A SUPERFAST REMINISCENCE TO 'BUG' YOU...

Funny how some behaviour continues even after a 'change' in circumstances, eh?  Back around 1971/'72, I used to wash cars on Saturday mornings in the car park of the pub on the other side of the shops across from my house.  This gave me some extra pocket money with which to indulge my buying habits, such as comics and the occasional toy.  Halfway through June of '72 my family moved to another house in a different area, but because it wasn't too far distant I continued my car washing 'business' in my former neighbourhood as if nothing had changed.

One of my purchases with the proceeds from my labours was the very first Knockout Annual for 1973, bought, it seems from memory, a little earlier than when Annuals usually went on sale in shops, from the newsagent's just along the road from my new house.  Another buy was the Matchbox Superfast Flying Bug (No.11), purchased from the newsagent's in my old neighbourhood (while residing in my new one) just after a car washing session one sunny Saturday in 1972.  I forget which item was obtained first, not that it much matters for the purpose of this story.  Annual or car?  Just can't recall.

Maybe a week later, in the company of a pal, the late Alan Bowie (no relation to the singer, whose real name was Jones), I bought a second Flying Bug from another newsagent's, in an area where I'd once lived prior to the two mentioned above.  AB also bought one, being enamoured by mine and wanting one for himself.  Why did I buy another?  I have a vague recollection of having blootered my original with continually scudding it across the living room carpet into the skirting boards and compromising its pristine condition.  I was always a sucker for things that were brand-spanking new.

Close to 30 years ago now, I bought a replacement Flying Bug (boxed), and recently saw another on eBay.  I couldn't help thinking it would be nice to have a spare one - to sort of stand-in for the one my pal had bought 50-odd years ago, on the same day I'd purchased my second Superfast car.  So I promptly bought it and it arrived at Castel Crivens last week.  I'll keep it out for a while to enjoy looking at it, then I'll store it alongside my other one in a box in the cupboard.  First, though, I'll photograph the two of them together (still to do at time of typing) so you Crivvies can cop a gander at them.

Having two of them reminds me of not only an earlier time in my life, but also in my late friend's, who I later fell out with (in 1981) and didn't find out had died in 2013 until September of last year.  So he's gone and I have no idea how long it will be until I follow him, but for the meantime, I can look at these two cars and remember a time when we were best buddies with an eternity ahead of us.  Always better to recall the happy times, eh?  Any of you Crivs own an item which reminds you of old pals who you later lost touch with, and if so, how about sharing it with the rest of us in the comments section?

And just in case you were interested, below is the cover of the Knockout Annual for 1973 (on sale in '72).  It's as Christmassy a cover as you could wish for, though I got it around July, possibly August.  It was the only Annual the newsagent's had, and I remember it was a sunny day.

Posted in: Cartoons