More Reading and Watching-1

I'm currently reading Dominic Sandbrook's book 'State of Emergency,' the third of his series of books on the history of Britain since the Suez Crisis of 1956. It's covering the Heath government of the early 1970's and his negotiations for Britain to enter the Common Market, or E.E.C. (European Economic Community) and how he had to get the general public on side and then to get the required support of Parliament. It's interesting, in light of the 2016 referendum on whether Britain should leave what has now become the European Union (E.U.) and how indifferent the people of Britain were at the time. There was a referendum later in the 1970's, when Labour returned to power, which lead eventually to more integration with Europe, the Maastricht Treaty and the eventual creation of the single currency, the Euro (which Britain didn't join, for better or worse.) It's an extremely detailed account of the whole process and well worth reading. I have one more book, 'Days In The Sun' to read once I've completed this volume, and each volume is a think door-topper, each around 600-700 pages. 'State of Emergency' covers the years 1970-74, whilst 'Days In The Sun' covers the years 1974-1979, the year that Margaret Thatcher came to power. I'm hoping that Sandbrook will eventually release a book which covers the Thatcher years of the 1980's and, eventually, one on the 1990's.

The third  series of 'Humans' has finished. It is a co-production between Channel Four and the American network A.M.C., and is based, however loosely, on the Swedish television series 'Real Humans.' I have watched all the series up until now. It has been an enthralling series. If you don't know what it's about, it's set in a parallel world to our own, where synths (robotic humanoids) have been developed to aid humans in many tasks, from caring for the home to working in a range of jobs, such as in factories and warehouses. It's what science fiction should be, it should ask questions about such things as modern life, automation, A.I., computers etc etc. In another respect it can comment on such things which modern society discusses, issues which we are concerned with at present, such as immigration, genocide, integration, the introduction of automation, and how these things effect the world we live in.  As yet there has been no news as to weather a fourth season will be commissioned, but it certainly deserves to be decommissioned as there are so many plot threads which could lead to a fourth season.

I'm watching some of the classic television comedy which is shown on channels such as Gold, Yesterday and W. I've been revisiting sitcoms such as 'One Foot In The Grave.' The one where Victor and Margaret get trapped in their garden shed by a swarm of bees and then Victor has to go to get his eyes tested and has drops put in his eyes and, because he can't see, doesn't realise that everyone has gone home in the optician's. It's as funny as I remember it from first seeing it back in the 1990's. A comudgenly pensioner with a grumpy disposition, the bane of the people he meets, and a wife who often dispares when he is being moody. A gloriously understated performance from Annette Crosbie. Strange to think she played Queen Victoria in the ITV series 'Edward VII.' My mother always made mention the fact, when this actress was on television in anything, that she didn't have all her teeth, for  some strange reason. I hadn't noticed, but it was possibly true. She had all her front teeth, but for some reason or other, had none at the back. Why or how I have no idea. This would be before video recorders were invented, and you could record something off the television and then freeze frame. What an odd thing to remember? And how did my mother know? It must have been a gift to notice such things. Never mind. I digress, as ever. Just saying, it was a long way from Queen Victoria to Margaret Meldrew. She played another queen in the 1970's series on BBC1, 'The Six Wives of Henry VIII,' as Catherine of Aragon, opposite Keith Michell as Henry VIII. It must have been one of the first big colour drama series.

Another episode, from, I think, the second series has Victor attending a life-drawing class and when he gets home he shows the drawing of the naked female model to his wife Margaret, who becomes suspicious when Victor takes a job at the woman's home. Further complicating ensue, as they invariably do in a lot of sitcom, when Margaret has a male neighbour in to help with some jobs around the house and they go out together and one thing leads to another. Misunderstandings and the like, the basis of so much comedy, from Shakespeare right up to date with not only 'One Foot In The Grave' to many other shows, in the theatre and on television.

I recently bought the box set of 'Allo, 'Allo. I absolutely love this series, but I have never seen the earlier episodes. In 1985 I worked on the show as a Supporting Artiste, when it was being filmed on location in and around Lynford Hall, near Thetford, Norfolk. The stable yard was the location of the village square immediately outside Rene café, which is the centre of activities. I was amongst quite a few other S.A.s who played German soldiers and we were supposed to hang around in the square. Some other scenes were shot in the West Tofts Military Training area, not usually open to the public. I also filmed there for a drama/documentary series called 'Soldiers.' We were supposed to be the dead and dying at various battles all round Europe, including the Battle of Waterloo (details of which are mentioned in an earlier blog post on here.)

The thing about 'Allo, Allo' is that it has several plot lines running through it, which is unusual for a sitcom. Usually in a sitcom, you get the same characters appearing every week, and each situation, generally, ties up within each half-hour episode, but with 'Allo, 'Allo you get several of these plot lines running concurrently, the Gestapo chasing after the stolen paintings of the 'Fallen Madonna With The Big Boobies,' The Resistance ('I will tell you this once and once only' etc etc.) The British Airmen and how they will be got out of France to return to England etc etc and how all these inter-relate and run across whole series and, indeed, the entire 80-odd episodes.  It is actually a parody of an earlier BBC drama series called 'Secret Army' which starred Bernard Hepton and Angela Richards, an actress who was in the company when I was starting out in Stage Management at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham in 1969. 

Football and Sunshine

Yesterday morning I managed to virtually complete the clearance of the brambles and weeds at the end of the garden. I did the work before it got to hot. Not a good idea to be outside in direct sunshine. There is still some more to do, but it can wait as I'm not risking going out in the blazing sun.

Carol needed to go back to the oncology department at Milton Keynes Hospital at 2.20 yesterday afternoon because they needed to check the P.I.C.C. line which was used to administer the chemotherapy. We got to the carpark and there were fortunately two or three spaces so that was one less thing to worry about. A woman came in and got in the way as we were attempting to park. Some people just don't seem to care so long as they get what they want, regardless of the other person. Never mind. It was far too hot to argue anyway. We walked into the oncology department and it was a lot cooler than outside. Not many patients. Quite a few of the chairs empty, but few staff to deal with things, as usual, so what nurses were available seemed to be doing several people's work. Carol was soon seen and went into the little room to have her line checked. She may have the line taken out, depending on what the next stage of her treatment is, and probably not until she's seen the consultant next Friday.

We walked back to the car and got out without having to use the ticket machine because the barrier was raised. All that bother to get the ticket checked and then there's no need to use it. It's so irritating that you have this constant annoyance and then the thing doesn't work properly or at all. Never mind, it's them that's loosing the cash involved if it doesn't work.

Some form of refreshment was in order, due to the heat. We drove to Oakgrove, a short drive along Chaffron Way and parked near Waitrose. We went into the nearby Costa and had cold drinks, their tasty strawberry-and-cream cooler which did the trick. It was fascinating to sit and watch people passing by as we sat inside. I can't say I was exactly over-enthusiatsit about the music they were playing in Costa's. That droning, reparative drivel that passes for modern pop music. It was awful. Why is it necessary? As we sat inside Costas we could see children walking past. It was only about 3 o'clock. They were leaving school. From the comprehensive school just over the road from Waitrose and Costa, Oakgrove School. A very different lot of children to those who attend Milton Keynes Academy. They look far neater in their dress. All wearing uniforms, with blazers with the school symbol emblazoned on them. Ties done up neatly (not just the boys, but also the girls.) Not in the least bit scruffy. Talking quietly. Amazing, but having said that, somewhat boring. I bet the behaviour is better than at the Academy. But somehow they looked mechanical, almost robotic. Too good to be true. This was going me ideas. As I'm watching the Channel Four series 'Humans' about robots or 'synths' these children do have the look and feel of synths. It could be as if they were  being controlled. Just the impression I got somehow. Think also of the Cybermen in 'Doctor Who.' Just a bit creepy. There's a story brewing in my mind . . .

I'm not in the least bit interested in football, and not bothered by the World Cup. There was a match on yesterday evening at 7 o'clock. England versus Belgium. Regardless of whether you've an interest or not there is the constant drip drip drip of football . . . football. . . football. Everywhere you go. The supermarkets are stocked up with beer, pizza, Coca Cola, and all the paraphernalia they expect people to want to buy. Nothing wrong with that. I suppose it's better than Brexit. The warm weather is adding to the excitement. Our neighbours were having a party or a barbecue. They were having guests. Quite a few cars drawing up outside the house. The time for kick-off was approaching. Carol was upstairs watching on the bedroom television. I was downstairs, completing the Futurelearn course on Shakespeare. I did watch the  England v Panama match with Carol the other afternoon, although I wasn't concentrating too closely. Just doesn't do it for me. No sense of engagement. I think they over-do the build up to such sporting events. Then afterwards the endless discussion, the dissecting of the game, the post mortem. They go on and on and on and on and on and on. Fair enough, but some of us are bored silly.

The football match wasn't exactly setting the world on fire. You would have known something was going on if there had been a goal scored. No cheers from next door, or from upstairs. It was after an hour or so that I ventured upstairs and there was a 0-0 scoreline. Carol said it was 'boring.' But looking at the screen, it looks remarkably like some sort of computer game. The grass on the pitch is too green, more like carpet. The players look like computerised graphics. If you remember the television show, which must have been one of the first things on Channel 4 when it started in 1982, called 'Max Headroom.' He was a computerised character. Well, the players look very much like him. Unrealistic looking. Tanned, with over-styled hair.  They seem to move in a sort of artificial manner to me. It looks really dull and lifeless. Why?  Loads of advertising all around the ground. What on earth is Wanda? It was being advertised at the edge of the pitch. You can't ignore the advertising. It's there, centre-stage if you like. I know the advertising is essential to the funding of these events, but it does tend to intrude. Is Wanda a person? An insurance company? A beer? A soft drink? Goodness only knows, but whatever she is, she's got a lot to answer for. The sport is being taken over by money. The players are payed in telephone numbers, for merely kicking a ball around on a piece of grass for 90 minutes. Hence the advertising. I think I may have answered my own earlier question. Too much money and if I was looking at the advertising, even if it was for a company I'd never heard of, at least I was thinking about that (which is earning money) even if it wasn't the football.

Hair Cut, Story Development and Grass Mowing

I went to get my hair cut this morning at Essential Barbers in Monkston Park. As they open at 9.30 I always try to get there as early as possible so I don't have to wait. There was another prospective customer waiting outside and the same sign on the door saying that their chip-and-pin machine was out of order as it was the last time I had my hair cut around a month ago. So I went into the next-door  Co-Operative store and used their cashpoint to withdraw £10. As soon as they opened I was in the chair and having my hair cut by the nice lady who usually does my hair and I was surprised when I only had to pay £6 which is the O.A.P rate (not officially 65 until October.) which was a nice surprise.  As I was driving past Waitrose in Oak Grove, just off Chaffron Way, I decided to go in and buy a few items such as bread and things for our meal tonight. Always very friendly staff in there and excellent customer service.

I am continuing to watch the Channel Four drama series "Humans." It's at episode 6, so there's just two more episodes remaining. A lot of the 'loose threads' are being tied up and it continues to be a very thought provoking series and has definitely got me hooked. No news, as yet, as to whether there's to be a second series. There should be as apparently the ratings have been the highest for a new Channel Four series since they did "The Chamomile Lawn" in 1992. I remember watching it, a somewhat racy series adapted from a novel by Mary Wesley and starring Paul Eddington and Felicity Kendal.

I spent some time around midday mowing the grass. I shall continue to refrain from referring to it as a lawn, as it has as much resemblance to a lawn as it is possible to get. Very uneven piece of ground and the grass is more like the sort of grass you'd find in the average meadow. It would be gratefully eaten by a cow or two or even a goat. I haven't completed it as it's a really exhausting job but will hopefully complete it tomorrow, that is, if it doesn't rain, as it looks at the moment as if it might as there are dark clouds over-head.

Later . . . I was pondering whether I should wait and finish cutting the grass tomorrow, when I was overcome with the idea of finishing it this afternoon. So I plugged the cable back in and got the mower out of the shed and had the job completed within ten minutes or so. It's always with a certain feeling of 'job well done' when this sort of task is finished. I'm not over-keen on the job, but leaving it and just thinking about it isn't my normal mode of action. So, that job is now out of the way for a month or two at least.

I'm beginning to find how I might finish the story I began a couple of weeks ago. It now might possibly have more of an 'arc' to it and hopefully with a bit more work on it and a few more pages of notes I can continue with it once the summer holiday is over at the beginning of September. I must say I'm very pleased with what I've come up with but I'm certainly not revealing anything on here.

Watching Channel 4 Drama Series "Humans"

I'm currently watching the new Channel 4  sci-fi drama series "Humans." I'm really enjoying this.  At last something to really get your teeth into. It certainly has the 'can't-wait-to-see-the-next-episode' element to it. If you don't know what it's about, it's set in a sort of parallel 'now' where 'synths' or robots, which are incredibly life-like, are used to do the dirty-work that humans don't like doing. It's got an element of "Blade Runner" about it, with a police force on-hand to deal with rogue 'synths' when they go wrong. It does pose the question, how do we interact with technology and how do we allow it to control our lives? It is actually based on a Swedish television series and hopefully it will be re-commissioned for a second series. It deserves it. It has a real scary feel to it, and at several points in the last episode you are left asking, which are the humans, and which are the 'synths'?' Good to see Colin Morgan, who played Merlin in the BBC1 show "Merlin." It seems to allow him more depth of character than he was allowed in the earlier show, which was cancelled.

Writing and Sunshine

It's turning out to be a particularly fine and sunny morning. Trying in vain to prevent our dogs seeing either of the two cats who live next door who seem to take real pleasure in teasing Alfie and Poppy, by appearing on the shed roof which can be seen clearly through the lounge window. They slink in and stare into the room and this makes both dogs mad and they rush to the window and stand on their hind legs to peer out, barking like crazy. If the sliding door is open from the kitchen into the garden they bound out, making so much noise it must be heard by all our neighbours on both sides. Alfie rushed out yesterday evening when we were attempting to watch 'Pointless,' which we watch every evening and stood looking up at the cat which was perched on top of the shed. I think it was enjoying the sun and sleeping peacefully until the dogs came out noisily. The cats know full well that they can't be reached by either dog, which is why they have this somewhat arrogant air about them as they sit on either the shed or the fence, such as it is. 'Fence' is a rather inappropriate word as the state of the pile of wood which once formed our boundary fence is really quite poor. Still no sign or it being repaired by our landlord, by the way.

I've done a bit more work on the new piece of writing I mentioned in the previous post. I think I've managed to write about one side of an A4 sheet, which I suppose is around 2-300 words or there about. I know that when word-processed, you can, on average, get around 500 words on an A4 sheet of paper, obviously depending on the size of the font you use.

I've started watching a new Channel Four drama series which began on Sunday called "Humans" which is about 'synths' or robotic 'helpers.' Good to have some science fiction drama that is intelligent and well developed for once. It leaves you  really pondering all sorts of things such as how robots could, and probably already do, get used in our lives, and most likely when we don't even realise, but obviously not as realistically 'human' as those portrayed here. Well worth a try if you haven't already seen it,  and is available to watch through Channel Four's catch-up service. Just to warn you: Contains  adult issues and themes, although fairly mild. Not suitable for children.