Time and Tide

 Saturday. 7.40 a.m. It's another rather pleasant morning. Alfie and I did our usual walk around Oldbrook Green. There are daffodils blooming and blossom coming out all around Milton Keynes and suggesting quite clearly that spring is in the air.

1.00 p.m. We had our monthly men's breakfast at the Oaktree Centre this morning. I had to get some cash out of a cash point and needed help figuring out where to go. There are a number of these machines, also known as A.T. Ms (Automated Teller Machines) to be found around Milton Keynes and I wanted to have the cash with me to pay for the food we would get. In the end, I chose the ATM outside the Tesco Express in Oldbrook Boulevard.

Sunday. 7.20 a.m. Alfie and I went out at around 5.50 this morning. It was light, so I didn't see the point of hanging about in bed. 

3.50 p.m. I have resubscribed to two streaming services which I had been subscribed to but had cancelled a few months ago, basically because I had problems when they didn't work properly. I think the problems have been resolved sufficiently. The first was Britbox, the app on which it is viewed on my Amazon  Firestick, which now doesn't seem to crash like it did before. I watched several episodes of the original 'Doctor Who', 'Planet of Giants,' which was shown in October 1964, and was the ninth story from the very first incarnation of this BBC science fiction series. I remember the very early days of 'Doctor Who' and must have seen it when it was originally shown. I suppose I would have been about 14 when it was shown and probably the right age to be the audience it was aimed at. I was intrigued by the whole concept, the idea of time travel and the fact that every few weeks, when the Doctor and his companions arrived at a new planet at the beginning of each story, to discover where they were and what they would meet. I think it was what made 'Doctor Who' such a clever format, changing so often and keeping it fresh. The show was made on a shoestring, but it didn't make a lot of difference to the quality of the storytelling. A bit ropey in the special effects department, but the novelty of the whole show was what made it so watchable. This particular story had a slight 'eco' element to it (which I won't give away here.) which makes it relevant to a modern audience. I am surprised by how good it is, and I'm so glad to be able to see it after almost 60 years.

The other subscription is to 'National Theatre At Home', which streams recordings of National Theatre productions, which have been captured at 'live' performances, and some were shown 'live' in cinemas. The production I have just watched was 'Jack Absolute Flies Again' which is a reworking of the Richard Brinsley Sheridan 1775 play 'The Rivals'  by Oliver Chris and Richard Bean, who wrote 'One Man, Two Guvnors', which was a reworking of the Goldoni play 'The Servant of Two Masters and has Caroline Quentin in the role of Mrs Malaprop. A rip-roaring production and hilarious. Some of Mrs Malaprop's malapropisms don't always work and are somewhat over-egged, but I think you can forgive that some are somewhat rude, especially for a family audience, but that doesn't detract from the sheer energy of the production.

Monday. 6.45 a.m. Out earlier than yesterday with Alfie. We again did the circuit of Oldbrook Green, but not a lot to report.

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.

Lockdown!

(Friday) Another sunny but frosty morning here in Milton Keynes. I've been up since 4.30. Nothing unusual in that, because I can do plenty of things. I started watching a documentary about the Normans which was on BBC iPlayer. It was presented by Sam Willis, and showed the use of a variety of weaponry as used by and introduced by the Normans. I didn't watch all of it and paused it and finished watching when I got up. A really interesting documentary and well worth watching. Made a lot of what else is on, such as soaps such as EastEnders or Coronation Street or endless reality shows such as Big Brother look pathetic and irrelevant, this is what the BBC does best. I think that, if you've read my earlier blog posts, you will know how I feel about EastEnders. A bit like sticking pins in your eyeballs. Just hateful and miserable. Why waste your time watching such misery when there's better stuff elsewhere, a lot on iPlayer? The BBC never seems to trail this sort of stuff and it's hidden away on BBC Four. Go on iPlayer and you will actually find quite a lot of archive stuff which is worth looking at.

I begin to wonder if the BBC, or at least, those who are entrusted with it's administration, have forgotten the first Director General, John Reith's mantra that the BBC should "Educate, inform and entertain." The guiding principles of what is known as Public Service Broadcasting. Too much of the 'entertain' and certainly plenty of informing going on but far too much 'entertaining.' Far too much dross being shown. Stuff that should be only available on commercial channels.

(Saturday) The excitement is getting too much! Scrolling endlessly on Facebook. People are desperate, putting trivia on social media. The effects of this 'lockdown' must be having some sort of effect on people. It is; just trying to keep busy, but, if you are stuck at home, not being able to work, then anything is better than nothing, so scrolling through Facebook and putting senseless stuff on your profile is one way of relieving boredom.

We had church on-line via Facebook on Sunday and will continue to do so every Sunday until this pandemic is finished. There is also the chance to use another on-line site called Zoom, which is intended for conferencing, similar in some ways to eater Skype or FaceTime, but which allows up to 100 people to communicated at one time and we will be using it for a communion service in a few weeks time.

There's quite a lot of free resources currently on-line, such as theatre productions, notably the National Theatre, putting what were recorded productions which were originally screened in cinemas on line through YouTube, 'One Man, Two Guvnors', with James Corden in the lead, which is loosely based on the Goldoni play, 'The Servant of Two Masters.' I had wanted to see this when it was originally staged, but never got a chance, so now I will be able to see it. These productions will be available to view on Thursdays, via YouTube.

I was supposed to have been going to an archeology conference near Peterborough today, but it has been cancelled, due to the coronavirus pandemic. Disappointing, I know, but I have just learned that I can do a free on-line archaeology course though something called 'Dig Ventures,' so that should more or less replace that 'live' event. It obviously can't entirely replace something which is 'live,' but at the moment, with the way things are, certainly better than nothing and it should keep me busy when it's not possible to meet people face-to-face in the 'real' world.

I have been attempting to change the time on my Casio G-Shock digital watch. It's very complicated trying to move on the time by an hour. I have had this watch for around 5 years and have always found it difficult to reset this watch. I found a video on YouTube, but even then it was a bit of an effort. I have now managed to reset the thing, but I think, because it's supposed to reset it set using a radio signal from the nuclear clock near Rugby, I think it did it anyway. The date seems to have reset automatically.