Comic Cuts — 8 April 2022

This was meant to be a relaxing week after the mad rush of hitting a deadline last week (which I did hit, incidentally). The plan was to catch up on a few things that had been left hanging while I began writing the Action book and were further punted down the road when some work came my way.

Monday started off nicely relaxing and doing a bit of an overhaul of one of my old checklists for future reprinting. While I was working on that another little job came in, which I was able to get out of the way on Tuesday. I also needed to sort out some other images relating to a couple of introductions I had written. I did a bunch of other scans while I had the scanner on because... well, because I have too much stuff. The annual for the scan I needed was tucked away under a pile of other annuals and that was under and behind a stack of DVDs. So after dismantling the various piles to get to one annual, I thought I'd get a few related stories scanned to save myself dismantling and rebuilding these stacks every time I needed an annual.

Another little job came in on Tuesday—writing a couple of short essays about comics—which I said "Yes" to. I thought I'd start the first one on Wednesday, but had only written a couple of paragraphs when a reminder came in about another job. The job was already done but I hadn't sent it off... so I sent it off and spent the next couple of hours sorting out invoices, and updating my accounts because I'd had to spend a bit of money buying in comics which I can offset against my tax bill.

Another little job came in Wednesday afternoon, the sort of nice little bit of detective work that I enjoy. It related to a photographer who had some books published in the 1950s and what the copyright situation might be on his work, which involved trying to trace whether he had any heirs.

Thursday: I so nearly got back to the comic essay, but I frittered away much of the day catching up on email, ordering some more stock of various Bear Alley Books titles and having a bit of a spring clean because dismantling that tower of DVDs made me realise that things were getting a bit dusty and cobwebby. I'm hoping to get back to my essay on Friday.

To most people that wouldn't seem like a relaxing week at all, but I don't mind lots of little jobs turning up. So much of what I've written over the past decade has been long essays and introductions that can take months. The Action book I was working on solidly for five months and it's still not finished! Having a job that I can finish in a day or two, or even a job that takes a week or two is a cakewalk by comparison.

I also cakewalked my doctor's appointment. Aced the blood pressure test, got away with putting on a couple of pounds, which I'll hopefully lose over the summer, and my HbA1c is where it should be. No, a cat didn't just walk across the keyboard – it's how they measure glucose control, which should ideally be between 48-53 mmol/mol. These things matter when you get to my age, which used to be old enough for a bus pass but isn't any more. I hate to say it, but it was a Labour government under Gordon Brown who made that little decision back in March 2010. It came into effect in April and he was booted out of No.10 in May, allowing the current shambles to get into power.

I can, however, apply for a senior railcard; if I used the trains it might be worth it, but I'll be taking my first train trip for a couple of years this weekend, and that will be to travel one stop down the line! Welcome to my wild life!