Category: Happy

2019 Pic 103

Ah, memories. I used to get tons of comics and annuals when I was a kid. Although I’ve stuck with 2000AD, I used to get a load of the more “child friendly” ones in the runup – Whizzer & Chips, Whoopee, Nutty, Buster and all that stuff. A year or two ago, Rebellion Publishing (who now own 2000AD et al) managed to purchase the rights to a lot of these titles, as well as a huge library of material.

So as well as reprinting some classic strips from creators such as the incredible Leo Baxendale, they also have carte blanche to create new strips using the old characters, bringing them up to date a little. This is their first effort, a bumper issue headlined “COR!! BUSTER” but featuring characters from perhaps eight or nine different comics. I was sold by a couple of things – the faithfulness to the original characters and, in some cases, artists; and the little pop culture references. There’s one in particular on the final page of the Kid Kong story that had me giving a genuine guffaw followed by a chortle.

2019 Pic 102

I could have popped up another bunch of photos of the kids at another playground, but I’ll spare you. Instead, a day of little victories…

One

I realised last night while watching John Wick Chapter 2 that my new TV doesn’t have a headphone socket, so I was continually reaching for the remote control. The action sequences rattled the windows, so I dropped the volume. Then I couldn’t hear a damn word anyone was saying to back up. Then a gun fired and I probably woke up the people on the other side of the main road.

I checked and the solution was to get a little box which converts the audio out (via the optical cable) into an analogue signal which you can plug a pair of headphones into. Only you can’t adjust the volume of the optical out signal using the TV remote so ideally you need a breakout box with a volume control (which costs more), or you output it to an actual amp (which costs much more), or…

Long story shorter, I spotted one review on Amazon of a box mentioning the word “Bluetooth” and I thought… hang on. Does my TV have Bluetooth? A quick check and indeed it does. And it’s now synced with my Bluetooth headphones which are adjusted by the TV remote. Perfect.

Two

I reported to the letting agency over a month ago that my boiler had a message on it requesting a service. They seemed to ignore the emails for ages until someone finally actioned it right at the end of my holiday as the weather was improving and I wanted to go out. And the Scottish Gas engineer window was “midday till six pm” which is mental, and something I would struggle to rearrange until the next school holiday.

But we have a win. The engineer rang me just after eleven as he thought there’d been a cockup. It turns out that it was serviced in September and isn’t due again until then. He popped in for less than ten minutes just to reset it and job done – my day was free.

Three

Huge chocolate cake for less than £7. ‘Nuff said.

Four

Morrisons are doing a promo where spending £40+ in store gets you 5p per litre off fuel. I never spend that much on a shop – I can’t remember the last time I spent over £20. But as I wandered through the self-service aisle, I collected my receipt and realised there was something hanging out of the voucher printer. You guessed it. Someone else had obviously either forgotten their petrol voucher or perhaps left it as they’re not a driver. Pocketed and welcome as I’m a couple of days from filling up and fuel prices went up by another penny yesterday.