other hand, is usually able to employ a "macro" lens in God's light.]
More from Mr.5 later, but now we celebrate a "Bonkers About Batteries" debut for GobFM listener Tracey. At the recent Baptism of the latest addition to the Arnold clan, a couple of AA cells were pressed into The Gobmeister's hand by our tattooed Toon Army supporter. Tracey did not reveal their origin, but we shall let the pictures speak for themselves. Here's the first:
"BP"? Hmmmm, clearly not British Petroleum, otherwise it would doubtless be dressed in their garish green, yellow, and white colours. Talking of garish, here's the second of Tracey's offerings:
What a fantastically named battery! "Everfull" - an unfulfillable boast, surely! That is a very good find indeed, Tracey. Well done mate! In fact why not give us a victory pose for the GobFM website? [Please note: despite what some of you might be thinking, this is NOT a lifesize pic of Tracey].
Moving on, we now welcome another pair of debutants to the "Bonkers About Batteries" family! Fellow optometrist Seth Belson (who did the sponsored abseil with your beloved Gobmeister in April 2004) and his lovely wife Fiona found these cracking beauties while having a tidy-up at home recently (both sides shown):
Cyberpow! Where on earth DO they get these names from?!
OK, it's about time The Gobmeister re-entered the fray, don't you think? Here's one he found in, of all places, a bird hide! Lurking in the back of a night-light on a shelf in the main hide at Wat Tyler Country Park in Pitsea (near Basildon) were these:
"Cegasa". Almost certainly from beyond the shores of these sceptred isles.
This next brand was first spotted by Mr.5, again at the Beeb, but has since been spotted in the wild by The Gobmeister aswell. Two pics again this time. One from Johnny 5's cameraphone, plus one The Gobmeister nicked from the manufacturer's website:
By way of a bonus, while visiting the manufacturer's website, The Gobmeister came across this rather delightful example of "Foreigner's Attempting English" in their product categories table:
"Valve Regurated (Seald)Lead-Asid Batteries"
MARVELLOUS !
Now for yet another debutant to the "Bonkers About Batteries" family. Earlier we had a contribution from Adam Peake of High Road Baptist Church in Chadwell Heath (ITN batteries at the bottom of Round 7). Now his Dad Stephen (the church pastor no less!) has entered the fray. These batteries are admittedly from a company we all know of, but not necessarily for their batteries. Reverend Peake, bless his little Baptist heart, came up with these:
Nice work, mate!
The satisfaction of doing someone a good turn is often ample reward in itself. However, sometimes an extra bonus is reaped. Mrs.Gobmeister kindly agreed to visit the home of a senior citizen friend, to feed and attend to her cats while she was away. The Gobmeister accompanied her on one visit, and discovered this old, spent, leaked battery:
[Don't bother trying to visit the obviously implied website. It's just a domain marketing site.]
We now come to what is effectively Round 9 Part 2, because just as The Gobmeister thought he'd got Round 9 in the bag, FOUR more batteries came bursting in! Firstly these two from Johnny 5 (one from a Sagem Freeview remote, the other from a DVD remote)......
From those good people at Motoma Power!
"M3" - very similar indeed to the "Microbatt" in Round 7.
Then, less than 24 hours later, a brace of beauties from one of our recent debutants. Having just about made the grade with his "Black & Decker" AA's, Revd. Steve Peake has now well and truly earned his stripes with this next effort:
Brilliant! "Wonder Gold"! Superb!
Steve found that wee nugget in a shop in Lanzarote (Canary Islands), along with this rather handsome variation of an earlier brand:
At this point The Gobmeister feels duty-bound to formally commend Steve. For a fellow with such a high calling, whose ministry is inevitably steeped in the serious purpose of winning souls for our Lord Jesus Christ, he has nevertheless entered into the battery hunting cause with laudable vim, zeal, and gusto. He is heart and soul in the movement! What a shining example, and what a scream! ......."Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!" (as they say in the Scouts).
OK, well that about wraps things up for Round Nine, but don't forget, keep checking those remote controls, kiddies toys, cheapo shops, and transistor radios for hitherto undiscovered gems. Happy hunting!