"You wanna get nuts? Let's get nuts!" said MICHAEL KEATON to JACK NICHOLSON in the 1989 BATMAN movie, and ADAM WEST said it again in the 2016 BATMAN: The RETURN Of The CAPED CRUSADERS dvd animated film. Guess what? I'm saying it again now. Why? Basically, because some of the subjects I write about are a bit 'nutty', in the sense that nobody else, it seems to me, would ever think of putting digits to keyboard in order to warble on about anything resembling some of the things that so fascinate me from time-to-time.
Case in point: Over 30 years ago, I had a friend who lived in a top floor flat about 5 minutes around the corner from me. He had a three piece suite, but he considered one armchair surplus to requirements, so exchanged it with me (along with some cash) for a video player/recorder I had. The armchair moved into my back room, and I'm sometimes astounded to think that I've now had it for far longer than the family three-piece suite I grew up with for what seems like an eternity in memory.
I had another pal who often sat on that chair when he visited, and last year, he actually bought the flat that the armchair had originally come from. Not from the other guy I knew, as he'd sold it on long before that, but isn't that weird? Pal #2 had gone from sitting on the chair to living in the flat that the chair had come from, without ever thinking of how 'Twilight Zone'-ish the situation is - in my mind anyway. It even took me a while to realise how bizarre a 'coincidence' it happens to be. It's weird how seemingly random events connect up in a way that we would never imagine unless or until they actually happen.
Can you think of a similarly odd situation that's happened to you, or is it just me who reads too much significance into ordinary, everyday, pedestrian events? You can let me know in the comments section. Incidentally, that's a generic armchair in the above pic, as mine is covered in stuff and I can't take a good photo of it at the moment. (I will when I can.)
8 comments:
The only similar(ish) thing that I had was regarding my first car. It was written off when a drunk driver ran into me when I was stopped at traffic lights . About 10 months later in my local bank talking to a guy that was in ( he dropped his bank card and I picked it up) anyway on the wag out he went into his car and yes, it turned out it was my old car renovated. Strange as he bought it in a sale in Edinburgh (more amazing they managed to salvage it as it was in some state)
That's just the sort of thing I'm talking about, PM. Just imagine you ordered a taxi one night, and the taxi was your old car, or a pal turned up with HIS new car and it turned out to be your old one. Then, whenever he gave you a lift, you'd be a passenger in your old car. Of course, that second one is only an amazing coincidence if you didn't sell your car to your pal.
I can give you a comic related example, Kid. About 1986, a friend of mine whom I used to regularly swap comics with was in hospital and his dad took some comics to him, he'd written my friend's name in biro across the logos to stop them being pilfered- I'm no longer in touch with this gentleman so I don't want to post his real name but let's call him Adam Franklin. After he got out of hospital he kindly, for he was an incredibly generous and friendly soul, lent me a big run of X-Men issues to read, all of which were emblazoned with his name written on by his dad.
In the early 2000s, I was at a comic mart and got talking to a dealer from Blackpool. Had a look through his box of reduced price comics and I found a copy of X-Men 211 with Adam Franklin written in biro across the logo. I held it and felt absolute amazement knowing that I was holding one of the exact comics that I had read many years before. It was a spooky but very very nice feeling.
So I gotta know, DS - did you buy it? Something similar happened to me back around 1971 or '72. I used to stamp my name on the top right-hand corner (from my pov) of my comics, using one of those John Bull 'printing' sets that were once so common. When one of my pals was in hospital with a broken leg, I took him a batch of comics, including Valiant & Smash! (combined issues), etc. Months later, I was going through a box of cut-price comics in my local newsagent's, when I spied some of my Valiant & Smashes (with my name in the corner) and just couldn't work out how they got there. If I ever found out, I've forgotten, but I remember my amazement. And no, I can't remember if I bought them back or not.
I did buy it, but sadly it's AWOL right now, seems to have been misplaced while moving house. It must be in a box or bag somewhere, I'm sure it'll turn up again!
I hope it's not a valuable issue that's been rendered worthless by having a name scrawled across the logo. "Yes, this issue is worth £150 - wait a sec, I didn't see that name - this issue is worth £1.50." Wouldn't that be a choker?
It's priceless to me, cos it reminds me of days gone by and friends from a less complicated time!
Just as I suspected it would be, DS.
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