The Whirligig of Time

 Saturday. 6.50 a.m. Goodness, gracious! Today is the 1st of July. Nothing more to be said on this matter.

6.15 a.m. I've been to meet my friend Nick in the main shopping centre. I drove in at around 11.25, and we were scheduled to meet outside Costa,  opposite Marks and Spencer, at midday. Nick turned up, but, when I saw him, or thought I saw him, walking towards me, at first I didn't recognize him. We went into Costa and I ordered a strawberry and cream frappé, a ham and cheese toastie (my regular) and a rather nice slice of carrot cake. Once we'd eaten and drunk, we went into Marks and Spencer and browsed in the men's department. Actually, a real surprise this, quite a lot of items I liked and might even end up buying. They are throwing of their old-fashioned image, at last, appealing to those (me included) who prefer clothing to be a bit more adventurous and colourful. Who on earth would imagine M and S selling pink jackets? Or bright orange trousers?? The sort of thing that Michael Portillo might wear in one of his train journey television documentaries. Then, we wandered along the shopping mall, into Boots for a couple of items I needed. Virtually no humans at check-outs, it's nearly all self-service. Companies who insist on this sort of treatment of their once loyal customers will see them shopping elsewhere. We browsed in W.H. Smiths and several other stores, and then we walked to my car and that was where we parted company.

I had problems with the RingGo app. It causes more problems than it solves. I got it to go into the payment section and put in the security code of my card, but then the spinning ball thing wouldn't stop, so I wasn't sure whether the payment had been taken. I think it may have something to do with the internet connection, but I have deleted the app and reinstalled it, but even now I'm not sure if it works properly. It's more frustrating than anything. If it worked well, it would be better, but it's not. It does save having to take change with you when you park, but when it either doesn't open or connect, it's useless.

Sunday. 8.00 a.m. I've been out and done another video experiment using the gimbal. It seemed to work better, or, at least I'm getting to grips with using it and managing to get the horizon steady, but for some reason, I can't get the microphone which connects to the iPhone to work. You never know when it's connected. There's no light that comes on to indicate it's connected. I think it's just a case of trial and error.

I have looked at the instruction manual for the microphone, and it does have a light that should come on when it's connected, so it's my fault it didn't do what it should. Never mind. It's all a learning process, as they say.

The current temperature, as recorded on the digital thermometer, is 23ºC. A much more workable temperature

5.00 a.m. The current temperature in this flat is 24ºC.

Monday. 4.55 a.m. I've just got back in from taking Alfie out. It's another milder morning, but pleasant. A lady was out with her two dogs on Oldbrook Green. She had a larger dog, I think perhaps a sheltie or border collie, I couldn't tell, and a little spaniel, having fun with a stick, the little one running around behind her and having great fun. Alfie wasn't going to walk all the way around the Green, locking his legs and determined to go home to have a sleep. Who can blame him?

The title of this post is another from 'Twelfth Night.' It came to me, as these things seem to do, and I had an idea it came from 'King Lear', but when I did a Google search, it came up with 'Twelfth Night.' It refers to a spinning top, a toy which Tudor children would have played with. It comes in Feste's speech to Malvolio, at the end of the play, and refers to the circularity of the year and, indeed, time. After this, Malvolo storms off, saying, 'I'll be revenged on you'. 

Current temperature in the flat is 21ºC, so it has fallen around ten degrees in the past few days.

Lockdown: The Sequel

Well, what else could I call yet another blog post, when there's not a great deal going on? I've been out for the second walk with Alfie. I was expecting to see that little robin in the tree again as I walked along Strudwick Drive, but he wasn't there this morning. We crossed over Oldbrook Boulevard onto the green and I decided to walk across the grass instead of making the circular route we usually take. I came across several strange circular grass shapes in the grass, which has been partially cut recently. I'm intrigued to know what they are for or what they represent. Alien spaceship landing sites? For some sort of sporting action, such as American sports, such as baseball? Probably not, bt does it matter. Then I spotted something in the grass. A £2 coin! So it was worth walking over the grass after all! That can go into my change pot I have on my bookshelf.

I have been watching a really interesting series on BBC 2 called 'Portillo's State Secrets," which goes into detail on a handful of British historical events and uncovers secrets which have been kept hidden until now. Michael Portillo, a minister in Margaret Thatcher's government, seems to have made quite a successful career as a television presenter, most famously the one about Britain's railway system, called "Great British Railway Journeys," and using the Victorian traveller's guide "Bradshaw's" to see how things have changed in the intervening years. He has a certain engaging style. He's a natural television presenter, but I do wonder at times about his sense (or I should probably say, lack of in some respects)fashion, because his gaudy array of jackets, which can be only viewed when wearing sunglasses, seem a little outlandish, to say the least. This series has been buried on BBC2, and I had no idea it was on until I saw it in the E.P.G. (Electronic Programme Guide)  of Freeview, a few weeks ago when looking for something to watch. I think this is a repeat, but, as I say it has been hidden away without any sort of trailers or announcements that it was on. Typical, come to think of it. Such drivel as Strictly Come Dancing and EastEnders, or Holby, or Casualty get trailed to death, but anything worthy such as this programme get ignored. What is the sense of that? Come on BBC, do come to your senses. You make excellent programmes, or, at least, commission them. Live up to your Public Service Remit, and give such programmes more publicity.

(Thursday) We had our first Zoom coffee morning this morning. It was 'lead' if that's the word, by Ross and around 17 other SCF regulars joined. It has taken me some time to get the Zoom software to work successfully and I wasn't sure whether it was going to work. I have it on this computer, my MacBook Air as well as my iPhone. I couldn't get my image to appear on the MacBook, although other people could hear me, but I tried my iPhone and it work successfully on that, but it's difficult to use the iPhone, but you have to hold it up in front of your face so that the camera will photograph me. The MacBook has a built-in web camera, and because, when you fold up the screen it means the camera is at the right position to allow your face to be viewed, although you have to set the thing up so that the image it captures is sufficiently at the right angle to get your image central, without it looking strange because it's an odd angle. Also, make sure your background isn't distracting, best done against a plain wall if at all possible.

I managed to watch the National Theatre production of 'One Man, Two Guv'nors,' which was streamed on YouTube yesterday evening. I had wanted to see this when it was originally staged, and it certainly didn't disappoint. Exactly the right sort of thing needed at the moment. As I've said earlier in this post, there is just far too much mention of the coronavirus pandemic on television, BBC in particular. This came at exactly the right time. Good old-fashioned knock-about comedy, based loosely on Carlo Goldoni's play 'The Servant of Two Masters,' craftily re-written to appeal to a modern audience. It was the play that kick started James Corden's acting career.

Reading and Watching-2

Some worthwhile history television programming being shown on BBC2 at the moment, in the shape of a series called "A House Through Time," which traces the history of one house in Liverpool from when it was first built and occupied right up to the 20th century. Historian David Olusoga is the presenter who uses archive material to find out who owned and lived in a terraced house, number 62 Falkner Street, Liverpool, over 180 years, right up until the 1940's. It's a sort of "Who Do You Think You Are," but instead of following backwards to discover the ancestors of a celebrity it traces the house's inhabitants. Infact it made by the same production company who made "Who Do You Think You Are?", Wall-To-Wall Television. It's totally enthralling and if anything else, shows the various sources you could use yourself if you were to trace your own home's history. As a result of doing some of my own family history I've discovered some interesting material and from watching this programme might even think of tracing the history of my home as a child when I lived at Malting Farm in Cardington, Bedfordshire. The farm house was built in 1764, so there would be some history behind that and it would be fascinating to discover who lived in the house over the years before my family moved in.

A series of documentaries across all BBC channels is on about the Royal art collection as well as the Crown Jewels. The Coronation was an hour-long documentary on BBC1 to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the Queen'sCoronation. A rare glimpse of the actual crown she wore in the 1952 ceremony at Westminster Abbey and an even rarer chance to hear her actually talking about that occasion. It's very unusual to hear her Her Maj actually speaking in a more natural voice than to the one we've come to expect, for example,  for such occasions as the Christmas Message.

There's quite a few television programmes which visit various places throughout the United Kingdom. 'Great British Railway Journeys,' which is presented by Michael Portillo. This has covered a great deal of the United Kingdom, and he has used the Victorian 'Bradshaw's' railway timetable for various years to explain a wide selection of historic events as he stops off along the way. I'm not certain how many series he's done of this, but last week he was covering the Edwardian period and this week he's in America, and the show is now entitled "The Great American Railroad Journeys." The other television stations seem to have caught on to this type of programme, a sort of amiable amble about the countryside, stopping off to view the scenery along the way. Channel Four in the afternoon has a series presented by Penelope Keith called "Village of The Year," where each episode is from a different region of the British Isles and four villages are profiled and then one is chosen to go forward to the next 'heat' and then eventually one village will be chosen as the winner. There have been a few series about villages, presented by Penelope Keith, 'Hidden Villages,' as well as 'Coastal Villages.' She did another series, I think for Sky Arts, where she visited National Trust properties. I have a feeling it was also bought out on DVD as I've seen them in either National Trust or English Heritage shops whenever we've visited any of either organisations properties as we're members of both.

Watching Television

If you read my blog posts regularly, you will have discovered by interest in history. So I'm glad that the good old BBC has decided to make yet another of the Great Railway Journeys on BBC2 at 6.30 throughout the week. What I like is not just the railway journeys that Michael Portillo makes, but the interesting bits of history and information he puts in. This series is built around the Bradshaw's timetable and in particular the Edwardian period and he visits places along the way that are connected with King Edward VII. It begins in Cromer and goes through Cambridge, into London and on south towards the coast and along towards Bournmouth and Poole.

Michael Portillo makes a good presenter and doesn't shirk when there is an activity to get involved in, although I'm not so sure about his excessively garish clothing, bright pink trousers and green jackets. As I'm watching this show when writing this, he is now wearing a mauve jacket and custard-yellow trousers. Where on earth does he buy these outfits, and how many sets of these jackets and trousers are there in his wardrobe? Must be fun to film this series, all that travelling on trains all over the country and looking at all those interesting things and visiting such fascinating places along the way. I bet the British tourist industry love him to bits as he shows off all those places that you've probably never heard of and would love to visit.

The BBC is doing a lot of good factual television at the moment. Makes a change from so-called 'reality.' We watched a fascinating documentary last night presented by Sir David Attenborough about dinosaurs. Anything that Attenbrough does is always worth a look. We thoroughly enjoyed the  natural history documentary series 'Blue Planet II,' which featured some of the most amazing photography featuring fish and other sea creatures. It's good that we don't have to endure endless game shows and stupid soaps. Just as well that the BBC is still eager to continue it's public service remit to 'educate, inform and entertain.'

We love a bit of television drama. Who doesn't? Carol was keen on watching the new Kay Mellor series on ITV called 'Girlfriends.' I don't think it's aimed at a male audience, but I gave it a go. A good idea, but it wasn't engaging enough to invest a lot of time and effort on a whole 6 hours of television time. I love Miranda Richardson and Zoe Wanamaker as well as Philis Logan (last seen as the housekeeper in 'Downton Abbey.' Unfortunately, this first episode had far too many characters and plot lines to make it worth watching. Just confusing, who was whom and what was what and why? It seemed as if it was an early draft of something better.

Sky did a one-off drama over the Christmas period called 'Ratburger,' based on a David Williams book. He played the central villain character and Sheridan Smith played the mother of the little boy who has a pet rat which can dance. Good old fashioned family entertainment. No doubt, if you haven't seen it, it will be on catch-up. Meanwhile, on BBC1, there was another David Williams adaptation, this time called 'Grandpa's Great Escape.' His books are extremely popular and sell extremely well. He seems to have taken on the mantle of Roald Dahl, as they have the same sort of style and flavour of his books.  It seems we watch most television on catch-up and not as it is broadcast. Well, it does mean you can watch whenever you want and not be tied to the schedules.The BBC's adaptation of 'Howard's End' was worth a look. Bearing in mind that it had a great deal to live up to, comparing it to the 1993 film adaptation which starred Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. It did mean that they could explore the story in greater detail as they had more hours of screen time than you would have with a film.