Mike Pike Essipode 3

First of all, I've worked out how to get bigger scans up on the blog. (An entire blogosphere goes 'duh!' as one.) To see a readable version of this month's essipode simply click on the image to the right and you'll see a much bigger version appear.

OK, what's going on here?

Frame One: Rod Lucas. The nearest thing BBC Radio Kent had to a shock jock in the mid eighties - a bit of a populist conservative, very much of his time, he started off playing records to housewives and then moved on to an evening phone in show. He was very much the kind of bloke who would complain on air about foreigners all the time and that the country was going to the dogs. He's now working in Spain for a radio station for British ex-pats. Insert your own irony here.

Frame Two: Observers book of Weird Thingies. First off, I couldn't spell weird - remember, it's I before E except after W. Observers books were pocket sized hardback spotters' books on all subjects, published by a company whose only other product appeared to be the Beatrix Potter books. Subjects would range from the obvious like birds, butterflies and trees, but soon veered into more esoteric fare like lichens, canals and 'larger moths'.

Frame Six: French exchanges were reciprocal arrangements between schools in France and England, where families would host unwilling 13 year old students in each other's countries over the Easter holidays. It was essentially an orgy of international shoplifting, paid for by each country's respective educational system.

Frame Seven: Eric is essentially my avatar. I did look like that in the 80s. The reference to Jenny is a bit of an in-joke - she was the name of the love interest in a musical I had written the book for the year before. And no, that's never getting an airing again! The pub interior I've drawn is of one of the booths in the Royal Oak in Tunbridge Wells.

And yes, it is all very Prisoners of the Sun, isn't it? More follows next week, in an essipode that is not quite as terrifying as the teaser promises...