Another sketch from A Street (that’s “A” Street not “a street”), perhaps rather than point that out every time I should just link to a glossary of terms (that’s “a glossary” not “A” Glossary), or I could refer to A Street by one of the all-new all-different improved names I have come up with. So here goes. Another sketch from Archaeology Street, this building is on the corner of Right-to-remain-silent Street and I am guessing from the insignia that this is some sort of frat house or sorority house, either that or they are saying they like multiplying things by horseshoes. Or perhaps they really liked X-Men 3 and this stands for “X-Men” and “Brotherhood”. I don’t know. I could look it up but that wouldn’t be as much fun. I love it when that happens though. You say something to be funny, like “what’s the deal with iPhones, you don’t put them up to your eyes,” and someone Googles it and tells you why they are called iPhones and it doesn’t mean Eye-Phones, and here’s the link to Wikipedia, I hate it when that happens. I’m not explaining this very well, am I, so I suggest just experiencing the feeling and then Google what you felt and that will explain it better than I can. This was a lunchtime sketch made on the day after I turned 40. The Day After. The Day The Earth Stood Still. The Day After the Day After. Remember that one? That was one of those nuclear bomb things back in the 80s. I remember the scariest one was a TV film called “Threads”, set in Sheffield, and it scared the living daylights out of me, in fact it scared all the Bond films out of me, Goldfinger, Octopussy, From Russia with Love, all of them. When I was nine I used to have a lot of ‘Cold War’ dreams, it was 1985, there was a lot of that about. I used to dream that my brother and I would sleep through a nuclear attack (we were both heavy sleepers), like we’d wake up and Tesco’s would have been destroyed along with everything else, it was odd. I remember those leaflets they used to give us, telling us to paint our windows white and hide under a door that you take off its hinges, all these things you have time to do in a three minute warning. I’m not sure why I’m thinking of all this now, perhaps it’s turning 40 and reminiscing of my youth in 1980s Thatcher Cold War Britain. But I’m here now, in California, drawing pictures. Have a good weekend everyone.
-
Follow
Following
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
petescully 
I’m the same age as you and also still remember ‘Threads’. I wonder if it would be as chilling now, at this age and post Cold War, as it was back then.
I’ll bet it is. It was pretty stark, because it was so normal. It was pretty much the scariest thing I’d ever seen, and I watched horror movies as a kid. My parents got me “When the Wind Blows” too, reading that every night, the bit where the pages just go white, used to frighten me no end. Fungus the Bogeyman it weren’t. Lots of nuclear nightmares.
Ha ha! My parents did the same things: I loved Fungus the Bogeyman so they got me When the Wind Blows without having a clue as to the content. I was also allowed to watch horror movies from a young age but there was something about Threads that got under my skin, I guess because it was more difficult to focus on it being fiction.
Yeah, I was in 7th grade in Miami during the Cuban missle (ha! Spelchek said misleading!) crisis. We used to do duck and cover drills ( under our desks) as if that would help!
i love your drawings Pete.
John Kaay
Thanks! Yeah, I imagine Florida at that time was probably a bit worse than the UK in the 80s. I remember overhearing a couple of young people at work not long ago ask “cold war, what’s that?” “I don’t know”. I was going to tell them, “maybe it was before global warming”…
I’m reading your post a week after my 60th , which seems like a weird joke pulled by the universe, but whatever. I relate to your pain over people kindly explaining things – this morning I posted a wildly exageated claim that our town has run out of coloured hairspray (doe to my party tomorrw), and several helpful souls have commented to tell me where to get it. Ok, thanks…I was kidding….
Happy belated birthday!
Happy Birthday :)
Beautiful sketch and delightful narrative…thanks for sharing :)
Similar feelings of nuclear dread here in Ireland, as a child. I blame the governments. We should all take a class action suit against them for PTSD and make loads of money and buy a few islands in the Pacific somewhere, and just relax, sketch and drink ale (shipped in every month). Before the whole thing sinks into the sea. And yes, that is an early morning attempt at humour ;-)
Islands in the pacific…I would never stop thinking about nuclear tests then!
Happy birthday! Love this drawing and your sparing use of color. Really packs a punch. Well done! :)
Happy Birthday to you, artist!