TV TORNADO ANNUAL 1970 COVER...

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Above is the cover to the very first TV TORNADO Annual I ever had (and still have), given to me by an old school pal around 33-34 years ago.  This is the third Annual, issued in 1969 for 1970, and though I've now had it for all this time, I've never before read it until the very early hours of this morning.  Well, to be precise, I only read the comic strips, the text stories I've left for a rainy day.  Same with the other Annual I received as a gift from another school pal on Wednesday - read the strips, not the stories, but I'll get around to them eventually.

When I was first given this book, I somehow had the impression its previous owner had bought it (or had it bought for him) when it first came out, but I noticed a hand-written price of 10p (it had originally cost 12/6d in 1969) on the inside, so presumably he bought it at a jumble sale two or three years later.  I've now owned it for far longer than he did, but somehow I still associate it with him more than myself - maybe that'll change in another 30-odd years.*

I've also just bought the second Annual on eBay (for a price less than the postage), so that only leaves the fourth Annual to add to my collection, then I'll have the full set.  (Update: now bought it.)  Incidentally, the ridiculous MILE HIGH COMICS (obviously named after their exorbitant prices) is selling the first Annual for £510.92, even though there are several available on eBay for just a few quid.  And even though the Mile High copy is supposedly in pristine condition, it's still not worth anywhere near that price.

Did you buy TV Tornado comic back in the day, or any of the Annuals?  Feel free to share your memories of them in our sadly-neglected comments section.

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*Unusually for me, I'd left this Annual completely unretouched (in regard to repairing any minor defects) since I first acquired it 33-34 years ago.  Until tonight (23rd March), when I straightened the dunted corners and gave them a slight colour-touch where required.  I also reinforced the spine as it was a bit fragile in places, so the book finally displays signs of my personal ownership after remaining exactly as it was since passing into my possession so many moons ago.  I can now truly regard it as 'my' book, and not anyone else's. 

GIT ALONG, LITTLE DOGGIES...

The above picture-frame hangs in my hall above the kitchen door and shows two photos each of the three dogs we had (at different times) from January 1973 to November 1998.  The first was PRINCE (1 & 2), the second was TARA (3 & 4), and the third was ZARA (5 & 6).  The interesting thing about these photos is that they were all taken within a few feet of each other in the same area of the same back garden over a period of 20-plus years.

Let's number the top pics 1-3 and the lower ones 4-6.  So going from left to right, pics 1 & 2 (Prince) are on the path seen behind Tara in pic 4, and pic 5 (Zara) is on the path to the right (our pov) of pic 4, which is in front of the doorway seen in pic 3 (Tara).  Pic 6 (Zara in her kennel) is on the left (our pov) of pic 3, and was a different kennel to Tara's, but in the same place that her's once occupied.  (Still with me?)  "So what?" you may be wondering.

Well, we moved to another house in a different neighbourhood in 1983, where Tara lived for the last three years of her life.  A month after she died, I bought Zara (who was born a month before Tara passed, so their lives overlapped), and a year after that, we moved back to our previous house.  That means there was a gap of just over four years between Tara and Zara living in the same house, so photos of them (and Prince) on the same few feet of pathway of the same garden is somehow very satisfying and significant to me.

The dogs never met one another, but they all knew and played in the same garden, and 'posed' for photos, each being captured for posterity within the same few feet of space.  How fitting, therefore, that their images are now housed in the same picture frame, almost as if they all shared the garden at one and the same time.  Perhaps their spirits romp about together out there, the best of pals, and greet me a with a ghostly bark of welcome whenever I go out to fill the birdfeeders every morning.

Anyway, do you have a similar pictorial reminder of any dogs or pets you may've once had, and does it make you smile fondly whenever your eyes fall upon it?  Tell all in the comments section.