Solo London Journey To See My Firstborn

I took the train down to London yesterday to spend the day with my daughter and her fiance. 

We all had a fantastic day, having a good old nose around the Sea Aquarium and an impromptu, but exhilarating visit to The London Dungeons. Unfortunately, no photos or videos are allowed in the latter, but here are some pics and vids of some of my favourite bids from the London Sea Aquarium:

pIc taken of yours truly
by my daughter

The London Dungeons was a thoroughly enjoying experience. It was more of an immersive drama than a display and were full of jump-scares, disgusting fluids squirting towards and onto you, or in the case of the old woman emptying her pee pot from her bedroom window, thrown at you. The numerous, suitably garbed, actors all deserve the highest praise, as does the set maker. The tour through London's dark history places you in the world of Guy Fawkes'  horrific tortures, the Bubonic Plague, persecuted witches (probably my particular highlight), Jack the Ripper. We then made our way through the best mirror maze I have ever seen, to your death sentence at the end of a rope. A note of warning on this final event, it is physically as well as scary and certainly not suitable for people who do not like hair-raising fun fair rides as you literally experience the plunge to death of the condemned. 

Afterwards, as I forced my stomach back from my mouth, we were led into an olde worldly pub where visitors can partake of refreshments before heading back into the sunshine with the feeling of being born again.

From there, I took some tourist shots as we made our way through the London crows by Buckingham Palace before saying our teary farewells.

Then it was back on the train to Swansea for yours truly.

Son of the Werewolf by Guy N Smith

I'm am so thrilled it's hard to even put my excitement into words. Even though I have wanted to be a writer since I was knee-high to a grasshopper, I never once imagined when, as a teenager, reading this book by my favourite author, that when it was next re-issued, it would  feature an introduction written by me!

I am a very proud man tonight and am as pleased as Punch that the book in question was published today. I am even credited on the Amazon page, should you with to take a look. 

And, adding the icing to my slice of cake, who wouldn't be happy when they are described like this when news of the publication broke on the Guy N Smith Appreciation Group:

Go on, grab a copy of the book. You know you want to lol.

Summer Sunshine

Another day off from my day job, but I spent it well, completing the first draft of Avalon 2 - The Glastonbury Zine.

Given the summer sunshine, I did also grab my fair share of chilling, as did little Fudjcat.

Fair do's to these Angel Trumpets. They have been flowering for months now and have become the current best flowers in our garden.

Avalon 2 | 57/ 100

Having moved to quite a challenging writing department for my day job has made my evening creative writing and project wore more problematic as I am mentally exhausted by the time I get home each evening. That said, I am soldering on and keeping ahead of my deadlines .

Beautiful Vintage Books

Finally added the second volume of this 70-odd year old Pan paperback series of M.R. James ghost stories to my personal library. 👻

Sunflowers

 

Grabbing a Coffee

 I was in such a rush this morning, I forgot to take some oatmilk into work. And so I had to buy a vegan latte from the canteen.

Clickety Click

 This has got to be my luckiest weekend ever. Not only did I snag x4 large books on David Bowie from a Swansea thrift shop on Friday, I received this great Lego set through the post this morning. What's more, I received it for free!

I had ordered it from Amazon a fair while ago, but immediately cancelled it when I discovered it would take over a month ago. The cancellation was accepted and I was not charged.

Imagine my suprise when I received a mystery parcel in the post yesterday and opening the box saw this:

So, that was the bulk of my Saturday sorted:

I was more than impressed by the finished product, though I decided not to cover the shell with the provided stickers as I like the more natural look of the bare shell:

Looks like I will be making more Lego versions of Guy N Smith book covers 🙂

Bowie Book Bonanza

Thomas Cook Birdie

I am a bit of a fan of Swansea's rather infamous High Street. Walking along its length today, I happened up this rather distinct, colourful art ^

Little Sunflower

This scene caught my eye this morning as we got in the car this morning. Had to hold everyone up as I had to snap it lol:

Spent Poppies

Avalon 51/100

Another much-needed day off work. Spent much of it catching up with my Avalon zine. An end of July completion date is now back on the cards... 🙂

Elizabeth by Jessica Hamilton

Continuing my recent post, here is one of my favourite books - one of the few novels I have read more than once. The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice I also own the latest Valancourt reprint, which is published under the author's real name, Ken Goodhall.

I am still missing the edition I had as a teenager, which I can't find at a decent price anywhere. That was the Sphere title, with the photographic cover of a woman reflected in a framed mirror. One day it will be mine lol...

In the Garden

Neighbour's Cat

Staghorn and Bromeliad

Avalon 49/100

After a 3-day weekend largely spent reading, it is time to catch up on my Avalon zine.

Baxter by Jessica Hamilton

 I have been reading a strange little book over this past long and sweltering weekend. It is a curious tale about a dog, which I would wager is a better read than other books of its ilk, such as Stephen King's Cujo and James Herbert's Fluke. 

I have always known this book by its original UK title - Baxter, rather than its American name - Hellhound. And I prefer its 'quiet' title.  The horror that lies between its covers, I believe, is not served well by its comic, overly dramatic, in-your-face title, which smacks the reader in the face. This story, like the author's earlier work, Elizabeth (which led me to seek out this work), is a more sublte beast.

Whilst on the topic of names, I am not a fan of pen-names. I find them almost dishonest. I can not speak for other readers, but I like to form an idea of the author when I read their work. And when I discover that the author has invented a name, and even lied about their sex with their misnomer, I actually feel manipulated, cheated even.

Such was the case when I read Grady Hendrix' Paperbacks from Hell, and discovered Jessica Hamilton was actually a guy called Ken Greenhall! I remember feeling rather annoyed by the discovery at the time. And, perhaps strangely, when I decided to read Baxter, I sort out an old and rather tatty copy, with the UK title and Jessica Hamilton as the named author over the pristeen current edition of the book published by Valancourt: