Regular readers may remember me mentioning the house I and my family lived in between 1983 and '87, before moving back to our previous abode, the one in which I now reside today. A friend of my brother stayed in the spare room of that other house for around 9 months or so before getting a place of his own, and my brother moved into a flat after around 3 years, leaving just myself, my parents and the dog in a house that was far too big for us. Then, by a fortuitous quirk of fate, our former home became available so we returned to it after 4 years and 3 months away.
It had been madness to move to that other house from the start, as I was 24, going on 25, and my brother was 28, going on 29; did our parents think we were going to live with them forever? Interestingly, a few years ago, I found a letter from the council, which revealed that my parents had already started looking for another house only a year after moving into the new one. Anyway, while still in that other house, I eventually 'inherited' both rooms that had once been occupied by my brother and his pal, meaning I had 3 rooms to myself on the upper floor.
In the middle room, the open doorway looked out onto a vertically-long mirror on the hall wall opposite, reflecting part of the interior of the room, which looked remarkably similar to the layout of my bedroom in our previous (and now my present) home when I was in the hallway and looking through the open door. In our new home I'd lie on my spare bed (my main one was in one of the adjoining rooms), gazing at the reflection, and pretend that I was looking into my old room as it afforded me some pleasing feelings of nostalgia.
However, before I continue, let me first explain something so that you can fully envision the picture I'm trying to paint in the paragraphs directly following the one below.
Nowadays I sometimes use my bathroom as a kind of 'workshop' whenever I'm repairing old comics or giving them a slight colour touch to restore their visual appearance. I'll sit on the toilet seat (with the lid down) and with a board across my knees, and apply my restoration skills to whatever comic requires my attention. The reason for this is because the bathroom window is on the left side of the seat, and the natural daylight which streams through usually compensates for my slight colour-blindness by enabling me to better match whatever colours need touching up (oo-er, missus) and/or applying Chinese archival repair tape.
Obviously, because I'm not in there using the facilities for their usual purpose, I don't bother closing the bathroom door, which means that I can look out across the hall landing at my room on the other side. When my bedroom door is also open, it looks like the reflection in the mirror of my former room in the previous house, though in this instance I'm looking at the actual original view, not a reversed image of it. Incidentally, the mirror nowadays hangs on the hall wall downstairs, where it was originally situated before we flitted in 1983 and then relocated it upstairs across from what became a spare room for me.
Anyway, I just thought it odd that what was previously a reflection of a former 'reality' is now once again the reality itself, and when I remember this, I'm reflecting on what was at one time a mere reflection. In that other house I missed my old room, and now, in this house, I miss the reflection that resembled it - even though I'm reunited with the original. Surely there's some kind of irony or significance inherent in the situation, though perhaps I should have spared you the tedious detail of my reminiscence? I'm sure you'll tell me - either in a comment or by an all-pervading lack of any response at all.
Admit it - you don't get this kind of deep, psychological introspective nonsense pondering of such trivial matters on other blog sites, do you? What do you mean, "Thank goodness for that!"?
43 comments:
Thanks for the reflections, Kid. It's not crazy at all. I frequently think about the room where I used to read comics as a child. My father worked as a night watchman in Little Aston Hall, and his "office" was a room at the end of a long hallway in the basement. He often took me to work at the weekends (Friday/Saturday), and I slept on a sofa in the room. But I always took comics with me to read. It was 1960 to 1963, so you can imagine what beautiful comics I read.
I wish I could visit that room again, but the present owner would probably think I wanted to rob him if I rang his doorbell and asked to visit his basement.
My "office" for attempting intricate tasks is my lap on the living room sofa with the sun coming through the window behind me. My table is a tee shirt across my lap.
I have a huge nostalgic fondness for all three of my childhood residences, but I would not like to see them as they are now. I prefer to preserve the images from my memory unaltered.
Might be an idea to write him a letter about it, MH, as it would give your request some validity (seeing as how robbers don't usually write to their intended victims in advance). After all, he could only say no, but think of the thrill you'd enjoy seeing that 'office' again and managing to take some photos for posterity. I wrote a letter to the owners of one of my former houses to see if I could revisit - and it worked.
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A tee-shirt would be no good as a table to me, JP, as I often use craft knives for cutting tape, etc., so it would need to be something firm and robust. As for your old houses, it depends on how many changes each has undergone. See my post 'A True Account Of Time Travel...' to see how satisfying revisiting a former house can be.
I remember when I read it first time, Kid, thinking that I could never do that. I am so sentimental about things the way I left them. When I hear about the changes made to the town and then village where I used to live in the Midlands it fills me with sadness. If I ever saw those locations again I would weep!
On the subject of mirrors - I watched the first episode of Space: 1999 thanks to John's link in the previous post but during the episode all the words onscreen were the wrong way round as if in a mirror. Not just the opening credits but also any words that appeared onscreen during the episode though everything else was the right way round. Is Dailymotion always like that I wonder? Anyway I enjoyed watching the first episode of Space: 1999 again so thanks John!
Yeah, JP, if the changes are huge it can be disconcerting, and some of my old neighbourhoods are like that, taking the shine off my visits to them. However, other areas haven't been altered too radically. Having said that, when I revisited the house mentioned in that other post, it was pretty much the same, but now it pains me to see what's been done to it, the back garden in particular.
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That's weird, CJ, but as I don't particularly ever want to watch Space 1999 again, it doesn't bother me too much. There was just something too 'clinical'-looking about it, as if it were all taking place in a futuristic dental surgery.
That often happens on Dailymotion, Col! I have noticed it myself on some programmes I have watched. Don't know why it happens?
Kid, Space:1999 was filmed nearly 50 years ago but it still looks futuristic probably because of the 'clinical' look you dislike so much!
I think it's more like a 50 year old idea of how the future was going to look, CJ. After all, 1999 didn't actually look anything like the show, did it?
I never really thought that much about my old rooms or houses for that matter until recently and now I occasionally do wonder what they may look Like , especially old rooms from my childhood (5 to 13 year old). It must be a sign of old age.
What has always intrigued me is what happened to old shops, town centres etc from the past, most places have changed (some for the better to be fair) so much. I was in the shop that used to be "Johnny's" in Rutherglen last month, it's now a nice tea room but it was so different and I couldn't really *see" the old shop.
That's interesting, McS, because as you'll know, Johnny's had two locations (at different times) in the same street (Gallowflat Street if I recall correctly). They started off in smaller premises, then eventually moved a few places along to bigger premises. The last time I was in the original premises, it was a florists, and the last time I was in the bigger premises, it was a charity shop (I think). I must try and get along some day to try the tea room - is it in the smaller or bigger premises?
Happy Easter Kid, and to all Crivens readers. Have you got an Easter egg? I've bought a box of 5 Creme Eggs.
Happy Easter to you, too, CJ, and all Crivvies. I've already scoffed a couple of choc eggs this week, but may buy another if I go out shopping later this afternoon. Still mulling it over as I'm knackered; might just go to bed.
They got the 80's completely wrong as well in UFO. And it now seems so wrong to see everybody smoking in a Gerry Anderson programme! BUT...as you know, I have other reasons for loving this programme!
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I think all us boys watched it for the burds, JP. Followed by the space scenes.
I've just discovered that Planet Of The Apes has returned to Marvel Comics and POTA #1 was published this week! As you know, Kid, Marvel UK's POTA #5 was my first ever Marvel comic and my gateway into the whole Marvel universe so the return of POTA to Marvel Comics is a big event for me!
Back in January/February I watched both series of 'Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads' on YouTube and now BBC4 has started showing the first series.
Will you be getting the first issue, CJ? And is it new stories or reprints of '70s ones? I'd heard nothing about Marvel re-acquiring the rights, but I've been distracted this last wee while.
Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads - I've got the DVD box set, plus the movie. Classic comedy, eh?
That makes sense regarding Johnny's kid. The larger shop which is where I thought it was , is still a charity shop which I was in last month as well . The smaller one I may have gotten mixed up as there was a florist next door to the tea room.
The new POTA is all new stuff I flicked through it when I was in A1 comics in Glasgow but didn't buy it.
Thanks for the info, McS. You may remember that a few years back I posted photos of the florist's which occupies Johnny's first shop, and you could still see the outline of the name on the (painted over) board above the shop. The florist's new sign was on a new board below, just above the window.
I'll probably give the new POTA a miss. I was never wild about the UK weekly back in the day, merely buying it because it was a new comic.
Kid, as Paul said the new POTA comic features all-new material. It seems to be set in the same world as the recent POTA film trilogy which was basically a reboot of the final two apes films (Conquest and Battle). I was looking in the window of my local comics shop on Thursday but I didn't see POTA #1 among the new comics on display. I'd probably wait for the e-book version of the graphic novel anyway but I did download an image of POTA #1 to my tablet's gallery.
Thanks for reinforcing my decision not to buy it, CJ. I never saw the recent film trilogy so a comic series based on it wouldn't interest me in my dotage. In memory, I have fond memories of the UK POTA comic, not so much the stories themselves, but rather my teenage years at the time, which fit around it. My late pal moonmando used to buy it as well and I think he quite enjoyed it.
I MUST check that new POTA comic out! I never knew anything about it!
I'm not even going to bother checking it out, JP. I'd rather buy a facsimile edition of something.
Kid, I only saw the third film in the recent POTA trilogy but I thought it was excellent - the apes were created by a mixture of CGI and motion-capture and they looked amazing. I did know that Marvel had acquired the rights to POTA again - I heard about it last Summer and I think I mentioned it in a comment on Crivens but I'd completely forgotten about the subject until this week.
You may have mentioned it, CJ, but I don't remember. I'm sure the CGI was good, but I just don't find the idea interesting anymore. It's sort of been done to death. I have a DVD box set of the original POTA movies and that'll do for me.
I noticed that Marvel did that thing where they showed Apes on some of their superhero comic covers ( they did the same when the had the rights to Conan) although they had nothing to do with the actual comic story itself.
. Like Colin I thought the "new" POTA films, especially the first one were stunning and also had a good storyline. If its on TV you could do worse that give it a go Kid, I think you'd like it.
Do you mean that Marvel had POTA covers on merged UK mags like Avengers & Planet Of The Apes, McS, or that they just had a random ape on their US mags to make the covers more interesting? DC Comics in the '50s or '60s had a habit of putting gorillas on the covers (and in the stories) because they found that comics with gorillas on the covers seemed to sell better.
I'll maybe watch them if they're on TV, but I can't see me making a determined effort. I saw the very first 'reboot' in which Charlton Heston had a cameo, but it didn't bowl me over, so I'm not filled with an overwhelming compulsion to see the new ones (even though they're not connected to that first reboot).
McS, Kid, yup, Marvel did a complete series of Marvel Apes, where the Apes were the super-heroes. Will find you some links...
(They also did a similar thing with Marvel Zombies!)
Even die hard Apes fans seem to ignore that first Tim Burton reboot ( I liked it though!), but the new trilogy is widely liked?
I have only seen the 3 new ones in bits and pieces. I finally caught the end of "Rise" last night.
Googling it, I find that besides the comic itself, there are also NINE more variant covers. I am totally against these! The new Doctor Who comic books are dreadful for doing this!
Marvel Apes...
https://www.comics.org/series/31849/covers/
Plus...
https://www.comics.org/series/54203/covers/
Kid, if you google planetoftheapesmarvel and then click on Google Images you can see what Paul means. There are covers showing POTA characters alongside Marvel superheroes like Spider-Man and The Avengers. And there are variant covers for the new POTA #1 which show Marvel characters like Iron Man, the Hulk, Moon Knight and Scarlet Witch fighting gorillas or chimps from POTA.
Kid, they showed the apes on the covers of other regular monthly titles like the Avengers just to promote the new apes comics. The apes had nothing to do with the stories in the Avengers comic etc.
The previous apes reboots prior to the last sets of films, were awful.
Well, call me a sucker, but I have ordered #1 from Forbidden Planet. But I am only getting the standard cover!
Colin, if you're interested it costs £4-30 including p&p?
Thanks, JP, CJ, & McS, took a look at the links, never saw those covers before, probably because I haven't been keeping up with what's going on in the world of comics recently. Still not tempted to buy the new POTA though, just doesn't grab me enough. A back issue or facsimile edition of a '70s FF mag though - now that's another matter.
I must disagree with Paul that the 2001 POTA reboot was "awful" but I admit it "didn't bowl me over" as you said, Kid. The most memorable bit was the ending which copied the ending from Pierre Boulle's 1963 novel 'La Planete Des Singes' where the astronaut returns home and finds that the apes have taken over the world. The 2001 film was also set on another planet as in the original novel, not Earth in the future as in the 1968 film.
I remember the original Charlton Heston POTA movie being reviewed by (I think) Barry Norman when it first came out back in 1968, CJ, but I didn't see it until sometime in the '70s when it was first shown on TV. I saw the 2001 reboot in the cinema though. (Never read the book, which was called Monkey Planet in the UK, POTA in the US.)
Kid, I first saw the 1968 Charlton Heston POTA film on ITV on my 11th birthday, February 17th 1977. By a strange coincidence the final issue of POTA & Dracula Lives (#123) went on sale the previous day, Feb 16th 1977.
But I'd already seen Beneath The Planet Of The Apes and Battle For The Planet Of The Apes in a double-bill at the cinema in 1975.
I think I watched it again at a friend's house on that same night, CJ. I certainly saw it there, and as he moved from the place around the middle of the year, February seems about right. Funnily enough, it was my (now former) pal's birthday either on the 17th or 18th, one or the other. How's that for coincidence?
The origjnal POTA was being shown when I was on a family holiday ( I think it was Blackpool) and I wasn't allowed in as I was to young at 9 or 10 years old ( think this was in 69 or 70 on re-release I assume).
You never know, McS - if it was '69, it might've still been on its first run. My original local cinema didn't always get the newest movies as soon as they came out, it sometimes took a few months for new films to reach my neck of the woods. And cinemas tended to hang onto the big hits for as long as they could.
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