The front of the card shows our block hero and heroine outside a church, with the man down on one knee asking for his true love’s hand in marriage. Of course there’s a little red heart floating in the air between them, just as there should be.

Inside the invitation makes use of the classic Namco arcade game font to let you know the bride and grooms names. It’s depicted like the beginning of a bout in a beat ‘em up, complete with “Vs.” between the couple.

Not for everyone perhaps, but it’s certainly distinctive and makes a difference from the usual cream or ivory with pictures of wedding rings or champagne flutes. If you want to see more take a look on Carla’s website.

Ooh, I feel like a game show host announcing that. We had over 500 entries to this competition, so congratulations Julie, and we hope to be running another competition very soon.

The name may not sound that appealing, what with slush being more associated with greying melted ice, but it’s proved to be a good name choice because it is very distinctive. The spelling of Puppie (instead of Puppy) was also specifically chosen to help the product stand out in shops. An interesting tactic, you sort of look at the word and start to question yourself whether the spelling is correct or not, so it stays in your mind for longer.

I distinctly remember the first time I came across Slush Puppie. There was a large newsagent in our local shopping centre which got one of the Slush Puppie machines in behind the counter. You would request your flavour, and a couple of squirts of syrup and a dollop of ice later you’d be presented with your ice cold drink and a straw.

Every time we went past this shop we would pester our Mum for a cup of Slush Puppie, so I’m sure before long she purposely started to avoid that part of the shopping centre on purpose!

As already mentioned, the first hazard of drinking Slush Puppie was the brain freeze, but a more serious mistake was to actually use the straw that you were given. Personally I soon discovered that the straw was a waste of time, as what tended to happen was that the liquid part of the drink, that is the syrup mixed with the melted ice, came up the straw first rather than the ice.

After repeated sucking you soon found your once colourful ice drink started to lose all it’s colour and become little more than a paper cup full of ice crystals devoid of flavour. Since Mum had paid good money for that drink we were therefore made to finish it, which wasn’t much fun with no taste. No, my advice is ditch the straw, and sip the drink instead. That way you get more of the ice and the flavour will last right to the end.

Slush Puppie in the UK was available (and apparently still is, according to the official website) in six flavours, which were Blue Raspberry (see this post for my previous moan about the Blue Raspberry phenomenon), Strawberry, Cola, Lemon ‘n’ Lime, Cherry and Orange.

Today it seems that the old squirty bottles of syrup have been phased out and instead we have those machines where you see the ready flavoured ice constantly churning away in a big transparent container on the top – which means you’re normally limited to just two of those flavours. Boo! I’m all for choice!

In the US however, which is where Slush Puppie originated, there are an even wider variety of flavours, including Blue Vanilla (No, don’t get me started – Vanilla should be a creamy colour – it’s Blue Raspberry all over again), Watermelon, Tropical Punch and Polar Purple Shiver. Odd, I thought Purple was a colour, not a flavour…

Elite was well ahead of its time, providing the player with a universe of planets to jump between. The formula has been attempted a few times since, but Elite still manages to hold its head up when compared to most of them, despite its age.

Since the game had no real ending as such, players marked their progress by how much money they had, which cool spacecraft they flew and also their ranking, which was little more than a ranking system based on the number of kills you had made. Of course back then you never realised it was this simple and assumed it must be calculated from all kinds of complex analysis.

When you began the game you were ranked Harmless (a nod to The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy) but the ultimate accolade was to be classed as Elite, and that’s what this weeks survey is about. If you were a fan of Elite, then what was the highest ranking you managed to achieve?

Wrist Racers were a popular brand of toy car during the 1980’s, and as the name suggests the gimmick with these was that you wore them on your wrist. Doesn’t sound that much fun does it? Well, it was more fun than you might think.

The Wrist Racer car itself was about the size of the average Hot Wheels car, but where it differed was that it contained a little wind up motor. Once fully wound, the car was inserted into a holder (which you wore on your wrist like a gigantic watch), and could be covered with a transparent plastic lid to keep it safe.

When you felt the Need for Speed, so to speak, you flipped up the lid, pulled out a little ramp from the holder and placed your wrist down on your chosen racing surface. Pressing a button on the back of the holder released the little car down the ramp so it went zooming along at a fair old speed.

During the Eighties the range consisted of both fairly generic car designs and a number of licensed vehicles, including the pictured KITT from Knight Rider, the A Team’s black van, and the General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard, among others. These are now fairly rare, so if you have one lurking in the attic somewhere, lucky you.

There were also many ways in which the message could be put across, for example using cartoon characters such as the brilliant Charley Says adverts, a dramatisation of some dangerous scene, or the good old celebrity endorsement.

The Green Cross Code was the name given to the rules of crossing the road, and I believe the name is still in use here in the UK to this day, although I must admit to not having seen any evidence of this. The Green Cross Code can be distilled into three main actions – Stop, Look and Listen – although quite often Think got tacked on the end as well. All good advice and simple enough for kids to understand and stay safe on the roads.

Anyway, you all know how to cross the road safely I’m sure, but just in case here are a handful of my favourite examples of Green Cross Code safety films. This first one dates back to the late seventies, and I certainly remember it being shown when I was little. The celebrity of choice here is Alvin Stardust (thank God it wasn’t Gary Glitter, eh?) who lets two little girls know that they “must be out of their tiny minds” when they walk in front of a car. OK, he’s right, but all that glam rock gear doesn’t mean he has a right to go round speaking down to kids.

Probably the most famous Green Cross Code adverts are those featuring The Green Cross Code Man, played by Darth Vader himself, Mr. Dave Prowse. Somehow Dave manages to still look manly despite being dressed in a suit that makes him look like a packet of Pacers (remember them?). However, in this particular advert someone decided Mr. Prowse’s dulcet West Country tones should be dubbed over. A shame, but it’s not a bad piece of dubbing.

Sticking with the Green Cross Code Man, here’s another where Dave has actually been allowed to do the talking, well, to a certain extent anyway. Some wag obviously thought it would be funny, what with Dave being Lord Vader of the Sith and all, to give the Green Cross Code Man a robotic sidekick. Looking like a cross between R2D2, Metal Mickey and Dusty Bin, this little chap actually did most of the instruction this time round.

This next one is a true advert of the 1980’s, as you’ll be able to tell from both the visual design and the music, which was quite a catchy rap telling you not to “step out when you’re close to the edge, otherwise you may find that you lose your head“. Quite direct and to the point really!

And so onto my final example, which features Jon Pertwee of Doctor Who and Worzel Gummidge fame. Now, I quite like Jon, but in this case they lumbered him with possibly the most over-complicated way of remembering how to cross the road. It was an acronym – SPLINK! I think the ‘S’ stood for Stop, but the rest escapes me. Somehow I think Jon knew this was a bit daft though, as his final comment is “well, maybe now we’ll all remember the Green Cross Code“. I’m sure he’s being sarcastic.

Back in the Eighties it was a different story though. Terry socks were all the rage for a while back then, and whilst plain white were definitely popular (especially on school days) the penchant for neon coloured clothing meant a number of eye watering colours became available. They looked as if they would glow in the dark, although I don’t think they did. A shame, because they would have been an excellent way of creating the Dire Strait’s Money For Nothing video band shots, or indeed a good choice of footwear for going Trick or Treating, today being Halloween and all.

Anyway, this weeks survey is a simple enough one – which colour of Terry Towelling sock did you opt for most often?

The toy was originally developed in Japan in the mid to late 1970’s, but it wasn’t until the 1980’s that it became more popular in the UK. The original Japanese name for the toy was Monchhichi, but since the (intentional) double ‘H’ in the middle was a bit confusing for us Brits, the name was changed to Chic-A-Boo. Similarly, in Italy it became Mon Cicci, and in France the even simpler Kiki.

They were created by Koichi Sekiguchi as a way of teaching both children and adults to be loving and respectful, although I dare say he also realised a bit of a money spinner when he saw one. Originally the toys were sold in pairs, with one male and one female doll – quite how you told which was which I’m not sure – probably something as simple as the girl had a bow in her hair. Before long though the toys were sold individually, and a whole range of additional clothing was also launched.

The toys were incredibly popular in Japan, but perhaps less so in the rest of the world. I remember though that my sister always wanted one, and I think one day she did get an imitation one. At least, I think it was an imitation one as you could insert the thumbs and toes into both the mouth and, rather more disgustingly, the nostrils. Original Monchhichi dolls don’t have nostril holes, instead having a little brown elliptical nose instead.

One thing that does stick in my mind for these dolls though was the jingle used on the TV advert. I’m not sure quite why it lodged in my brain so much (these things do for some reason – obviously a misspent youth watching too much TV) but it went something like this.

The range of available Monchhichi was also expanded with the introduction of different animals given a similar design treatment, including gorillas and rabbits, and in Japan they continue to be popular to this day.