Archives: jack

Not feeling grand this morning… Ah well.

Holiday:
Friday was also sunny. Jack & I spent a good long while building a large sandcastle with a moat. Eve nearly helped. I got rather burnt, as was evident the next day at the comics convention in Bristol. Jack & I set off with dad early in the morning (he was off to the Fruit & Veg market to stock up). The veg market was quite fun for Jack as well – it’s a vast area of wholesale sellers. We had breakfast in a little porta-cabin as the main cafe seems to have closed down – shame. We then were dropped off by The Watershed in Bristol where I assumed the convention was to take place (as per last year). Should have checked really – ah well. Anyway, as it was rather early Jack & I wandered round a bit in town waiting for the start time. Picked up a couple of records I’ve been looking for, for a while in a decent independent record shop – that sort of thing. Then off to the convention itself, when the true location was found. I did not enjoy the convention, but I will be lazy & not repeat myself, merely repeat a mail I sent round the Bugpowder mailing group:

sigh

I’m very glad that nick had a good time. I’m home now from my hols that incorporated a most pleasant break at my parents, but have to admit my day in Bristol was the Nadir of the holiday. My Yahoo mailbox is full, & Nick’s mail on the subject is all that I have – I do not want to bother with looking at the web for the group replies direct. I want to mutter on for now.
I apologies for not hanging around for the small press talk. I should have, there were only 20 more minutes, but if you are somewhere you don’t want to be, then 20 minutes is irrelevant.
The whole set up reminded me of an old TUC building comic mart. It was not a convention. It was a crowded, hot sweaty room of people selling comics of which I felt distant to. The fact that there was a good small press presence there couldn’t get over the fact that my whole mind set was disengaged by all the crap. Is this my problem
well..
after scant consideration i deny that this is a problem that I should get over.
This convention seemed to pride itself on the fact that it was family friendly, but it was not even vaguely friendly. It was oppressive & my son was keen to leave as soon as he arrived. I concede he may have picked up on my unease, but he is smart enough to make up his own mind. There were small oasis for him – like R2D2 – which was about his height.
Again I declare this was no convention.
For those of you staying in hotels, you had that part of the day to be social, but where was the social area at the event? There was no space!
If it were not for the fact that they had decided at the train station that day to check everyone coming & going on the platform had a train ticket, then there would have been very fine bar there we could have gone to. I’m not saying that a license for alcohol is needed at the event, but areas nearby where socialising would be possible would be good. Somewhere separate from the general mass would be good. A pleasant accessible nearby pub a bonus.
What I’d really like to see a move away from though is the grid of tables stacked with boxes of comics as the focus of any ‘convention’.
You go to record fairs & mart for that stuff. It does nothing to change the public’s view that comics are shite for that to be so central It’s just a lack of imagination.
I came home with a total of 3 comics, & only one of those I could call a ‘small press’ thing. This is very bad as there were many many comics that I have not seen before, & it’s in my nature to want them all – to explore all – naturally I can’t afford such things, but I feel ZUM! taking a wider & wider orbit in the small press world. At the moment there’s little I can do really. I cannot spend the time I want to write reviews organise & even gather the comics. I lament & hope for the future, with a wistful wish that I could have someone help me with it… but pragmatically, I will just have to continue to lament. I have never liked ‘ignorance is bliss’ though. On personal level it gnaws at my soul.
OOP
drifted off topic into the area I might have briefly bemoaned at the talk so – anyway – can we have it a little more ‘people’ orientated next time?
I wish I could go to caption – but I can’t afford – It’s not practical.
hey ho
wishing for a better world
paul

<sigh>
I wonder if I should comment further on this? Jack’s response to the
whole event was to get away. He was taken with the idea of going to start with & he liked the venue of last year’s event. They’ve been doing redevelopment work down at The Watershed & there are some interesting features like fountains & a big silver globe. The comics convention site was by the train station. As we arrived there were a couple of storm troopers, Bobba Fett (or was it Jango Fett? – I don’t really know, but he did have a considerable beer gut & bad trainers) & Darth Vader. They had fake guns & Jack did not like that. We have no toy guns in the house, but other kids around have them. In those circumstances he knows that they are toys, I guess… I don’t think he expected adults to play with such guns. A brief reassurance got him past. He was pleased on getting in to have a gnasher badge, which seemed to be the “I’ve paid to get in” badge. He did not really like the crowds of people much. He liked the Metaphrog people as John gave him some leaflets for his bag & spoke to him & was a pleasant fellow. We met Darryl, which was a very nice surprise. He gets him confused with my brother a bit, but then he gets my brother confused with Darryl. Dark hair angular face is about as far as the similarity goes. He was keen to be out of the crowded heat of the ‘main hall’. I lost sight of him once, which panicked me. We spent a while outside, but eventually went back in again. There were a couple of rows of Playstations, cubes & Xboxes set up for people to play on like an arcade area & Jack leapt up to them to have a play. He had little idea what he was doing & I had only marginally more (too many buttons). After a while swishing a light sable around, piloting an uncrashable space plane & making spiderman jump around at random we finished with that. Jack was then keen to leave again, & I was in wholehearted agreement. I was due to be on the small press talk though. It was only half an hour away. I checked the room in which the talk was to take place & ‘Little Room’ was a very good description. Realising that it would be even more hot & sweaty & probably akin to torture I went to the bloke who I think organised it, made my apologies & then scarpered.
Anyway – getting home was not a great success either. I left in the hope of catching a specific train & asked which train & time it might be when buying a ticket. I did not think to double-check, & if I had thought about it properly I would have. I was pointed at a train that was later than the one that I should have caught… so I did not have any time to correct the mistake when I realised the error – so Jack & I had to wait a good while longer for the next train. I suspect it was over an hour, but I don’t care to recall.

Weird – it’s 2 weeks since our 1st day of holiday in Somerset already. I say weird, but I’m always playing catchup – so I can’t really be surprised, now, can I?

Mum took us to Weston-Super-Mare that day & I bought a new modem for my parent’s computer. I was to regret this, but how was I to know? Jack was really, really wanting to go to the beach, but the weather was undecided; showery and also windy. I think we resisted Jack’s will that day & avoided the beach.
Later, I tried to install the modem & it wouldn’t have it. Didn’t want to sit on the comm port, basically. The computer did have a 28K modem, but that was doing the same – so that modem was probably OK. Still – that was a bit of a -um- nuisance. I spent a good long while at night when the kids were asleep fixing the darn thing – or rather failing to fix it. Fortunately my parents have 2 computers – both inherited from people upgrading, so that gave me more options. One was failing to boot up in the end, but I managed to get the name of the corrupted file off the faulty one & grab a replacement off the one that was working. I found the reason while the applications kept performing ‘illegal operations’ on that one as well – the date kept straying to 2097. Suspect battery problems. Old computers get cranky as part cease to work as they should.
Still – at least we got to the position where both computers were working properly, & my parents can get on the Internet; I’m quite pleased about that.

The Wednesday we succumbed to the pleas to go to the beach. It was a brief visit – Louise had to retreat with Jude as he does not like the wind, & it was very windy. Jack bought his scooter along & found that it did not work on the sand; too soft – the wheels sunk. Still he could go along the sea wall at a pace – the sea wall at Burnham has large steps up to the curved wall that deflects the waves – presumably to ‘disrupt’ a storm wave as it comes in. Perfect for scooting along – but Jack was not so keen as the sand was more fun. He wanted to run off & have a laff & gad about, but we had to cut short & retire home as Eve needed changing.
Friday was a better day in general. We spent a good long time on the beach then. The wind had abated, the sun was out – the tourists were out. Weird – Burnham gets a high Brum quota to its holidaymakers. It’s more prevalent than the south west accent during the ‘on season’.

We got to my parents at about 1 or 2 in the morning (I forget). We’ve never been to this house before as they moved last year. When we went in, dad said that our bedroom was to the back. It’s one of these houses that keep going back, & so it gave a good impression of space going to the back bedroom. We got the kids into bed OK. Jack was on the top bunk of a bunk bed. He was up the latest, so he was hardly disturbed by being transported in. Eve woke up & was quite pleased to be put into bed. She had been laying sideways on the back seat & thus pushing into Jack & kicking at Louise. She lay there for quite a while, probably wondering what the heck was gong on, & seemingly quite pleased to have the top bunk above her for some reason.

Up early the next day as usual. Jack claimed he got up in the night to go to the toilet – which is most likely true. He did well; in that case, as he would not have been aware he was in a “bunker bed” (as he called it) or where on earth the toilet might be in a strange new house. He did know that he would be at grandma & grandpa’s tho – so he could not have been unduly worried. Heck he would have let us know if he was worried.

UM… I will continue in less detailed mode about the holiday. Two reasons really; it would take too long, & my brain gets blury about such things anyway.

Arriva Trains Northern strike morning, so the ‘turnaround’ run by First Northwestern is here. No table to type on, so I am doing a little typing on my lap before we start to move – whence I will just have to read. I don’t wanna be feeling rubbish through typing on my lap on the move.

Holidays. Yes – they were very good holidays.
My parents have a new house.
We set off Monday night in the car & Jude & Eve were already out for the count. Placed in the car already in slumber. Jack on the other hand was rather excited. After all – Grandpa was here & we were going on holiday & we were going in the car & we were going on the motorway. How glamorous!
He sat upright in the car for a good long while. He was behind dad who was driving, & managed to position himself eventually to a point where he was looking over dad’s shoulder. It was a pleasant sunset & the light lingered on the horizon long after the sun had gone, showing us where the small clouds were stranded in the sky. Stars eventually came out, & Jack eventually gave up trying to look at everything at about 10, or was it 11:50?
Oh well – this train starts to move.

Tipsy
Glass of beer.

This is not really like a diary is it? I hardly keep a daily routine. It’s a journal, I guess. Yeh, I try to think of it more like that…
Itchy ears from sunburn.

Been fun these days.

The comic convention in Bristol was a bit of a let down. Saw some familiar faces, (and was good to see them) but it was more like a glorified comics mart rather than a convention. For a convention that last year prided itself on being family friendly – this was a big hot hall full of traders selling comics.
There were a bunch of small pressers there, but the lack of any real social areas was the missing ingredient that made the whole thing fail.
Shame really.

Been on holiday since Monday, but not really had a chance to do much typing. I’m supposed to be relaxing, but as usual, where’s the time for that? Still, I am enjoying myself.
I’m typing at the moment as I’ve got up too early. Jack & I are off to Bristol this morning with my dad. He’s off to the Veg market in Bristol & we’ve decided to hitch a ride with him. He sets off early, but I’m up too early; I kinda set the alarm a bit too soon. Hey ho. Off to Bristol as we’re off to the Comics convention there, today. This is one of the reasons we decided to actually take a holiday at this time; so that I could go. I’m going to be talking on the small press comics panel discussion – but I doubt that means I’ll be getting in gratis.
Have quite a sun burnt neck & arms today. We spent some time down at the beach yesterday as it was the 1st day of unadulterated sunshine (it’s been showery). Jack & I made quite a magnificent sand castle. Well, a big pile of sand with moat around it. It also had a bridge, as there was a flat bit of stone/concrete that I could place over the moat. Jack was decorating it with stones when he lost interest. There were some other boys playing in the water nearby & that was more fun. We then peeled off to get some ice cream & said boys started the demolition. Sandcastles are transient, so I don’t worry. I was tempted to have a rave at the older boy (7 years?) as he was the one who started it, but I could not be sure who the parents were. Turned out to be the ones who were sleeping nearby, so perhaps I should have & it would have lasted longer. Still – It was a large edifice & there was still evidence of it sometime later. Some other kids were playing with it then & looked to be trying to reinstate the moat.

Holiday starts today! I’m still going to work; mind. It was supposed to start tomorrow (& I would still have been working) but my dad, who is giving us a lift down to Somerset (for it is with my parents we are staying) opted for today. Uh, OK then.
Had a good ‘clear out’ day yesterday. I gave the council a big list of the junk with which time has encumbered us & they are going to come & collect it. I guess if we had a car I would have been rid of most of it already – but we don’t – so we have to get them to come & collect it occasionally. Has to be strictly ‘household’ though – so the 2 bit of chipboard & a bag of plaster that got left behind when they did the attic will have to stay… I don’t quite get the ‘chipboard’ denial… hey – we used it as… um… why the hell did we have that chipboard anyway?!
I got all the lugging of junk done while Jack was off playing with Hamish. They were apparently drawing animals together; I got as a passing report from Hamish’s dad – Andy. He had taken Jack off that morning to a big aquarium shop quite a few miles away. I think they’ve bought a new fish tank. I was junking a couple of very redundant PCs & mentioned that I’d whipped the hard drive out. Andy had recently replaced a wonky hard drive for someone, so he had the faulty model. He came over, & like a couple of wee kids we opened it up. Nice shiny platter therein. One of the computers I was junking had a very old hard drive in, so we whipped that out & pried that one open too. It was a full bay size hard drive with an inspection date from 1989. Cor antique! Nicely brutish in it’s internal mechanics compared to a modern day one

Missing a couple of days again. Easy to do – why? Trains without tables & an inclination to read, not write. What’s been going on? …I forget as usual.
My parents (my dad) has a mobile phone!! Of all things?! They are more ‘techno’ than I! It seems it might be my brother’s old one, so at least they didn’t have to fight their way through the sales fog of a shop to get one. If I were to get a mobile, it would have to be one that I cannot afford, so really – there’s very little point.
So, anyway – we’d gone to bed on Thursday night & I get up & it’s me dad on his mobile… He’s telling me that he’s coming to pick me up on the Monday, not the Tuesday… & that he’s thinking he’ll get here in the evening & we’ll set off back for Somerset at 03:00. The kids should sleep through that. Me having just been falling asleep upstairs before the call can’t really muster the thought to disagree. It seems an insane fait accompli. When I totter back to bed Louise also agrees that this is barmy. We eventually decide that we have little choice but to catch the train Tuesday evening. The expense of the train & the expense of having to buy stuff (nappies, soap powder etc) will have to be burdened. I call & leave a message at the restaurant the next day.
Louise & I talk it over again after I get home from work & well…. we conclude that barmy as it is, we will have to go by the car (we can’t really afford the train & the carrying & the etc etc etc. I call dad again in the evening, & that plan he outlined the other day was only a suggestion really. Ah. Cool. Still – Monday is the day & I need to negotiate another day off work.
Jude had his 1st ‘solids’ last night. Some ‘baby rice’. He was fine with it. Ate from the spoon without any trouble & had no trouble with the whole thing.
Jack fell off his bike yesterday. He tore his trousers really badly, but it seems he had not hurt his leg (relief) but he hit his face on the floor. Bashed his lip & grazed his chin – & that’s what was hurting him. Poor lad. We were not watching for him at the time & a couple of the older boys escorted him home. A few more minutes & we were going to collect him, as it was bath time.

Another torturous journey back home from picking Jack up. A lot of, “No, don’t do that!” & “Stop that!” He refuses to listen to instruction at the moment & the last straw was his messing about with the rock-salt/grit in the salt bin at the top of the stairs from Harley to Ryod Street. I grabbed him by the back collar & frog marched him home. He was forced to sit inside for 10 minutes. Eve pottered along behind us like there was nothing unusual about me forcing a crying older brother home.
He gets over things very quickly. Oh, & we had another run in later on. He drew on Eve’s hand with a felt tip pen & then denied it. It was plainly obvious that he had. He looked me in the eye & said that he had not, but he was lying, he smirked & leant forward as he looked me in the eye. I took the pen off him for lying, not for drawing on Eve’s hand… He burst into tears. Louise was a bit mad at me for that as she says she would have let that slip, as she thinks he knows that we know he is lying. I do not like lying at all (probably because I’ve never been any good at it). I am not completely convinced this level of complicity exists, but it is the first time he has lied to me like that, & I wanted to ensure that I make it clear that I do not accept such things. I guess I’m much more absolute than Louise. He got the pen back quite quickly as he said that he would be good. He managed to write a nice list of names of name of people to invite to his birthday party.
The kids went off to sleep at a proper time. It’s funny how when they do that you feel so much more enthusiastic about the evening. I managed to get a bit of painting done in the attic & some important clearing up. Small but useful progress.

Was going to do some attic painting last night – but it was 9:30 before I surfaced from the kids room (urg). They were not for sleeping last night. Eve ended up in Jack’s bed & Jack ended up in Eve’s bed. It might have been a coming storm that did it. As I Louise nudged me awake (I’d fallen asleep with them as usual) it was bucketing down outside. You could hear the water sloshing down the back street. It’s difficult to be really certain, but it seems like the attic wall is not getting any wetter – the leak may be cured! I just wish it would actually dry out – then we’d be sure.
Jack called just the once in the night, but I think that was more because he had kicked off the cover & needed it back. He went straight back to sleep.
A week today we’ll hopefully be headed off on holiday.