Snack of the month - Gold Billions Wafer

A mid-afternoon shortage of milk prompted a short walk to the local Post Office, where this unusual confectionary treat was sitting on the counter. One intrigued impulse purchase later... 

It's about the size of a KitKat Chunky. Maybe a fraction thinner.

Colour-wise, it's not as yellow as a McVities Gold wrapped biscuit, despite being a product evolved from that very successful item.

The discolouration on the side of the bar was unsightly.

But explained by a layer of milk chocolate on the underneath of the bar. This chocolate was a decent quality and offset the sweetness of the caramel flavour coating on the rest of the bar.

The wafer was crispy, but not too hard. 

The filling around the wafer meant it wasn't too dry. It wasn't over-filled either.

Overall, this was a very sweet wafer snack. It bordered on sickly. If the caramel coating had been used all over it that would have made it even sweeter so the milk chocolate was a good design  choice. 

And although I enjoyed it enough to not regret my impulse purchase I won't be rushing to buy another one. Worth trying once, though.

Building a model railway part 9: Impulse purchase and gifts!

Here's a photo of the three 'home locos' of the SCRHC - Lacey (AKA the Big Dog), Pitbull and Snoopy

To their ranks has been added an unexpected 4th small loco - Coyote.

He's a Canadian Pacific Plymouth shunter - in a slightly different scale (HO, don't you know), and yes, he's North American. This will no doubt anger the railway purists, but I have my reasons. Firstly, he was incredibly cheap - only £14.99 brand new. Secondly, you do see foreign locos on preserved railways over here - I remember being on a narrow guage railway somewhere in North Wales that was hauled by Romanian locos. Thirdly, one day I might build a North American railroad and it would have to be West Coast!

Behind Coyote you can see the new Skaledale waiting room and the important additions of platform bins. These were Christmas presents from Matt - thanks Matt! - and I think they look great. The waiting room matches the other brick buildings I've been constructing, even though it's resin, not card.

Coyote also has the distinction of being the first engine I have 'modded'. Being HO and American it had different couplings, so I bought some UK-style replacements and fitted them. I forgot to take a 'before' shot, so you'll just have to make do with the 'after' shot, which is probably the least exciting model railway related photo I've posted on here.