“Who watches the Watchmen?”

Pip seemed quite pleased with her birthday present. We met for lunch at the Pop Café and caught up. Had I really not seen her since the cellar bar opening? I was a right misery then, perhaps that’s why. Moving house has dominated my time for the last five or six weeks, but I didn’t realise it had been that long. We talked about New Year, about Paul, about the new house.

I zipped around the shops after work, trying to find presents for everybody left on my list – Owen is proving very difficult to choose for. The old reliable favourite, Waterstone’s covered Mum and Lewis, and as their books were both on 3 for 2, I picked up something that I’ve been looking to get my hands on for a long time: Alan Moore’s Watchmen.

Wow! What a work of genius! What a great story! What a rich sub-plot! Such great characters! A wonderful alternate reality! I read the whole book through, front to back, all twelve issues, without stopping for anything more substantial than a piss or a cigarette. Amazing! Rorschach especially captured my heart, with his stubborn refusal to accept morals other than his own… but let’s not spoil anything for the poor souls who’ve yet to read this wonderful, wonderful book.