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In a previous post (here) I told you all about my trip into Hamilton back in October of 1972, and also of my abandoned attempt to walk there on my lonesome several weeks later. Sometime in 1973 (maybe around July) I made another attempt, this time successfully, accompanied by a (now former) pal by the name of Adam Cowie. (That isn't his real name, but it's close enough for those who knew him to recognise who I'm referring to. Regular Crivs will know him better by the name of Billy Liar.)
Once I could confidently have told you every detail of that trip; what day it was, the exact month, etc., but time has unfortunately eroded my memory of events to a bare minimum. The full details probably yet lie dormant in my cranium, but lack of regular exercise of that particular reminiscence has resulted in it atrophying to some degree. Perhaps one day a sudden prompt will resuscitate it to full bloom, but for the moment the bare necessities will have to suffice.
I think it must've been a Saturday, mainly because our journey was a leisurely one, and had it been after school, we most likely wouldn't have bothered. (Unless it was at the beginning of the school holidays.) We didn't stick to the main road, but took a detour through a wooded area, where we saw a 'courting couple' doing a bit of winching. My pal asked me a question (I'll spare you his precise phraseology), implying that he'd seen something suggesting the pair's activities were at an advanced stage, but he was only exaggerating to the point of fantasy, as was his wont.
We eventually made our way back onto the main route, and while passing a newsagent's (in Blantyre if I recall accurately), I spotted the MARVEL Annual for 1974 in the window. Entering the shop, I asked the lady behind the counter if I could have a look at it and she duly obliged. I didn't have enough money to buy it, but I got it a few weeks later from a shop back home, located in the far regions of the Old Village quarter of my town. Frankly, I'd been rather surprised to see it in that shop window because it seemed earlier than when Annuals usually went on sale.
We eventually arrived in Hamilton and embarked on a tour of the main shopping centre. My impulsive companion entertained the naughty notion of purloining an AIRFIX model kit from WOOLWORTH'S, but (thankfully) then decided against it. Funnily enough, I don't remember anything of our trip back home, so I'm wondering if we spent our meagre finances on bus fares, in order not to be late getting back for teatime. In fact, that's the most likely scenario, as I just this moment recall 'Billy' expressing concern about his parents' reaction should he not be there at the appointed hour.
That night, I remember watching an episode of SAM (with MARK McMANUS) on the telly, after which I affixed a coat-hook to my bedroom door. I'd found it, complete with screws, on the floor of one of the cloakroom areas of my school a day or two before, having been ripped from its moorings by some vandal. I'd put it in my schoolbag with the intention of handing it to the teacher of my next class, but then forgot. Once home and discovering my oversight, I decided I might as well use it myself, so that's what I did. Besides, I'd probably have been suspected of being the culprit had I handed it in, so perhaps it was wiser not to.
Around ten years later, when my family flitted to another house, I carefully removed the screws, labelling them in sequence (left-to-right, one to four), and affixed the coat-hook to my new bedroom door, with each screw placed back in the same hook-hole it had come from. I repeated the process when we returned to our former home just over four years afterwards. What's more, although the holes in my old bedroom door had been filled in, their location was still visible so the coat-hook was returned to the exact same spot on the door, where it remains to this day.
So what's the point of this post you may be wondering? From your perspective, none I suppose. I simply wanted to indulge in a bit of personal reminiscing (is there any other kind?) and thereby relive a time from my past, which seems like only yesterday and a hundred years ago at the same time. Funny that, eh? At least it gives me the excuse to again show you the cover of the 1974 Marvel Annual, drawn by GEOFF CAMPION, so hopefully it's not been a complete waste of your time.
2 comments:
I used to live in Blantyre around 1971 to 1976 ish and vividly remember after my last O grade exam (one I knew I had passed) walking from my school in Rutherglen to Blantyre a distance of around 6 miles. It was aa stunning summers day and great walk where I recall picking up a copy of The Many Ghosts of Dr Graves (issue 50) that I held onto for years just to remember the memory of that day Talkibg of Blantyee there were a couple of great newsagents in that wee town that had great selections of US comics around that time, I think they were called McMillans and Pates, the latter now gone Apologies to none locals reading this that will have no idea where these towns are.
Yeah, it was sunny on my trip to Hamilton through Blantyre, McS, and when I look at that Annual cover, even though I never bought it that day, it all comes back to me. I also have a memory associated with it of the actual day I bought it, 'cos I had to leave the newsagent's at the far end of the village, run up to the nearest RSB in the town centre, and withdraw almost all my life savings (which probably wouldn't have quite been a pound) to go back and buy it. Not sure I'd have the energy or the stamina these days to do it.
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