That last one was the last page.  But...I didn't put this image here.  I didn't - did I?  I remember spelling it out, letter by letter, like they tell me to.  Singing the song that helps. 

The streets of London, grey eminence intelligences in their high tower over the Court road  - caught road - singing information webs across the city - opposing the shifting grey ones in their quiet - we all went to AUSTRALIA, acronym Heaven.  Corporation Underworld, Hades fills in forms and stamps your rent book - he's there, too big eyes and grey fur, running down the fences - at night, at the bottom of your garden - look, it's your window he's outside -

Nine names - Nonadei - I - She went outside, bigger and wider, saw the edges of space and the greatest terror and oh, when you forget to be afraid, it's so beautiful -

That's the message.  Just that - ends of space and time, but still a quiet school afternoon in the sun that you forgot because it was just peace and stillness - don't you remember?  The sounds of happy voices  in the distance -

Focus.

There's a curtain.  Here, next to me, whilst I type.  Got to stay focused on the words now.  Heavy curtain, across one corner of the room.  How long has that been there - why don't I remember - wait, there was one like this when I was so small, not this house though - what - what's behind FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS WORDS  - it's moving - there's a breeze, outside sounds - leaves -

FOCUS going to pull the curtain back and see - there's music there and cold air scares but - but - some scares are better than anything - I have to see -

Just
have
to
see

Who is that? Who's at the door?

                                                                                                              ...so you see, that's why I'm here.

Endpapers 1

Near the old school grounds, there's a canal path.  Leads to a tunnel.  I find myself troubled by that.  Why build a school so near a canal?  The towpath was all speckled tarmac and dock leaves.  I didn't follow it far; it lead to a tunnel, and I didn't much fancy dodging pigeons and rats, or whatever it was in there making all the scrabbling noises.

Funny thing, there was an old warning sign pasted up, half illegible.  Some sort of taking-care-by-the-water thing I suppose.  Just made me laugh, 'cause it said WATCH OUT in big letters, right over the tunnel mouth.

This project is nearly at an end now; I feel like it's run its course and we've done what we needed to.  Here's the first of the endpapers, probably relating to something in one of the missing literacy sections  at a guess.

Page 9

From the History section:  

Page 9: Selective History 

It's in this section that the series'/textbook's mascot first makes an appearance.  Apparently this was a puppet character of some description, but further details are hard to come by; no photographs survive and the cartoon representations in the text have been scribbled or scratched out, as has the character's name, though it appears to start with the letter 'R'.

I wish I knew who owned this copy, or how it ended up where it did.  I went back to the the old school grounds at the end of September; it's just wasteland now, grass and young trees.  I didn't stay long.  Ridiculous as it sounds, I had the feeling that - well, I wasn't exactly being followed, but got the impression that someone was hiding behind the fence at the edge of the cleared site.  I'm certain that I caught a glimpse of someone in grey moving quite fast.  Or possibly some biggish wild animal, a really large cat perhaps.

Page ???

I can't find the numbers any more, but I think that's part of it.  See, I don't know if I'm scared or something else now.

Look, they sent us a map.  Why am I...happy?

Watch Out! - update

Two exciting uploads this week.  Firstly, a new scan.

I hadn't realised that there was some scrawl in the back cover of my edition.  I reproduce it here without comment, except a vague sense of concern over those initials.  Surely a coincidence?  It's well known that the Author never visited this country, except for the obvious occasion and I hardly think that he had time to vandalise a text book.

Our second piece is astonishing.  I received a package from a contact who prefers to remain anonymous at this time.  I'll quote from the note they included:

"...it was after I left LOCATION REMOVED AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST via the main front gate, that I started to feel an odd sense of disassociation, the strangest feeling...the main road, always so busy normally, was weirdly quiet and even the infamous commissionaire on the gate seemed to not be aware of me....

...it was at this point that I became aware of a ringing telephone.  This was startling enough; even at this point (around 19**) public telephones were becoming a rarity, through vandalism and lack of use.  There was something oddly insistent about the ringing of this one though, do you know what I mean?

They rang off, of course.  They always do.  But on the shelf, was a single reel-to-reel tape, labelled in Chinograph. It sounds ridiculous, but I swear to you, it felt just as though my blood ran cold when I saw the name.  It couldn't be chance.  How many other people would know what that name meant?  One thing I couldn't tell you is why I picked the damn thing up.

The second I did, the phone started ringing.  But I knew who it would be now  - at least I thought I did, seems now like there's more than one it could have been - and I knew I wasn't strong enough to answer, no matter which of them it was.

Listening to it, knowing the story...the Nine Faces.  I can't help but envy her."

The first extract is available at the link below.

Watch Out! Page 27

I'm sure it wasn't like this when I scanned it.  But then it wouldn't be, would it?  

What you have to ask is probably the wrong question.   

The problem may be that you assume that the second and third sentences are connected in any way.  Did you think of looking behind you?

From Watch Out, Page 19

I'm not sure what the time is.  What is the time?

Again, the scan didn't pick it up, but there's pencil writing on the margins of this page.  It reads:

 

"Six sums a day is far too many/None a day is why we wait"

I'm not sure why, but after I read that, I made sure that the office door was locked.  Not the first odd bit of behaviour I've been engaging in since I started scanning these pages.  For some reason, I get really jumpy whenever I see a satellite photo or two men drinking coffee at night.

From Watch Out, page 41

I've spent a few weeks working on uploading some scans from Watch Out.  It's taking much longer than anticipated; there's only me on this project and I've been using the facilities at the Taskerlands research offices just over the city limits.  It's nearly abandoned now, in the last stages of closing down, so it's nice and quiet, most of the time at least.

I did have some trouble with this one.  The scan kept coming out wrong; in fact, it showed an entirely different image, which I presume must be a fault with the hardware.

Pencil scrawl reads "The black car is not in this picture yet"

One of the many puzzles and activities designed to keep the readers occupied and attentive at all times, to everything that could well be around them.

Watch Out - Radio Times

Shortly after my last blog, I was surprised to receive an email containing a partial scan of a Radio Times cover apparently publicising Watch Out.  I'd always been under the impression that the TV series had been shown on ITV, but this would seem to suggest otherwise.

However, I'd advise caution.  The cover design is non standard and seems to be incomplete, though this could be a consequence of the scan.  Whilst this would seem to suggest that the image is not genuine, if any TV show could appear on the cover of a listings magazine that was legally prohibited from advertising it, it would be Watch Out.

However, this is all still unproven conjecture.  There remains no actual evidence that Watch Out was ever shown or even actually made; certainly, the fragmentary accounts of the programme sound far fetched, even disturbing.  We should be wary about accepting urban mythology at face value, especially descriptions as frankly unbelievable as these.

One final note; the vehicles in the image are clearly non-contemporary.  Which suggests that this is indeed a poorly executed hoax and in turn begs the question...why?

The alternative explanation is ridiculous and should not be considered under any circumstances.

Watch Out!

Originally published in the summer of 1975, Watch Out! was written for use in schools and colleges, though concerns were quickly raised over the content and form of the material within.  Sadly, very few copies survive; most were recalled, for reasons now all too obvious. Fascinatingly, some fragmentary evidence suggests that it was produced as a tie-in to a television series, though if this is true, no off-air copies have surfaced to date, though rumours of a soundtrack album have tantalised the more esoteric collectors for decades.

About ten years ago, I was lucky enough to find a partial copy, whilst engaged in reconstruction work at a derelict Pebble Mill comprehensive school.  It's taken some time for me to be able to reconstruct Watch Out! and I'm happy to say that I'll be presenting some selected pages over the next few weeks. 

I'd like to thank the Department of Transmissions for their help in researching and authenticating this fascinating reminder of a missing time.  They've asked that readers with any information about the author or his whereabouts contact them as a matter of some urgency.  

Quality of Light

There.  That moment -

Something about the way that light falls.  There are geometric forms, memory shapes, grasped in a precise moment.  The heat of summer and a long prism of light passing through a gap in the curtains, that you drew to hide behind together.

Catch their eyes, catch your breath.

You're silent, but there's the sound of a car far away, droning of an aircraft fading into the sky, house shifting within its skin.  Always fading, beautifully so, but no end, one note shifting in to replace the ones that have fallen beyond the threshold of hearing.  Sky music.

Colours caught in the air and diamond motes.  Can you remember?  You were there.  You still are.