Doughboy or Tomboy?

After a long day, a long evening of meetings and a late supper, it was a delight to crawl into bed and finally get a chance to read. OK, I grant you, these are not your normal kind of books, but they're such a great read.

My brother would buy a Commando comic-book pretty regularly, or a Battle Picture comic-book. I'd get his hand-me-downs and would await eagerly for him to finish. These stubby comic books were each about 50 pages long, with titles like 'Blaze of Glory', The Rats of Tobruk' or 'Macey's Mob'. The desert, the skies, the jungle; Europe, Asia, the Atlantic.

I seem to recall a mate of his giving him a huge batch of these books, many dog-leafed and worn. However, it was like winning the lottery. I got to read them at the same time as my brother due to the simple fact that there must have been 45 of them.

I recall being wide-eyed and hungry to read all these stories. I also remember fidgeting throughout the house, because I would read for oh so long and then I'd start to get achy elbows, so engrossed was I in the story. So, I would move position, then hours later get a soar neck. Then I'd change chairs. And so it continued, kind of like an alternative version of musical chairs.

Don't you love a good read? Finding these reprinted annuals in Waterstone's in Islington a few years ago has been one of my best buys.

Anyways, time for a good read.