Mad, Going

Felt somewhat saddened to read today about the demise of Mad magazine - but was also a little surprised to find out it was continuing to be published at all. In my mind it's forever associated with the time I read it as a kid - the late 60s and early 70s. (Its readership peaked in 1973.) When we used to go to Auntie Kathleen and Uncle Vic's for Christmas Day one of the highlights of the visit was me being allowed to read Cousin Paul's stash of the mags in his bedroom. It struck me then as representing the height of cool, though I don't suppose the word cool was a working part of my vocabulary in those long ago supremely uncool days. I suppose its seemingly sophisticated irreverence was a useful aspect of my education: I turned out more than a little mad myself, I'm happy to admit.