We had a Thursday ritual. Thursday night was grocery night. And when I was 8 or 9, that also meant that I would stay at the Library at Elmvale Shopping Centre while my Mother would go up and down the aisles at Steinberg's grocery.

The Library in the small mall was moved around the mall over the many years, but it always had a great selection of books. But each time I entered I always had to find my favourite section / shelf section.

More often than not, I would sit down in front of the Graphic Novel section. I would sit because the books were usually on the bottom shelf and it was easier to reach them. All the books were in their original French language. This didn't bother me thought, because I could follow along the stories just simply through the drawings.

My adventures would begin with Tintin. I would follow him and snowy as he solved mysteries and captured "bad guys" across the world in the 1930s. I would move on to Joe, Zette and Jocko, with similar adventures but with a younger perspective and the help of a monkey. Finally, I would go back to Roman Times and visit with my Gaul friends, Asterix and Obelix. "il sont fous ces romains".

It would be years later, that I would move to Hergé's home country of Belgium when Dad was posted to NATO in 1983.

But back in 1978, for an hour or so each week, I would escape the "white bread" world of Urbandale South East Ottawa in the 1970s and enter the colourful exciting world of Hergé.

The adventures would end all to soon. Mom would find me still sitting on the floor, a pile of books around me, and my nose in the middle of one. What felt like 20 min, was probably closer to an hour.

Books back on the shelf, we would make a pitstop at the lottery counter for our weekly Wintario ticket, and back into the Car. I'll have to wait another week before the adventures can begin again.

http://8ate.blogspot.com/2008/11/covering-tintin-adventures.html