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November the 5th again. Guy Fawkes or Bonfire Night - whichever appellation you prefer. I should really think of something new to write, but my energy levels are on the wane at the moment so I'm afraid it's a repost yet again. However, if you've read it before, you've likely forgotten by now, and if you haven't, then it's new to you anyway so no harm done.
Remember, remember - er, wait just a second, I've forgotten. No, hang on - I've remembered again. November 5th, GUY FAWKES' NIGHT - BONFIRE NIGHT - GIVE PENSIONERS AND PETS A HEART ATTACK NIGHT - whatever you want to call it. For all those participating in the firework festivities, here's a cut-out Guy Fawkes mask from a 1997 issue of BUSTER. I think this was printed in the insides of the comic just about every year, and may even hark back to my own childhood - it certainly looks familiar. (Although, back then, it would've been a cardboard free gift - with its own elastic - tucked inside the comic.)
Anyway, take care if you're having a firework display or attending a local bonfire - fingers and skin are handy things to have, so take appropriate steps to ensure that you or your kids aren't parted from them. REMEMBER THE FIREWORKS CODE!
(Click on images to enlarge, then click again for optimum size.)
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Incidentally, I only discovered sometime within the last year or two that the mask below had also been given away with the 1965 Hallowe'en issue of Buster. Are there any earlier free gift appearances - and did it ever appear again after 1969 - anyone know?
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The comic below was pulled from circulation at the last moment because Buster and his pal playing with fireworks on the cover was belatedly considered a potentially bad influence on kids, who might (subconsciously) follow their example. I managed to acquire one from an IPC Group Editor at the time of publication so that I wasn't missing an issue.
16 comments:
Best bit of this post for me is the Wham cover at the top, which I'm pretty sure I owned. Not from new, though, even though I was almost 7 at the time and just the right age for it. But I don't think Wham really entered my consciousness till 1968, when I belatedly discovered Power Comics and by which time Wham had been merged into Pow. But I acquired quite a collection in the end, both from other kids at school and by buying back-issues from Odhams. This was the first (but far from last) time in my life that I got passionately nostalgic about something I'd missed the first time round, even though I was in the right age bracket for it (other examples that spring to mind are Jack Kirby's Fourth World comics and Gerry Anderson's UFO TV series). I tend to think of this as "fauz nostalgia" - not sure if anyone but me suffers from it!
I wouldn't have owned that copy of Wham! either, AM, as I didn't start buying the comic until just after the FF reprints began. The comic was merged with Pow! in January '68, so my association with it was, in retrospect, short-lived, though it didn't seem so at the time. I suspect I likely sometimes 'suffer' from faux nostalgia, but I can't think of any specific examples at this moment.
I certainly agree that "short-lived" episodes in childhood didn't seem like it at the time, Kid. My first ever Power Comic was Fantastic #56 in March 1968 (actually bought for me by my mother, much to my eternal gratitude, because I think she felt it looked more grown-up than my usual comics) - and it seemed like I bought it avidly for ages after that before it finally folded. But that was just 7 months later, in October 1968! Compare that with today, when I literally think of anything that happened in the 21st century as "recent events"!
Fantastic was merged into Smash! (last man standing) after reaching #89, so you had another 36 issues of the comic before it disappeared, AM. My first ish of Fantastic was #7, but I managed to obtain the earlier issues within a fairly short time. I might not have had every issue before #7 (but then again I might have), but I had most of them. Got all 89 issues now though. And many things in my life in the 20th century still feel relatively recent to me, though I know they're not. Strange how it works, eh?
It is indeed, Kid. I just worked out that I'm now 6 times older than I was in October 1968, so I wondered if maybe a year passing in those days is roughly equivalent to 6 years passing now. I think that's probably true in very broad terms, though (as you've pointed out many times) memory can plays strange tricks. So some things from 10 or 15 years ago (particularly things like conversations I had or books I read) can seem almost literally like yesterday, whereas if I think back, for example, to the early days of the pandemic 3 and a half years ago, it seems much longer ago than that.
I've never quite been able to work the 'time thing' out, AM. I used to wonder if 6 years to a 12-year old felt the same as 30 years to a 60-year old (and vice-versa) as both durations are exactly half their lives, but as time seems to go quicker the older we get, 30 years to a 60-year old probably only seems like 10 years at the very most. I know the last 30 years of my life seem to have gone by faster than the first 30 seemed to - or at least it feels like it on this side of the divide. Ah, if only I could nail it down so that I understood it.
The only really worrying thing, as you get older, is if time really did pass more and more quickly. But I don't think it does. I think sitting in the dentist's waiting room drags by just as slowly as it ever did, and watching a 50-minute episode of Thunderbirds (for example) takes exactly the same amount of subjective time as it did when I was 8 years old. The "time compression" illusion only happens when you look back at earlier times in your memory, presumably because you remember a much smaller fraction of everything that happens than you did as a child. So it's really just a memory problem, not a question of "time passing too quickly". I'm not sure how much sense that makes, but it's a thought I try to reassure myself with every now and then!
I see what you're saying and I agree with it to a large extent in regard to memory, AM. However, sometimes 'reality' can be subjective, and if you feel that the last 30 years of your life went by far quicker than the first 30, then that perception is 'real' to you. It's of no comfort to me that it might not actually BE the case when it feels like it IS. What's worse is, if the next 30 years (assuming I might have that span ahead of me) passes as quickly as the last 30, it'll seem like no time at all. And it'll probably go by at least twice as fast - or at least it'll certainly feel like it.
Right, now that I've added to the high levels of cheeriness in this post (irony), I'll go and lie down in a darkened room.
Yes, how we perceive time is very strange - as well as Guy Fawkes Night, tonight is also the 14th anniversary of my mother's death and it seems incredible to me that 14 years have passed since an event which seems quite recent and yet those 14 years are longer than my entire pre-teen childhood.
Anyway, standing at my front door tonight I saw lots of spectacular fireworks displays!
Did you get your Christmas stamps, Kid? I bought a book of 8 first class Christmas stamps on Saturday morning costing £10 which is £1.25 per stamp - I can remember when a 1st class stamp cost 10p.
14 years, eh? Not that you could ever forget such a sad event, CJ, but the fact that it happened on Guy Fawkes Night perhaps brings it home to you more regularly than might otherwise be the case. I heard lots of firework displays tonight, but never saw any as all my curtains were closed. Yes, I bought books of 1st and 2nd class stamps, and as you say, they're pretty expensive. That's because fewer people send letters these days ('thanks' to email), so those that do have to make up the shortfall in revenue. That's why comics are more expensive these days as well. Fewer readers equals higher prices.
I feel the last 30 years has certainly passed quicker than the first 30 years Kid. I'm never 100% sure of the accuracy of my childhood memories just that I know (or think) some of its true, others areas probably added to etc.
I've been back in this house 36 years, McS, and it doesn't seem anywhere near as long as the 11 years I lived here the first time. How does that work? You'd expect 36 years to feel like 36 years, wouldn't you? My memories are pretty accurate, but occasionally they surprise me on little points of detail. Like thinking two songs by the same singer were the A and B sides of one single 45rpm record we had in the '60s, whereas they were actually two separate singles. (As I discovered when I set about replacing them a few years back.)
I can't believe it's nearly 2024, this year has flown by so quickly. My memories aren't as accurate as yours I certainly recall things that happened but the year and places may not always be 100% as I later find out. Things like when I bought a particular comic book I may get the year right but the wrong shop etc. or I saw a comic at the time and thought I bought it then, but then I remember I only bought it 10 years later .
It's what I forget that's more annoying, McS. I remember seeing an issue of John Byrne's Superman (years after it came out) in Futureshock and buying it because I'd missed it at the time. When I got home, I went to place it among its 'fellows' and was surprised to see that I'd already acquired it at some stage, probably not too long before. I definitely didn't have it at one point, but must've tracked one down and then forgot I had it.
Happy birthday, Kid! Now that you're 65 you'll be needing a zimmer frame and tartan blanket.
Only joking - 65 is the new 30 apparently. But seriously, are you getting a covid vaccine jab this year? I ask because I've just received a letter inviting me for a vaccine jab which was a surprise because I thought only pensioners were eligible now.
You got that letter because you look much older than you are, CJ. (Ho-ho!) I've already got the tartan blanket, and I honestly might be needing a Zimmer frame before very much longer as my balance is seriously dodgy. I've been given a date for a covid and a flu jag, but I'm undecided as to whether I'll go for them. Probably will, but not 100% sure.
Is it my birthday? Why'd nobody tell me?
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