Isn't It A Lovely Day Today?

Sunday. 6.45 a.m. The clocks have changed, and gone back an hour, so it's a good deal lighter at this time. I've been out with Alfie, although he must have been a bit shocked, as I had to wake him up. It was really beautiful out, with the leaves on the grass and a thin fingernail of a moon more or less directly overhead. 

Thursday.  7.15 a.m. It's a rather overcast sort of day as I write this. 

Alfie was again asleep when I took him out about forty minutes ago. He didn't seem to object, in fact, I think he was more or less asleep as I carried him along the corridor.

Friday. 8.50 a.m. It's a somewhat overcast sort of morning. Never mind, it's what you would expect for a November day.

I was busy yesterday. I went to the Thursday Morning Life Group (which I've always called 'Bible Study' which it is, but it's a lot more than that. A lovely group of people.) I came home and had something to eat. I watched something on History Hit, which is a streaming service which has a very wide range of history documentaries to watch. This was about how would a modern man deal with wearing s suit of Medieval armour? Very informative, and also quite amusing.

Then, at 1.40 I had an appointment to have an echocardiogram. I'm not sure whether I've had one of these before. The location of the appointment was in Lloyds Court, opposite MK Centre shopping centre. I wasn't entirely sure where it was, but I looked on Google Maps, and even then I wasn't sure. I drove to the usual car park and then walked through the shopping centre and out about halfway down and across to Lloyds Court. I had the number, 30, but I walked along one side which seemed to be almost all restaurants and take-away establishments. I eventually found the place and walked in. 

By now I was exhausted. All that walking had paid it's toll. I reported to the receptionist and was sent upstairs. I had to sit and wait in the 'F' area. You couldn't miss the sign, painted on the wall in the biggest lettering you've ever seen. I think it was meant to be easily seen by those with poor eyesight. I had the feeling of the place, rather like the set for some science fiction film, set on a spaceship in the far distant galaxy, a bit like in Doctor Who, when they dematerialise in the Tardis and it's a space station, and the huge lettering on the walls are to inform you of the level you are on, but probably not numbered, probably in some sort of script used by some alien race. Also, clinical and empty, lifeless and probably uninhabited. One other couple was waiting. They didn't speak. There was no one else around, except a cleaning lady, sweeping the floor with one of those weird mop things which has a sort of hinge in the middle. Someone came out and called the name of the lady who was with her husband (although I assume he was. Never mind.) The person who appeared was dressed in a sort of green/blue oversuit, making him look like a surgeon or similar. The couple walked away and I was left on my own, with the cleaning lady pushing her mop around. The place had a sort of clinical feel to it. Well, as it was an N.H.S. establishment, it's not surprising, but no pictures on the walls, no television to watch on the walls, not even a pile of ancient magazines to read. Sterile, I think you'd call it. Plain white walls and the sort of seating which tend to become very uncomfortable the longer you sit on them. 

Then I was called into one of the rooms. The gentleman who called me said he was sorry for the delay. Well, my appointment was scheduled for 1.40 and it was well past 2 o'clock when I eventually stepped into his room. I had to take my shirt off along with my shoes. I was weighed and my height measured and then I had to lay on a bed and in such a position that I faced the wall and as far up the sloping head end as possible. the doctor (I presume he was a doctor.) proceeded to scan my heart, and it was fairly difficult to hold the same position with one arm held over my head. I could hear strange noises, but couldn't see a thing because I was lying facing away from whatever device he was using. Then I had to move to another position. It was then that I heard a sound like a pump, but splashing water and I then realised it was the sound of my heart! Not something I ever expected to hear. Rather like the sound of an ancient, rather inefficient washing machine! 

Saturday. 10.20 a.m. I haven't finished my Thursday adventures if that's the way to describe things.

To continue. I left the diagnostics centre, being told that the information found with the procedure would be forwarded to the cardiology department and no doubt I would be contacted regarding where my care would go from there.

I left the building and walked towards the shopping centre. As I did so, I saw a group of teenagers in front of me, one very blatantly smoking a spliff. I knew that was what it was, by the smell, and it was far bigger than a normal cigarette. He wasn't likely to be stopped by a police officer as there are never any about on foot as would be the case years ago, which might explain his smoking the spliff so openly.

I went home and had something to eat, as I usually do at midday.

At around 3.40 I drove to The Oaktree Centre because I had volunteered to help with the Light Party which was being held that evening. It's to be an answer to Halloween, which was on Thursday. As a church, we don't do Halloween and the idea of the Light Party is to show children that it's Jesus who is the light and Halloween is darkness. 

The hall was laid out with tables for a wide range of crafts, and I was in charge of one with black sheets of card which you scratched off to reveal colours underneath and the children could use stencils to make art or draw freehand. Other tables had drawings, lamp making and other crafts. After around half an hour there were games, one very similar to a game I think I must have played a bit like musical chairs, except there weren't chairs, the children had to simply sit on the floor when the music stopped. Then there was a short piece of drama and the evening ended with the children going through to the café area to have a tea of sandwiches and cakes. Oh, I should say that they then went back into the hall, which, by that time had been cleared on the tables, to have a dance around.

We cleared up, and that was the end of the evening.

I must say it was a really successful event and I was surprised by how many children and parents turned up. I think it must have been around 30-40.

Mad Dogs and Englishmen

 Sunday. 6.15 a.m. Another sunny and bright morning. The digital thermometer currently reads 20ºc and the flat is cool and pleasant, thank goodness.

3.30 p.m. I have now watched both Doctor Who episodes 'The Space Babies', and 'The Devil's Chord.' Regardless of what people have been saying on the internet, I really enjoyed both episodes. Ncuti Gatwa really throws himself into the role of The Doctor and gives it a real life and energy. He certainly has a charisma that shines out of the television set. It's difficult to take your eyes off him when he's on-screen. His co-star and companion in the Tardis, Mollie Gibson, playing the part of Ruby Sunday. It's clear that the Disney co-production has paid off, in that the production values are far greater, because it looks slick and has a cinematic look, the special effects, the sets and costumes look fantastic.

12.10 p.m. I have restarted my Ancestry account. It is a family history site, where you can find your ancestor's details. If you read these blog posts regularly, you will know how much work I have been putting into this work. I discovered my connection to The Ascott Martyrs, and that I am going to a study day in Chipping Norton this Saturday, to learn more about them (Chipping Morton featured heavily in the incident.) The day isn't just about those ladies, and what they did in 1873, but about other rebellions and protests which went on over the centuries in Oxfordshire. I have managed to get back at least 500 years and the family tree which I am building on the Ancestry website is growing and blooming daily.

Tuesday. 8.20 p.m. I have spent most of my Nectar points on a Nutribullet. For those who don't know what that is, it's a sort of blender into which you put vegetables and fruit to make into smoothies. I haven't yet tried it out, because I am slowly going through the manual which came with it, and I don't have any fruit or vegetables to put in it. So, as I write this post, it is sitting on top of my fridge/freezer and will remain there until I got to Sainsbury's or any other supermarket, or even the market near the shopping centre, to purchase some. I have bought ready-made smoothies in Sainsbury's, and it occurred to me that I could make my own, which would be a very good way to consume my five-a-day fruit or veg. I will let you know how I get on with the gadget when I have tried it out. 

Yesterday, at around midday, I got a telephone call from Milton Keynes Hospital. It was from the cardiology department, telling me that I had to have a heart monitor fitted, which I had to wear for 48 hours and that I should go to the cardiology department this afternoon to have the afore mentioned device affixed to my person. I got to the hospital and managed to park in the multi-storey car park. A car was reversing out of a space, not far inside the car park, so at least I didn't have to search for a space, which made things easier. I and then walked to the cardiology department. Little did I realise how far it was. I had to walk part of the way along the Redway which runs behind the house where Carol and I lived in Eaglestone. I used to walk along there when I used to go and visit Carol when she was in hospital after she was diagnosed with cancer. We used to park in the small car park near the entrance to the cardiology department and when she was first diagnosed and in hospital, we could see building work going on outside and which has now finished and the building which was being constructed was the new cancer unit.

I went into the cardiology department. We used to walk through here when we went to the oncology department, where Carol went to have chemotherapy. I reported to reception and then had to wait in the waiting area. I was eventually called in to a room by a nurse, and we were joined by a student nurse (I presume she was a student.) who was there to observe the procedure of me being connected to a heart monitor. It is a very small device, about the size of a small mobile phone, and it connects to my chest by way of the type of sticky contacts they use when you have an E.C.G. it has a clip on it, so I can clip it on to my belt or put it in a pocket. I will have to take it back and give it to the receptionist at the cardiology department on Thursday morning.                   

Reading and Viewing- Part 2

Then there's Doctor Who. There's always Doctor Who. I have written about this venerable BBC Television show in an earlier blog post, or at least, the current run. I'm not really sure about it. I have no problems with The Doctor being a woman. Why not? At first I was not sure, because the part has always been played by a man. But if the character is alien, and can regenerate every few years, there's really no problem as regarding gender. The problem I have is with the half-hearted stories and scripts.  But what I do object is having so much political correct nonsense shoe-horned into the stories. Whether it be racial politics or environmental issues, why does it have to become a sort of lecture? It was always intended to have a certain amount of educational value from the very beginning, to teach children about various historical events, if it's about the Romans or other eras of history, but in the early days it was secondary to the stories in the different time periods the Tardis delivered it's passengers.

Why so many assistants? Three is superfluous and their backstories are so vague. Just don't see the point of so many. There were multiple assistants in Peter Davison's era. It seemed unnecessary then and it's the same now. The Tardis just seems over-crowded somehow and it's just unnecessary.

I have watched the final, fourth, season of 'The Man In The High Castle,'  on Amazon Prime Video. The first 3 seasons were good and I got hooked. But the fourth doesn't have the same appeal somehow. It petered out towards the end and it wrapped up far to quickly, almost as if the makers knew that it was coming to an end with no continuation so they had to tie things up in the last couple of episodes. But we still didn't get a proper explanation as to how the films were infiltrating the real truth and the time-shifting/multiple world element wasn't explained properly, but it was still worth watching.

'The Last Tango In Halifax\ has returned this week on BBC1 and this time given a Sunday evening slot in the schedules. This is the 5th season of the Sally Wainwright created series. Rock-solid characterisation and pitch-perfect acting from the ensemble cast, lead by Derek Jacobi and Sheila Reid, who re-connect via social media after 50 years apart and then marry. I just love this series. It's real, sad and funny all at the same time. I think it's what they call 'Bitter/Sweet.' By which I mean that it has elements of happiness, comedy, elation but the next it has feelings of sadness, regret, all tied up in one happy bundle. It's what good drama should be, not just plain, laugh-out-loud funny, but poignant and sad underneath the humour. Shakespeare does it in some of his comedy, particularly 'Twelfth Night,' which has all these elements. I means you recognise these elements and it makes it work perfectly. 'Last Tango' may not have particularly strong storylines, but it has a definite, 'can't-wait-until-the-next-episode' appeal, but you can't help loving the characters, along with all their foibles and flaws, which we can definitely recognise. I can really recommend it. 

More Television Annoyances

Well, for a start, why on earth do we have to have 'what's coming up' on some television programmes? They do this with 'Bargain Hunt.' Why spoil things if you're going to give away some details? Are producers worried that we are going to turn to another channel or just loose interest unless there's 'peaks' in the show which we have to be told about in advance? If you're reading a really good novel, do we have to turn to the end to find out how it's going to end? Why do television dramas have to have the 'next week' or ''next episode' bit after the credits run at the end? It's an American thing I'm sure, because so many of our television shows are sold to the U.S.A. and a lot are co-produced with American television stations. There's no sense of surprise if we know that a certain character is going to be in the next episode or some major plot-point is going to be revealed. Doctor Who used to be one of those shows which had an element of surprise about it, that is, in it's original format, running from 1963 up until it was taken off in 1989. When a story of so many episodes, usually 4 or 6, came to an end the Doctor and his companions would get in the Tardis and fly off and we wouldn't know where they would end up until the doors of the Tardis opened at the beginning of the next episode. Now, since the 'new' version, which started in 2005, we have to be told exactly what to expect, well in advance. The difference is that now we only get about 13 episodes a season (or series) together with a Christmas special, but we have pages and pages in the Radio Times and elsewhere about the different stories and what monsters will be appearing, whether it's the Daleks or Cybermen or hopefully new monsters and villains. Not knowing is obviously not an option and any surprise is totally lost. In it's original form Doctor Who ran virtually all year round. I think it may have had breaks at some point during the year, probably Easter and during the summer, but when it began in the '60's it seemed to be on for most of the year, certainly not in bursts of 12-13 episodes. This is another American thing, also, having it as hour episodes (not actually 60 minutes, as it has to be sold to commercial networks it has to run for around 45-50 minutes so that 10-15 minutes is left for advertising.) I'm sure it was better when it was 25-30 minutes, and each story was told over 4-6 episodes so you got a cliff-hanger at the end of each episodes so the excitement of 'what will happen next?' was built in. The longer episodes don't always work as the writers have to create stories which tie up within the longer framework, although some stories cover two or more episodes. They may have thrown more money at the new Doctor Who stories, so we have better sets, locations and special effects, but it doesn't always mean better stories. The production values are a good deal higher than the original show, but some of the C.G.I. effects look totally obvious. Some of the computer-generated monsters, for example, look sort of 'pasted on,' almost Photoshopped onto the video footage. In film and television you should never be able to spot what is 'real' and not. If it stands out too much it's not working properly. It's a bit like 'seeing the joins' in something.

Do producers and others who are involved in television not realise that they spoil the impact of the stories they're attempting to tell by giving away plot details? What's the point to putting so much effort into something if you are going to give away these details in advance? Just crazy.

Peter Capaldi Leaves 'Doctor Who'

So, Peter Capaldi is to leave 'Doctor Who.' I'm not actually very surprised. I reckon he had to endure some of the worst scripts ever during his tenure. And it all down to the show runner, Stephen Moffat. I have been a fan of Doctor Who since the very first episode was aired in 1963. I would imagine that I was the right age to fit the demographic of the audience they were attempting to attract when it was originally broadcast. I was about 13. I loved it from the very first. I recall distinctly the first appearance of the Daleks. They were mysterious. We gradually got to know them over many later stories. Infact, in some ways, they were used far too much, probably because the BBC knew that with them in an episode they could help boost the ratings. What made 'Doctor Who' so distinctive was the fact that it was made up of so many episodes, and around every four to six weeks, when the Doctor and his companions got in the Tardis and took off at the end of a serial, you never knew exactly where they would land in the next episode, the doors of the Tardis would open and you would be in a completely different world, or time, be it past or future, a historic story, say, set in ancient Rome, Ghengis Khan, or to a future with robots, megalomaniac semi-human robots such as the Cybermen or Daleks, the Sea Devils or whatever. Infact, some of the best stories I remember were those during the tenure of Jon Pertwee, when the Doctor was forced to remain on Earth and deal with aliens during the 20th Century. The fact that the Doctor could be regenerated every couple of years was a stroke of genius, a device cleverly introduced when the original Doctor, William Hartnell, decided to leave the series. As a result, every time a new Doctor is introduced, the show could be reinvented, given a make over. This is how the show has managed to survive for more than 50 years. In 1989 the BBC cancelled 'Doctor Who.' It was no surprise, really. It seemed they didn't want it to survive, giving it a really poor place in the schedules, shown twice mid-week, and opposite ITV's soap 'Coronation Street.' Also, not helped by two actors taking over the lead who were, frankly, totally mis-cast, Colin Baker and then Sylvester McCoy. No fault of theirs, they were just not provided with very good storylines or scripts and the budget for those episodes most likely got reduced as the special effects were very poor, to say the least and the sets generally of a very poor standard unfortunately. It is no wonder the ratings plummeted. Why show the programme mid-week, and opposite such a ratings juggernaut as 'Coronation Street'? There was always talk that 'Doctor Who' would be rebooted. There was even a one-off film with Paul McGann in the lead role. I never saw it. I didn't want to. By then I'd lost interest in the who 'Who' thing. But then, in 2005, the BBC decided it was time to revive the series. It was given a complete make-over, the show had what was termed a 'Showrunner' a job which came from American television. This time Russell T. Davies was in charge, writing many of the episodes and the actor who was cast as The Doctor was Christopher Eccleston. The show was given a new format, each story running for 45-50 minutes. I think this was the first mistake they made. The original 30-minute running time is far better, with stories running over 4-6 weekly instalments. In it's original form, Doctor Who ran more or less continuously throughout the year. In it's rebooted form  it ran for 13 weeks. Also, they began it in May, which means that the evenings are getting lighter (by then the clocks have moved back to Summertime.) It was still scheduled on a Saturday, as the original show was scheduled. By now it wasn't really a children's show as originally intended, but more what you'd class a 'family' show, meaning they could make the stories and characters far more scary. But did they heck! No, it became far more aimed at an older audience, and many of the stories became far too frightening for a younger audience and as a result the good old BBC decided in it's infinite wisdom to put it out later and later on a Saturday evening. In the old days Doctor Who would be on at around 5-6 p.m. on a Saturday, after such things as Grandstand were finished (the long-defunct sports magazine.) The 30-minute format was far better than telling a story in a 45-minute slot because you had cliff-hangers at the end of each episode and so built up the excitement of what was going to happen next in the following week's episode. You can hardly do any such thing in a one-episode story, although they have done the occasional two-episode story. But even then the 45-minute stories do seem incredibly rushed, there's hardly time to develop a story sufficiently to make it an engaging  or worthwhile viewing experience. They may have had more money to spend on these episodes compared to the classic episodes, but even then it was all crash, bang, wallop, big and brash, lots of running around, chasing monsters as usual, but it became very jokey and a lot of the time hardly any character development or subtleties that would make a story interesting. Too clever and pretentious for a children's audience or even an adult audience. It was made for an hour slot, following the American model, with the idea that it would sell overseas. If it's made for a 45-50 minute running time, the hour is made up on a commercial channel with around 10-15 minutes of commercials.  A lot of C.G.I. was used, but my one complaint is that that is cheating. The best monsters are those that are 'in the flesh,' are real in the sense they are there in the studio or on location. The C.G.I. monsters did tend to look as if they'd be sort of Photoshopped on during the editing process. Almost as if they'd been cut out and stuck on afterwards. One of my big complaints was what they did to the Daleks. They had always had the problem of not being able to go up stairs. Probably because they were designed to run on castors, a sort of built-in problem probably due to budget restraints. You came to accept that the Daleks couldn't go up stairs, but in the new Doctor Who, when they appeared in the newly-rebooted show, suddenly they could fly. It just looked absolutely ridiculous. And done by C.G.I.! As  result, the Daleks are little more than a laughing stock and as a result don't seem anywhere as menacing as they did when I remember them as a boy of about 15. And in one episode at about the time of the 2010 Election they even had to make some of the Daleks have what would appear to be the colours of the major political parties. In one episode they came across as being, well, frankly, camp, the way they moved and spoke. More like dancers in the chorus of a really awful musical! Well, definitely not menacing.

Christopher Eccleston only lasted one series as The Doctor and then was replaced by David Tennant. A totally different interpretation. That's what makes Doctor Who so different to other drama series. If you re-cast your central character you'd expect them to be the same sort of age, height, etc and they'd be played in more or less the same sort of way. Even down to their costume, hair etc. Not with The Doctor. He can be played by an older actor as with William Hartnell, who played him as a doddery old gent with a Grand Daughter. Or, he can then be played as a sort of space hobo, which is how Patrick Troughton played him, or as a rather cheeky comic character, which is how Tom Baker played him. From Tennant we had Matt Smith, who played him as a combination of Tom Baker's Doctor and Patrick Troughton's version. Then, when Matt Smith took over we got Peter Capaldi, who was the same sort of age as William Hartnell when he first played the part. He certainly gave the part a sort of gravitas, but, unfortunately, the scripts just didn't cut the mustard in my view. Stephen Moffat took over at the time Russell T. Davis left as show runner and things just went from bad to worse. He made the stories very 'clever-clever.' The Christmas episodes became more and more predictable and not up to much. I didn't watch many of the later episodes. I haven't see the 2016 Christmas episode nor many of the last series in 2015. The 2016 episodes got scheduled later and later, probably because some of them were deemed to frightening for younger audiences. It seems it has lost it's way and, to be frank, it would be better if they killed the show off completely, although I can't imagine the BBC doing that because it's quite a good earner and is shown all over the world, as well as generating a good income for them through their commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, what with merchandising deals with such companies as Lego.

Memories of Doctor Who

I've written a lot on here about my time working in stage management with various theatres around England, but I'm now going to attempt to stretch my memory back a good deal further in time to when I was at school. 2013 has seen the 50th anniversary of 'Doctor Who.' I have been a long-time fan of this show and remain so to this day. I'm not entirely sure whether I actually saw the very first episode on 23rd November 1963, when I imagine I would, at age 13, been the age the show was aimed at.  I think I may not have seen it due to the fact that President Kennedy was assassinated that weekend. I probably started watching with the first Daleks story which followed around five weeks into the run of the show. There was something very intriguing about time travel and the fact that every couple of weeks the Tardis would arrive in a completely different time and place and there was the expectation of discovering a new world, or  different time period. The Daleks, being the first villains to appear in only the second story, had a huge effect because my school friends who would be going around the playground saying 'exterminate! exterminate!' in a sort of monosyllabic voice as a result of seeing these pepper-pot type characters on television. With the revival of the series in 2005 it was quite intriguing to see how the present generation of children would take to the Daleks and it was amazing to see that, a good 50-years after my generation was introduced to them, that they could still produce such a chilling effect on a generation bought up on C.G.I.-generated creatures. I have to say, having viewed the very first episode 'An Unearthly Child' which was shown on BBC Four over the week of the 50th anniversary showed how well it stood up, compared with not only the revived 'Doctor Who' but a lot of current television, considering it was made on a shoe-string budget, with very basic equipment and in black-and-white. I don't honestly remember any 'wobbly sets' but being totally involved in the stories and characters. Probably we didn't in those days. Maybe it was because we only had two television channels in 1963. We didn't bother too much about the 'basics' of television, because it was, let's face it, basic in the extreme. No location filming, sets that were all constructed in a studio in Shepherd's Bush which, although not wobbly, weren't exactly convincing. Lumps of what would have been polystyrene being made to look like rock and a really unconvincing stone-age landscape which looked as if it was made of old bedsheets! Never mind, it was all good fun and we loved it!