MEMORIES ARE FOREVER (SOMETIMES)...

Once upon a time (no, this isn't a fairy tale), I could tell

you exactly which shop I'd bought any comic, toy, or book

from, but as I get older, I sometimes find myself struggling to

remember whether some items were purchased in this shop or

that shop, or just what the hell shop was it again?  This can be

caused by the similarity of the layouts of certain newsagents in

my youth, causing me in later years to be unsure which one it

was.  Why I'd completely forget in some cases is harder to

explain, but perhaps it's just the onset of old age.

However, there's not the slightest bit of uncertainty in the

case of this book, the PAN paperback of DIAMONDS ARE

FOREVER, which I got from R.S. McCOLL's in the shopping

centre of my home town.  This would've been either 1973 or '74

(once, I could have told you the precise year, but that bit of info is

yet another victim to the passing of the years), and there it was,

staring at me from the paperback spinner-rack next to the one

sporting the comics.  It hadn't been too long since I'd seen the

movie in my local cinema, so I immediately grabbed it and

ran out of the shop (only kidding) up to the counter and

paid for it.  I just loved the cover so had to have it.

Anyway, just received the replacement you see before

you this morning (only 43 or 44 years after buying the first

one I owned), so thought I'd share it with you here.  I haven't

read the book again in all that time, so might re-read it before

very long.  One look at the front and back covers places me

back in that long-vanished R.S. McColl's and I feel as if

I'm a teenager again.  Some memories are forever!

Posted in: Cartoons