• Friday 15 July 2005

While everyone else in the comic industry are in San Diego this weekend for Comic Con International, I'm still here in dear old Blighty, working hard to complete the production on Strangehaven #18 and the Strangehaven: Conspiracies trade paperback. Hopefully both of these will make it into the shops sometime next month.

Meanwhile, the (relatively) hot and humid British summer continues today while I continue to suffer from the effects of playing squash in temperatures approaching 30 degrees Celsius (that's the mid 80s in old money). My squash partner Steve and I fought out probably the longest first game we've played in about 20 years of regular matches. Steve eventually won the game 14-12. After a spirited comeback, I finally lost the rubber in final game of a 2-3 defeat. I also noticed we were the only crazy sods in the whole centre actually playing anything resembling a competitive sport. It also occurred to me that I really needed that shower.

I'm also exceedingly grateful for the air conditioning in my studio.

• Wednesday 13 July 2005

This week I have been mostly listening to:
Eels - Beautiful Freak and Daisies of the Galaxy
U2 - How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
Robyn Hitchcock - Spooked
and two compilation CDs sent to me by my nephew Reece for my birthday, featuring assorted tracks by bands that I'm generally unfamiliar with: The Futureheads, The Go Team, The Kings of Leon, Doves, Graham Coxon, Supergrass, Elbow, Elliot Smith, The Webb Brothers, Grandaddy, Belle & Sebastian, Kings of Convenience, Broadcast, The Concretes, The Arcade Fire, Sufjan Stevens and a jazz band called Koop.

and watching:
Taking Lives (psychological thriller starring Angelina Jolie)
The Church - Live at the Enmore Theatre 1992 on DVD

Finally, here's a great little website that I read about in a recent Comics Journal, which will keep you amused for a couple of minutes: The Zoomquilt. Awesome.

• Monday 11 July 2005

A new week and things are slowly starting to return to normal. Yesterday was a glorious English summer's day. The VE Day 6oth anniversary celebrations went ahead in London as planned , as did the cricket at Lords. A great moment when the crowd at the one-day international stood and applauded the flypast of the WWII aircraft. A truly British moment, and no mistake (Incidentally, Australia comfortably defeated England by seven wickets, which is another sure sign of things returning to normal).

Meanwhile, my nephew Reece who works at Nexus Productions in Shoreditch, was stranded in London for several nights due to the transport chaos. Thankfully, he wasn't directly affected, with his major concern being a lack of a change of underpants.

Mandy and I took advantage of the pleasant weather and took a stroll along the Southend-on-Sea promenade, culminating in an ice cream at the world-famous Rossi's. Interesting to see how the new high-tech constructions are contrasting with the older, tackier yet more traditional buildings. Renovations are transforming the entire length of the seafront, yet the problem with the cliff slippage remains.

Before getting down to some work, I also found time to install a new letter cage to the front door. A piece of equipment vital to rescue innocent mail from being transformed into abstract papier-mâché sculptures by the moist chops of a puppy Bulldog, namely Babs. Fortunately my business mail goes to my P O Box address, but this smart move will save a number of important documents (like household bills and the new Pizza Hut takeaway menu) from destruction.

• Last week's musings