Faded signs. Vintage hand-painted signage is becoming more scarce as the temporary turn-over of shop ownership increases. Shopkeepers have little option when all that seems to be available are ugly computer-cut vinyl fascias. Sometimes when a business has gone bust or is being refurbished an old enamel painted wood fascia will be revealed for a short time, like an archaological layer at a dig. The experience is almost like spotting a ghost. Perhaps you will only be lucky to catch a quick glimpse before the faded sign is covered up once more or even demolished.

Last Saturday I visited former colliery village Wingate (Co.Durham) to photograph this lovely example. As you'll see, the lower half of the empty shop is recent but the top fascia has been torn off to reveal an ancient looking three part sign for "Doggart's". This company once thrived in County Durham and I'm told a Doggart's Department Store stood prominently in Durham City Marketplace until the early 70s. This Wingate store must surely go back to at least the 50s? The lettering is carved into the wooden fascia boards and I'm guessing must have been covered in complementary coloured glass panels to give quite a classy deep 3-D effect. Such craftsmanship and so evocative of a lost era...

I was fortunate to find more at Wingate. Stay posted for more ghostly Northern Archaology!

Amateur signs. I love these almost as much as old style professional sign-writer work (and those are getting so scarce I feel like a jubilant David Attenbrough when I find a good one.) Here are two obviously amateur signs which almost border on folk art in their naivete.

First one for a Chinese Buffet was found in Bishop Auckland. This takes a highly painterly approach with liberal splashes of (gloss?) colour. Unashamed dripping is a feature as are quickly dabbed flower motifs. Every inch of space is filled, note the arbitrary repetition of the word "buffet".

The second amateur piece is from Horden, Co. Durham. The approach is entirely different, highly tentative, with no evident artistic "flair". There is no understanding of centre-ing the letters. These are applied using a stencil, but the maker couldn't resist dotting the i's (but on capitals?) In the end the sign was abandoned but remains fixed to the shop exterior in its full illiterate beauty!

Saturday night and the working week is over. Even pen-pushers with O-Levels will be thinking about leaving the wife at home with her knitting and having a pint or twelve down the local. Try this Disappearing Phrase out on the barmaid. She's sure to be impressed.

Closed Shops. I have a definite fascination with abandoned, empty or redundant business premises. Those with explanatory window notices especially appeal to my imagination. If you are a visitor or passer by you can only guess at the story behind these shops of mystery. When you peer through the dusty windows it's impossible to resist wondering what the owners were like, where they are now and did they ever get over their bout of ill health? I took the first photo in Willington and the second in Fencehouses, both Co.Durham.

Expect some more North East photographic posts as I now carry my camera wherever I travel. These spots of run-down beauty are worth preserving before they are ruined by re-development.

Favourite Shops No.2 - The Repository, Talbot Road, Blackpool, Lancashire.

This emporium of all things Roman Catholic is located next door to Blackpool's Jesuit Church of the Sacred Heart. Being right in the heart of the original entertainment capital of the British North West, it's said that Variety entertainers of the RC faith often favour attending this grandly decorated parish church. Did Danny La Rue sometimes pop in for Saturday evening Confession inbetween matinee and evening show? Perhaps Keith Harris and Orville donated some of their appearance fees to the Jesuit's overseas charity work?

The Repository Shop must surely receive some financial support from the Sacred Heart parish, as the handful of times I've called in I've been the sole visitor. I imagine come that special time of the liturgical year they must do good business from the sale of First Communion dresses and cards. The only purchase I've ever made was a resin statue of Padre Pio, and the selection of statues was vast: from good old shamrock loving St.Patrick to traditionalist favourites like Our Lady of Fatima and, of course, the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The exterior of the shop sadly features a modern PVC fascia, but at least with its black and gold colour scheme an attempt has been made at sobriety. The old-fashioned feature I love is the amber coloured acetate sun-screen which protects the holy sacramentals on display in the window. This adds an aura of mystery to what is on sale inside and is the opposite of the contemporary hard-sell: if you really want a holy water-stoop for your hallway then you might just spot one through the thick layers of glass and ageing orange plastic. Inside the Repository you enter a dimly lit space, pleasantly overcrowded with Sympathy and Prayer Cards. What is refreshing is you can't freely browse the larger items which are situated on dusty shelves in non-revealing cardboard boxes. The elderly staff, in home-knitted tank-tops and nylon house coats, are happy to help in their quiet way and will slowly reveal the item you want on highly polished glass counters.

I hope this shop continues to remain in business. The Catholic Truth Society shop in Liverpool disappeared years ago. Most of the dwindling numbers of today's younger practising Catholics wouldn't dream of displaying religious images in their laminated homes when a Jack Vettriano print will do the job of inoffensive neutrality. The thought of a Repository bought photo of Pope Benedict would just cause embarrassed titters.

Drawing is from my 2001 mini-book of shop drawings A Nation Of Shopkeepers.

It is Shrove Tuesday today. While you flip those pancakes I hope you are thinking of what sacrifices to make during the holy season of Lent which begins tomorrow. Call me a gloomy old coot, but this is my favourite time of year. I love to watch during Lent the gradual awakening of the natural world from winter to spring. The liturgy of the Church reflects this profoundly as it slowly starts with the winter severity of Ash Wednesday and finally reaches the bloom and glory of Easter Day.

Picture is from V & A Museum leaflet from 1975, illustrated by Eric Ravilious.

Got my first pair of reading spectacles today. To mark my declining eye-power I've posted the only British comics character I can think of noted for his poor eye-sight: Colonel Blink, the Short Sighted Gink from Beezer Comic.

For three days there have been strong winds. These gales and a quick look through a 1962 copy of The Ladybird Book of the Weather made me want to draw this sketch-book strip.

Here's an illustration completed last week for Plan B magazine. The article is about an online poll called Jock'n'Roll where people can submit their favourite ten 7" singles by Scottish artists. The Associates are currently number one in the chart and usual suspects like Orange Juice and Belle & Sebastian are there also.

I'd be very surprised however if The Krankies crashed in with a bullet.

Favourite Shops No.1 - Parkin's Menswear, North Road, Durham City.

It goes without saying that multiple chain stores hold very little interest for the discerning shopper. The increasing sameness of every British high street is a depressing trend.

As you wander past ugly plastic fascias, shuffle through noisy, over-lit interiors and encounter robotic staff who've been brainwashed by cynical "Customer Care" training courses your senses are over-loaded and your heart sinks. Of course shop assistants have no say in the matter, but why must the simplest purchase be the target of a "Meal Deal" offer, a money-raking repair warranty or a "3 for the price of 2" multibuy? Because shopping has become a science in the eyes of marketing experts and both consumers and workers are sadly just numbers.

Finding long-established shops which defy fashion and miraculously survive is rare. It's a delight to come across an establishment like Parkin's Menswear here in Durham. Aside from the prices and concessions to colourful "casual shirts" most of the drab stock could come from the 1950's! Here you can buy caps, cardigans, ties, trilbys, braces and long-johns. They are piled high in the windows in a refreshingly un-stylish manner. The dingy interior is an Aladdin's Cave of nostalgia, stuffed with racks of tweed jackets, grey or beige slacks and waterproof macs. Wood and glass counters contain interlock underwear, socks and initialled handkerchiefs. Behind the counter is shelving for a huge range of old-fashioned hats and caps and there is a curtained fitting room for un-hurried trying on of trousers, suits or zipper anoraks. The two middle aged female staff in navy blue cardigans are un-pushy and polite and receipts are always hand-written.

Apparently most of Parkin's revenue comes by being sole stockists of local school uniforms. I suppose this explains how such an unusual anachronism stays in business. Apart from the odd pair of socks I don't buy much there myself but love to browse the racks while OAP customers praise the smartness of the antiquated togs. I would hate the place to close down.

These two photos were taken on a Saturday afternoon before Christmas and the drawing was part of a mock Parkin's advert/tribute which I included in Bagnall's Dailies #1.

Driving over the Pennines to Blackpool this afternoon - so Merry Christmas everybody!

King of the peoples
come and save man
whom you made from the dust of the earth.

While I'm being educational, did you know that before turkey the traditional Christmas meal in England was Pig's Head and Mustard? And did you know that mince pies in Victorian times were in fact filled with beef, and flavoured with spices? Of course today's sweet mince pies are fruit filled, but similar spices still remain....

The late northern club comedian Bobby Thompson included some sharply amusing memories of pit-village Christmas and New Year celebrations in his Little Waster routine. About seasonal hangovers he observed:"You're that dry you could sup ink...and your head's throbbing like a melodeon."

Quoting from the great man's Little Waster scripts doesn't give enough of the true flavour of Bobby's workshy, beer sozzled persona. Most of the magic was in his delivery and onstage demeanour: a short waiflike figure in flat cap and over-sized jumper, Woodbine cigarette permanently in left hand.

Bobby Thompson had two showbiz careers: his pre-1960s act which was curtailed by the disastrous TV series Wotcheor Geordie. Only a handful of viewers could understand his regional accent during that flop national TV series. As I've recorded in the above strip, Bobby hit hard times following his failure to crossover from regional comedy to a wider audience and could in later years only be found broke in betting shops or drunk and alone in seedy Newcastle pubs.

Veteran BBC Radio Newcastle DJ Frank Wappat claims he rescued Bobby Thompson's career by offering him unpaid comedy spots at his evangelical Byker Mission church nights. From these increasingly popular appearances Bobby's observations about debt, avoiding work and being hen-pecked hit a note of recognition and the second, more successful phase of Bobby's comic life began. He became one of the highest paid working men's club acts of the 70's & 8o's - a once thriving entertainment circuit which is now in decline. Not too much of Bobby Thompson's act remains: one DVD and a 3 Disc CD set, both of which are 100% recommended and most of which I can quote verbatim. His following is still active, every year Tyne-Tees TV runs ads for Bobby's DVD, but now his Woodbine is blacked out by some politically-correct editor. I've also seen posters locally for a Little Waster Tribute act, but not surprisingly have heard negative reports. Everyone round here knows there's only one Little Bobby.

Can't wait for your Turkey Dinner? Well, here's a Disappearing Phrase you might want to use when you fancy something more substantial than an Avocado Salad...

Not everyone can look forward to a Christmas holiday of lounging about on the couch supping Double Diamond and scoffing Cheese Footballs. Seasonal People like those above carry on working like stalwarts.

It's not too pessimistic to say that we've lost Christmas to consumerism. Even if you're a strict Carthusian with no possessions spending 12 hours a day in solitary prayer, market forces would somehow and someway weedle their increasingly subtle way into your consciousness and hey presto, suddenly you'll find yourself desiring a Sky subscription for your hermitage.

Neither is the commercialisation of the season a new thing. As post-war rationing gradually relaxed we British became nearly as eager to consume and spend as our American cousins. Yet coming across this ravishing 1955 Fortnum & Mason Christmas brochure is the revelation of an infinitely more graceful way to peruse the purchasing of goods than flicking through 2006's blinkin' Argos Catalogue.

The primary reason is Edward Bawden. Yes, we're back to the Saffron Walden sage once again. Fortnum & Mason commissioned Bawden not only to paint the exquisite cover but to contribute the beautiful woodcut style spot illustrations you can see above. Bet those who could afford Fortnum & Mason prices had an absolutely spiffing 1955 Christmas....

Most desirable Christmas gift this year by far - the 1939 facsimile edition of the first Broons Annual.

Launched in 1936 in Scotland's Sunday Post newspaper, The Broons is still one of Britain's most popular children's comics. The regular annual still sells over 100,000 copies. An original of the first annual will set you back £5,390 (2003 auction price.) The facsimile reprint costs only about £13.

I must admit I only discovered Dudley Watkin's great Broons stories when I moved to North-East England (not too far from the Scottish borders I suppose.) Being able to buy The Sunday Post from all local newsagents, I instantly fell in love with this lovable and skilfully characterised family strip - my favourite Broon being the portly daughter Daphne.

However, much as I'd like too, I still haven't found the right opportunity to use Broon's phrases like "Jings" and "Crivvens" in everyday conversation....

Here we are once again in the season of Advent, hurtling toward Christmas. In the church calendar this day is dedicated to good St. Nicholas, otherwise known as Father Christmas or Santa.

But did you know Saint Nick once had a diabolical travelling companion?

This seasonal posting first takes us back to November when I uploaded my Prague holiday photos, in particular the above snap of what I thought were figures of the Devil and St. Nicholas on display side by side in Prague's Toy Museum. At the time I couldn't guess why the two should be associated....

Thanks to an email from Comics Comics magazine cover star and ace cartoonist Pshaw, I now know who the devilish figure from Eastern European legend is. "That's Krampus! He's my favourite Christmas character" Pshaw wrote. He explained further: "Over the centuries, the legend of the good St.Nicholas grew. As a friend of all children he would give them special gifts and food. In the past he rewarded only their good behaviour because he travelled with a cloven-hoofed demon who knew who had been bad. Stories vary, but typically Krampus was a dark, shaggy monster with horns, a tail and a long red tongue who rattled iron chains! St.Nicholas would arrive with a full sack of toys and Krampus brought an empty basket to carry away boys and girls for punishment."

Phew, personally I think it's only fair that kids should be deprived of their Playstation gifts if they've been wicked...don't you?

Two Disappearing Phrases for the price of one. You'll notice the factory setting - I chose this drawing to keep the week's industrial theme going for a little longer...

More old style Industry. This comic strip recalls the humiliating pranks that first-day factory workers would have inflicted on them by their experienced elders. Other joke tasks included being sent to the Parts Department and instructed to ask for "a long stand". This, of course, resulted in the innocent apprentice being left to wait for at least half an hour. Once these "rites of passage" had been endured (as the smug sociologist character in the last panel comments) the new worker was accepted as another one of the lads/lasses.

Comics as documentation?

About two years ago I drew this Industrial Estate page after discovering some unusually old fashioned buildings tucked behind some more modern local manufacturing units. These half empty brick structures really did deserve the title Industrial Estate, definitely not a Business Park or an Enterprise Zone. I could almost see ghosts of cig-smoking men in boiler suits and noisy machinery in use through the dusty windows. Sensing their inevitable demolition I took some digital photos of the buildings and then drew the silent comic strip. The above photo is how the site looks now. Even the modern factory units have gone. Next year there will be retail outlets built here and the promise of several fast food restaurants.

Want to see my holiday snaps?

The activity of blogging seems to appeal to the self-indulgent so I may as well go the whole hog and post some of my Prague holiday photos. Prague is certainly a beautiful city and there are hardly any buildings (in the old town) which could be described as ordinary. The display of devils and Santa figurines is from the city's excellent Toy Museum and the religious graphic above comes from a carrier bag bought in the Museum shop of the church of Our Lady Victorious. The famous Holy Infant effigy is housed in this interesting Carmelite church - no photographs were permitted but I'll treasure the memory of seeing the little tyke in all his baroque finery.