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| A copy of the finished artwork |
I readily confess - it was me. Yes, I'm the one you're looking for. How can I deny it? After all, I put my name to it. I sit here, consumed by guilt in my participation in the worst ever spate of litter-bugging that Scotland has ever seen. "How can this be?" I hear you ask, and, not wanting to disappoint your eager expectations, I am only too ready and willing to tell you.
In a previous post, I alluded to a company for which I occasionally did a bit of advertising work. Amongst their diverse interests were various food outlets, including that great Scottish stalwart and home of the deep-fried MARS BAR - the humble chippie.
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| A copy of the original 'rough' |
No, nothing to do with building sites; I of course refer to the traditional fish and chip shop, that bastion of British (well, at least Scottish) civilization as we know it. (And I'm well-aware that there are some amongst you who will gleefully proclaim that the words 'Scottish' and 'civilization' do not belong together in the same sentence. Youse are claimed!)
Here's how it happened. This particular fish and chip shop needed a cartoon illustration for their bags - I provided it. (The 'rough' and the finished article can be seen on this very page.) However, the company which owned the shop also had quite a few other food outlets in various parts of Scotland. Whenever any of them were short of bags, they were supplied from any excess stock of bags which I had designed. (This, of course, would sometimes happen in reverse.)
Add to that the fact that one of these shops was right next to a bus terminal to which hordes of hungry travellers called in for fish suppers and the like on their way home, and you can well understand the reasons as to how this humble little paper bag managed to get around.
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| The finished, printed result |
This resulted in the situation that, no matter where I happened to be, at some stage I was likely to see a bag with my name on it drifting down a high street or across a field, or stuck in a hedge somewhere - not only in the remotest areas of my own home town, but also in Hamilton, Rutherglen, Glasgow - and even as far afield as Edinburgh for goodness' sake! That bloody bag got everywhere - I'm sure it was haunting me. I never dropped a bag myself, but I somehow felt responsible.
Anyway, I feel better now. Whoever it was who said that confession is good for the soul was right, bless 'em. Hopefully, I'll now be able to sleep at nights, and face myself in the mirror with an untroubled conscience. Only time will tell.
Right now, however, I'm off down the chippie for a fish supper and a deep-fried Mars Bar. Braw!
My Glaswegian father didn't care for sweet foods (the exception being apple pie) so he wouldn't have eaten a Mars bar at all let alone a deep fried one. He would have been pretty annoyed by the suggestion, even in jest, that "Scottish" and "civilisation" are two words that don't go together and he'd have pointed out that our modern civilisation owes a lot to the many inventions and discoveries by Scots.
ReplyDeleteI've never actually tried a deep-fried Mars Bar myself, CJ, I was merely indulging in a bit of hyberbole in that regard. And you could substitute any nation you want in the 'don't go together' line, depending on what part of the country you're from - it's an old joke. And, unfortunately, much as I'd like to, I don't think Scots can claim a monopoly on inventions and discoveries that have benefitted mankind. Your father never tried a Mars Bar? I'd say he missed out.
ReplyDeleteTalking of Scottish inventors, Kid - did you know that John Logie Baird, the inventor of television, died on June 14th 1946, the very same day that Donald Trump was born? And Trump's mother was Scottish so thanks to Scotland we have both TV and the Orange Messiah.
ReplyDeleteWith regard to Trump's Scottish heritage, CJ, I think that's something that most Scots would be ashamed to admit to . And it's certainly doubtful as to whether he could be considered a benefit to mankind. Maybe time will tell, eh?
ReplyDeleteI had a trip to scarborough 2 weeks ago. The train from kings Cross to York was going to Aberdeen. Looking at all the stops I notice one called Kingussie. I assume the comic strip in the topper King Gussie was named after this town. Never knew this place existed. I've never been to Scotland. It might be worth a visit sometime. Sorry if this is a boring post
ReplyDeleteEvery comment welcomed, LH, and read with interest. Maybe it's me who should apologise for my boring posts. I don't think I've ever heard of Kingussie either, though I'm familiar with the Topper strip. I may be wrong, but I always had the impression that it was a reprint of a foreign strip, perhaps renamed. When I say foreign, I mean US or Canada or someplace like that. Nancy was also a foreign reprint.
ReplyDeleteJust had a brainwave and dug out my Topper Tales index. It states that King Gussie was drawn by george martin and the title was a Scottish in-joke named after a small town in Invernesshire.By the way that train was actually going ti Inverness and not Aberdeen. Sorry for wasting your time. Should have looked it up before
ReplyDeletePretty sure King Gussie was a British strip as the artists style looks very much like George Martin who drew lots of strips for DC Thomson ( and Bunion a popular newspaper strip at time) Kingussie the town is a nice but small town Ive been there a couple of times, not a lot in it but ssurrounded by stunning scenery
ReplyDeleteAlso can't be 100% as I don't eat a lot of fast foods but your art looks very familiar, I may have had a fish supper wrapped in it
I couldn't really visualise King Gussie at first, but when I thought about it, I realised he was probably drawn by George Martin and therefore must be a UK strip, so your comment and McS's confirm that, LH. And don't ever think that any of your comments waste my time - they're always welcome.
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McS, I don't think there can be anyone in Scotland who eats fish suppers (or any other kind) who didn't have one wrapped in that bag. It got everywhere. There's probably at least one lying rotting in a hedge somewhere.
Kid, why are you referring to Andrew L as LH?
ReplyDeleteCJ, why are you asking instead of AL?
ReplyDeleteBrain fog, pure and simple. What you call an 'L' of a mistake as both names have an L in them.
Thank you CJ I didn't like to ask
ReplyDeleteDon't ever be shy about asking, AL - it's the only way of letting me know I have erred (shame on me). If it makes you feel any better, I've probably referred to LH as AL on occasion, so I'm treating you both equally.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this, Kid. Very interesting to see the slight differences between the "rough" and the final item. Did you make the choice on the blue and red separation of colours on the bag? What input were you given on the design? Was it all smooth sailing, or did your client keep asking for changes?
ReplyDeleteThe blue and red were the usual colours for their bags, B, so I knew roughly what it would be like, but I wasn't asked (that I recall) my opinion on how they should be separated, No, wasn't asked for any changes, I basically told them what I would be doing and did it. They seemed perfectly happy.
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