Stanley's faded dancehall days. This "ghost" sign, painted directly onto an end-terrace wall in Stanley Co.Durham, was one of the first I ever spotted in this region. The letter style puts it at least as far back as the 1950s and it seems to be advertising the then very popular dances which were the only place anyone could do a bit of "courting".

My friend Gordon Wearmouth (who is in his 70s) said the only drawback to these cafe venues was that they had no licence to sell alcohol - he and his mates used to skip every third tune, nip over the wall to a pub, swig a pint in record time and be back before the band had struck up the next opening chord.

It's a miracle this sign has survived so long. Below it is a Primary School playground, can't believe it hasn't been painted over with some hideously bright community mural which educationalists seem to think stimulate young children.

Look, Tunnocks on wheels!

This Tunnock's Caramel Wafer Wagon has to be the smartest livery on the UK's roads today, especially since the Eddie Stobart Haulage Co. tragically dropped their traditional green and red brush-written cabs in favour of sad and underwhelming Photoshop digital signage. And to add insult to injury, Stobart drivers now may wear sloppy corporate polo-shirts instead of their once compulsory collar, tie and v-neck pullovers...how standards have dropped in the transport cafe milieu.

I've quite often spotted these fabulous Tunnocks vehicles on the road but have never had a camera in my pocket to take a snap. The other week I was very lucky to see this sparkling beaut parked up on an Industrial Estate in Chester-le-Street, Co.Durham. I was as happy as a trainspotter on a busy day at Crewe Interchange to get this shot.

But there is more to add to the whole Tunnocks biscuit debate first begun on my post of 5th July. A close gourmand friend has dropped a line to say: "much as I love Tunnock's teacakes and the packaging and their business philosophy, can't help but feel Lee's have the edge with their Snowballs and I really love Gray & Dunn's caramel wafers without the chocolate coating". I'll admit that Lee's snowballs are delicious with a cup of PG Tips and the (now rare) Gray & Dunn "bare" wafers are a spartan treat maybe even permissable during Lent, yet I feel even if Tunnocks products were made of noxious wax the packaging would still make them the outright winner in anyone's traditional confectionery stakes.

So, despite my sanctimonious condemnation of the power of contemporary marketing, I have to concede design wins over taste-on-the-tongue in this particular case. Any comments on products bought mainly for their visual appeal would be welcome. One other example for me is Wright's Coal Tar Soap. I love its plain paper packaging and the 1st World War style odour, but any contact with my problematic 21st Century skin would be inviting terrible sores and flaking...

Bagnall's Retreat is just over One Year Old! Should have had a couple of jars round the snug to celebrate. Nothing can spoil a good booze-up like a bloke who won't get his round in, though. Astute readers will recognise the above Disappearing Phrase as a variation on the "Long Pockets, Short Arms" syndrome...

14th Sunday of the Year. Have just discovered this jaw-droppingly beautiful photo archive of 1960s Catholic Street Altars and Marian Processions from London's East End.

The Legion Of Mary and the Knights of St.Columba are fully in evidence here. Such social cohesion and cultural identity is now long gone of course, successfully eroded by the total triumph of consumerism. You mean there was once something else to do on Sunday other than go shopping?

For more, go here.

Rest In Peace, George Melly. I was sad to read the obituaries for genial George in today's newspapers. This son of Liverpool deserves much more praise and recognition than current Scouser embarrassments like Paul McCartney. I'll remember him for many things. His three volumes of autobiography, Scouse Mouse, Rum Bum & Concertina and Owning Up. His championing of Surrealism and Outsider Art. His scripts for Trog's comic strip Flook and screenplay for 60s satire Smashing Time.

The one time I saw George Melly in person was suddenly recognising him standing on a London street corner, observing the unfolding scene. He was wearing a lilac fedora and vivid checked suit, just like he might've worn on stage with John Chilton's Feetwarmers. I was deeply impressed that his eccentricities weren't just fabricated for the gaze of the media.

Above llustration of George Melly is by venerable cartoonist Trog (aka Wally Fawkes.)

Packaging which should never be up-dated: Only the most media-brainwashed dolt could fail to be charmed by these classic Tunnocks biscuits box designs. From the original hand drawn lettering to the rosy-cheeked Caramel Wafer Biscuit laddy and the snowball chucking pair of Scottish bairns, all discerning consumers should be happily drawn into a nostalgic world similar to that of DC Thomson's Oor Wullie and The Broons. Tunnock's biscuits are the best - I hope one day to visit their famous factory shop in Uddingston...

The rain just won't stop! Here we are in July 2007 and today I lay on the bed listening to the now daily sound of thunder and torrential downpouring. The reasons for this cycle of wetness were explained in one of this week's newspapers but it was beyond my comprehension. Just in case Summer finally arrives, I thought it was prudent to now post another Rainy Day Activities strip.

This is how the cover of the John Bagnall BD Zine issue will look. The front illustration is of two teenage characters I call The Fairfield Prodigies. These have previously appeared in the Winter 2004 edition of Fantagraphics Comics Journal Special and a couple of my recent self-published chap-books. I usually avoid autobiography as I believe its the un-imaginative bane of "indie" comics but will admit the Prodigies are the nearest I will comfortably get to that self-indulgent genre. The urban 70s background you see is how things looked to me while growing up in Liverpool, England and the nylon anorak wearing fellow to the right is myself, while the school blazer wearing youth on the left is my school-friend Graham, who is now a prominent Labour Councillor.

I mentioned in June 7th's post that I was drawing a strip for French mag BD Zine as a centre spread for an issue devoted to my comics. So here it is, in about 98% French! This series of strips is usually titled Two Up Two Down (re. the common phrase for a British terraced house) but I was told the French wouldn't recognise the concept so I altered it to One Up One Down re. the dialogue with the cheeky kid in the window and Polytechnical Derek.

Disappearing Concrete. Well, it was inevitable I suppose, but Owen Luder's 1967 brutalist masterpiece that is the Trinity Square Car Park in Gateshead (better known as the Get Carter Car Park) will very soon be demolished to make way for an expanded Tesco Extra Store. See the first picture for a record of this fine edifice when it was in a better state of repair...

I'll certainly pay a few last visits to Gateshead to mourn this Car Park skyline icon. However, down the road in Hartlepool is another distinguished concrete 1960s construction which I've always liked as much as the Get Carter Car Park. Hartlepool's zig-zag shaped Market Hall isn't really in the same league as Owen Luder's late Modernist creation but is surely of the same spirit and vintage. The above photo was taken by myself during one happy Saturday afternoon visit to this coastal town (which is often mentioned in Clement & Le Frenais' Likely Lads BBC TV Series.) Whenever I wander around Hartlepool's Market Hall interior I'm reminded of simple 60s optimism before it degraded into the cynical creation of today's inter-changeable malls.

The Neumann Press in the USA have been reprinting Catholic childrens books from the 50s, some in quite elaborate editions. Above are examples of colouring books for "little catholics" which appeal to me because I'm a big fan of this super-saccharine style of retro illustration. However the Neumann Press have loftier aims than nostalgia, these reprints are intended for home-schooling use. I'm all for Christianity being counter-cultural but surely these home schooled kids are in for a shock when they eventually discover 21st Century America is not filled with bobby socks, cute pups and friendly guardian angels?

Last Saturday afternoon in Spennymoor:

I was driving back from a couple of hour's walking around Bishop Auckland (a favourite market town with some well-stocked charity shops) when I noticed that Spennymoor, a satellite village of Durham, was only a minor left detour on my way back home.

I remembered that an old-fashioned ironmongers called Defty's was situated on Spennymoor's main street, with a rather nice faded beige and red fascia (see above.) I was happy to see this was still intact and that Defty's dimly lit shop interior still smelled of oil, damp sawdust and turps. I took a photo, and walked further on, noticing that many of Spennymoor's shops had already closed at 1pm. Surly gangs of track-suited Charva youths roamed the depressing precinct beyond a boarded up Kwiksave supermarket. Where was evidence of the current thriving economy here? On my way back to the car I caught sight of a British National Party poster blatantly displayed in the main window of a large pub and had to take a photo of it. Its message "We're voting for change, we're voting BNP" reminded me not to over-romanticise the places I record in this blog...

French mag BD Zine have generously offered to devote one of their next issues to my pleasantly musty comics. This has so far involved an email interview and I've been raking through my library of colour illustrations to choose some representative examples. But since this particular journal is only available in France, Belgium and the Netherlands I thought I ought to draw something in French. All credit to my sister Sue for translating this Two Up Two Down strip. Merci Beaucoup!

Will post the full page when I've done the colouring...

Yet another dis-used Methodist Chapel. This decaying Wesleyan edifice is from Chilton Moor, Co.Durham and has been boarded up for as long as I've ever passed it. Chapel life one hundred years ago was a vigorous social and spiritual force among the English working classes, a birthing ground for Trades Unionism, social justice and the "ranter" tradition of primitive and strident hymn singing. These non-conformist communities once stood as a strong alternative to the middle-class dominated Church of England and the Irish immigrant dominated slow re-establishment of Roman Catholic parishes.

These buildings may be undistinguished, with their Protestant mistrust of ornament, but whatever your creed/non-creed the almost complete disappearance in the 21st Century of friendly communal activity in favour of home-bound insular consumerism is surely a cause for great mourning...

Back alleys and back yards of Fencehouses, Co.Durham photographed this Bank Holiday afternoon. Very little neat uPVC in this neighbourhood and plenty of building improvisation with rusty corrugated iron and recycled planks.

This picture of a traditional terraced row in Horden Co.Durham (which I took on a Saturday afternoon a few weeks ago) captures a tiny glimpse of why I love Northern ex-colliery towns and villages. In these "properties" there is almost nothing for the fatuous Estate Agent to spin his dishonest blather about. No gardens, no decking, no conservatories, no block paved driveways for multiple cars, no proximity to retail parks, no"investment" properties at all. Silence reigns, quiet living goes on, apart from the odd flutter of a pigeon wing or the bark of a mongrel dog.

Two church notice boards. By their rather solemn nature, these don't change very much. Take a look at the Blackhall Co.Durham sign for some delightfully weathered expert enamel work, and feast your eyes on the central panel with its wrinkled paper poster (hopefully executed by a semi-retired ticket writer, still flexing his sable brushes for old-times sake.)

The St.Teresa's Catholic Church board is from Cleveleys, Lancashire. I have to excuse the insensitive service-time alterations made using self adhesive numbers probably bought from a hardware store - these were probably applied by a well-meaning and charitable parishioner.

I have attended Mass many times at this church over the years, while visiting my seaside sister, Susan. It is a giant red-brick barn of a building probably built in the 40's or 50's, that time of very large and culturally loyal congregations. The interior is airy, contains some nice pastel painted plaster statues, is well maintained, polished and has a likeable old priest with a strong Preston accent who likes to mention Coronation Street in his homilies.

Nose-picking is an unhygienic activity which should be discouraged before it becomes habitual in adulthood. If there were more ladies like the one in this Disappearing Phrase then this vulgar habit might now be less prevalent.

The Jesus Freak of Willington? While I was out hunting for hand painted signs this doorway in Willington Co.Durham caught my eye. The curling "Smile, Jesus Loves You" sticker was of a definite vintage and the firmly drawn blind made it enticingly hard to tell whether the property was abandoned or occupied. Was this terraced house once a hotbed of feverish evangelical activity or did it still contain a resident ageing Jesus Freak still wearing his/her sandals with wan memories of happy-clappy witnessing and non-denominational gatherings?

A comic strip in Latin. This is one of the Bagnall's Dailies published last year. Although the text is an Advent season prayer, the intent definitely wasn't religious. This was most certainly a formal exercise. I wanted to see if four totally un-related images could still work as a comics sequence if they were linked solely by a continuous set of words.

I'll stop explaining all this before I begin to sound too much like Scott McCloud....