COLD!!

[mathewjpallet]

It's cold this time of year, which should come as no surprise due toi the fact that it is Winter. What DID come as a surprise however during Saturday evening I noticed that the drive was brighter than it should have been, I took a quick glance outside, noticed it was snowing then went about my business. A few hours later I mentioned that it had been snowing to my Brother who was playing Halo Reach and to my surprise was completely oblivious to the fact that it had been snowing (despite the fact that he had a clear view of the snow covered back garden). He quickly finished his game, went into the garden to throw snowballs at the window before going into the driveway to build a snowman. 
 

I've been told that its supposed to be a Predator (like this guy) despite the cannon being on the wrong shoulder.

He also made a second snowman which was supposed to be a Marine. I was fortunate to be able to take this picture on Sunday morning as I later discovered that somebody had decided to knock both of their heads off.



Clearing up the pavement in front of the house (so I wouldn't slip and injure myself again) I noticed that part of the pavement where a lamp post had recently been removed was breaking apart, whether it be from the cold or due to the shoveling who could tell?!

Surprisingly the snow covered weekend wasn't nearly as cold as Friday evening which had me walking around London for several hours as I looked for the new location of GOSH! Comics, I had a fair idea of where it was as I'd checked Google Maps beforehand but still managed to walk around for half an hour without finding it so instead decided to check the two stores I knew the locations of : Forbidden Planet & Orbital Comics. Forbidden Planet is the same as usual but I was more interested in Orbital as they had copies of my publications in stock the last time I was there in April when I found them stashed away in a dimly lit corner where nobody could find them. On this occasion I discovered that they had moved a glass front cabinet of merchandise to the location I last saw my publications and scanning through the multiple small press shelves and spin racks failed to yield positive results.

At around 6PM I made my way to the Embassy of Japan for the Manga Jiman Awards Ceremony which was just a casual stroll away, casually glancing at a Restaurant to my left I noticed that it was the Japan Centre and I was walking along Regent Street instead of Piccadilly so I back tracked a bit, hiked through some back streets until I found myself on what appeared to be Piccadilly (all roads look the same in the dark and without adequate signage it's difficult to tell) where I made my way to the Embassy, checked my name at the register, passed through the security scan and mad my way to the toilet.

The ceremony started a little after 6:30PM and I cannot remember the exact order of winners, however it was the first year neither Paul Gravett or Ilya were able to attend, however Mark McEvoy was able to read a brief summary of Ilya's notes about this years competition which, while having a high standard of entries actually saw a decrease in the number of entries which could possibly jeapardise the future of the competition. There was Sushi available again this year although I did see a few people with what appeared to be Yakitori and wondered where I could get some.

I was able to Alex Fitch, Zarina Liew, Gill Ha and someone who worked at the Japan Information and Cultural Centre who aked if I would be entering again this year. Afterwards I joined Alex Fitch and everyone from Swindon College (I remember having to study in a cold cellar back in the 20th Century, but it's now the 21st century so they've probably got Phaser Guns and Rocket Packs) and stopped in a bar for a while, they had Strawberry Cider which isn't something I've seen before. Eventually it got so loud that I found it difficult to hear anything clearly, but I've learned from my time in therapy that it isn't healthy to avoid uncomfortable situations and  it was several degrees warmer inside than outside.

The next important date on my Calendar is two weeks away, which is Pancake Day so I have to make sure to use up some of the remaining Flour and get SFP#6 finished. I'm also expecting this months delivery of Comics, Jump and Hobby Japan to arrive on Tuesday the Fourteenth!