The City of Greater Bendigo sent around some tens of thousands of copies of its very slick quarterly magazine GB to remind us of what a beaut place we live and other exciting stuff. 

It was the cover that grabbed out attention. It features an action packed cover of a water skier and urges us to “Splash into summer”.

Errr, we had to rescue our magazine from a puddle in the front garden after some of the heaviest rain of the year.

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Here’s a quick question: do you know what any of the following are?

Hatchimals, VTech Kidizoom Action Cams, NERF Modulus Tri-Strikes, BB-8 Remote Controls.

Apparently, they are among the most sought after Christmas toys this year – or they may be bits of equipment at NASA.

But you will be heartened to hear that one of the top toys this year is Lego.

One British newspaper’s list of top toys over the decades reminds us that in the 50s it was Mr Potato Head and Barbie. The 60s saw Etch-a-Sketch (no batteries included or needed).The 70s had Nerf balls, Paddington Bear and Rubik’s Cube. The 80s brought us Cabbage Patch Dolls.

The electronic stuff which dominates now didn’t appear until the 90s with the Nintendo Gameboy.

And in case you are wondering what the heck a Hatchimal is, it’s an electronic toy that kids have to care for to see them “hatch” and then they have to develop their behaviour. Yep, it’s an up-market Tamagotchi.

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It was such a good idea. You may have noticed that the Bendigo Tramways is doing a crowd funding campaign to get its beloved No.7 tram back on the track. The 101-year-old J Class tram is a shell of its former self and the Tramways are looking to raise $30,000.

All sorts of stuff has been dreamed up from giving away commemorative beers from Bendigo True Brew, to etching supporters’ names on a tram window. You can get fined for that in other times and places.

But the best idea, which sadly did not come off, was to approach Jimmy Barnes, while in Bendigo, to belt out a line or two of: “I’m a working class traaaaaam …”