Comic Cuts — 27 September 2024

Hopefully the little video I put together yesterday will have explained what's happening here at Bear Alley Books: I had a third and final proof of THE PHANTOM PATROL through, which looked great; all the necessary contracts are signed and fees are paid; and I've pressed the button on getting some copies of the book printed.

They should be with me first week of October, but I'm taking orders now and if you order in the next week or so, I'll be happy to offer the usual 10% off the cover price for early customers. So £23.00 paid to my PayPal account — which many of you will already know as it hasn't changed since last time — will get you a copy of the book. If you haven't ordered early before, drop me a line at the e-mail address to the right and I'll explain all. Or DM me on my Facebook page. All I ask is that you make sure you include your address.

I will have copies available at the upcoming COMMANDO SWAP MEET at Colchester Baptist Church in Eld Lane, which I've marked on the map below (click on it for the larger size): if you go to the centre of the map and imagine a clock, follow the small hand when it's pointing to 5 o'clock and you should be able to find the Methodist Church. If you're coming in by car there are car parks nearby — there's one off St. Botolph's roundabout which I believe is reasonably priced (I don't know for sure, I don't drive and I'll be coming in by bus!).

I'm still having problems with my shoulder, so I'm not planning to bring in quite so many different books this time. I'll definitely have copies of  THE PHANTOM PATROL, HIGH SEAS AND HIGH ADVENTURES and a couple of other popular comic strip titles. If there's a title that you especially want, and you want to save the cost of postage, let me know and I'll earmark a copy for you. Otherwise I'll be bringing along some copies of our most recent books and maybe a couple of old favourites, if they'll fit in the trolley.

One last thing: the church is right in the middle of town, so there's plenty of other shops you can visit; there are over a dozen charity shop scattered around; and they do really nice bacon sandwiches at the church.

As it was Mel's birthday this week, I've been a bit lazy. I'm still writing about Tom Tully, with a couple of days spent reading 'The Team That Went to War' and 'Johnny Red'. I'd forgotten just how good 'The Team That Went to War' was — a simple premise but masterfully executed.

The rest of the week has been mostly medical, although that makes it sound like I'm falling apart. A week with a blood pressure device had revealed that my blood pressure is all over the place. You're meant to take two measurements in the morning and two in the evening. Well, I started the week with the early measurement at 6 o'clock, which is when we get up, as I was told that coffee can cause higher blood pressure. Measuring it before I have a coffee should, therefore, give a lower reading. Wrong! I found that taking a measurement later in the day, even after a couple of coffees, I was more relaxed and getting better (i.e. closer to where they should be) readings. And the evening tended to be afternoon readings just to get them done. Of the 28 readings, only two I would say were about whee they should be; most were on the higher side, so that'll be more tablets! Oh, well.

For October it's all jabs, pokes and prods as I have a flu jab, a Covid jab, a return trip to the physio and an eye test all lined up. Maybe I am falling apart, after all.

I'll end of a bit of excitement: we went shopping on Tuesday and stood around waiting for the bus, which pulled up after a couple of minutes wait. The doors opened and the driver jumped out, complaining about smoking at the back of the bus. We thought he meant a passenger vaping, but no...