Pic 'n' Mix

My blog has been a bit text-heavy lately, so this will mainly be a pictorial entry. Doing this also means I don't have to think of much to say. It's a "win-win-win" situation. (That's just like a normal "win-win" situation, but with the added third "win" because being in a "win-win" situation can only be considered a win.)

Let's begin our visual treat with a thing I haven't even decided upon yet.

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Childhood car journeys were never complete without a trip to Happy Eater.

Happy Eater was a roadside restaurant, a bit like Little Chef, that was a reliable fun-packed dining experience for children who had yet to experience Cordon Bleu cuisine. They had cool toys and stuff to play with, and a wide range of meals ending in "with chips and beans".

I remember having a plastic Happy Eater beaker, with a straw that curled around it like a helter-skelter, so you could suck liquid on an exciting journey from the bottom of the cup to your mouth.

I also remember our car breaking down outside one once.

(I nearly typed "czar" instead of car then. Just to clarify: our czar never broke down.)

Their logo is interesting. The face is slightly maniacal. There's an unnecessary tuft of hair on the top. The figure seems to be demonstrating the correct orifice in which to insert food.

The trouble with this box of matches is that the image seems to suggest to children that they insert the matches into their mouths. That's terrible advice: a real waste of matches. You'd never be able to get away with that nowadays.

I always enjoyed going to Happy Eater, but it's only in restrospect (that's restaurant retrospect) that I realise what an ordeal it must have been for my parents. The concept of a "family restaurant" now fills me with dread. I can only assume it's full of screaming and chiding and toddlers with scampi smeared all over their stupid round orange faces.

What's next?

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Hey, it's Andrew Large!

You know Andrew Large, right?

Good old Andrew Large.

You can't see it from this picture, but he has an infinite chain of progressively smaller heads emerging from the back of his skull. He's done well to deal with that disadvantage.

Fun fact: Andrew Large is the only member of his family to have ever worn that tie.

More? More.

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Neptune! The planet!

Imagine all the things that are happening there right now. I reckon there's some kind of fête.

Childhood car journeys were never complete without a trip to Neptune.

But we never made it there. So we all have to deal with dozens of incomplete car journeys, weighing us down like lead albatrosses. Those journeys will not be completed in my lifetime. I yearn for closure.

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A cast photo from Family Ties.

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A close-up of my thumb.

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There's an interesting story about Family Ties and my thumb.  But sadly, there isn't an interesting story about Family Ties and my thumb.

This hasn't been Vintage Me.

But I'll be back, stronger than ever, older than ever, wiser than Heather, apprised of the weather, eyes on forever.

I can feel something interesting bubbling away in my subconscious, When it's ready, we'll all have a ladle-full.