Weekend Writing and Printer Hitches (and other matters)

 Saturday. 4.00 a.m. So, here I am once more, not being able to sleep and feeling really hungry. So I decide to make myself toast and put some of the raspberry conserve on it which I had I bought in Sainsbury's about a week ago. (Incidentally, conserve isn't jam, because it has a higher concentration of fruit compared to jam. I'm not sure of the percentage, but its a good deal higher, which means it's got more fruity flavour.) So, I organize my workspace in the kitchen and get out the toaster and make three slices of bread into, what else? Toast! As well as toast, a mug of tea. Then I go into the lounge and decide, after some consideration, to watch something on BBC iPlayer and watch an old episode of 'W1A', the spoof documentary series which stars Hugh Bonneville amongst other actors. Actually, it's not ''old' in the sense of being old, or ancient, in the sense that it's 30-40 or more years old. If you get what I mean. Or from the BBC archives, such as something by Frankie Howerd or Harry Secombe. I love this show. It's not going to appeal to a lot of people. I think you have to appreciate the wordplay, the dialogue is almost circuitous. People speak in a sort of new speak (the language used in Orwells '1984.' They go to meetings which never seem to produce anything. They have jobs which have titles which don't have any real function. Its management for management's sake. The show is what I think you'd call a docudrama, or, at least a spoof of one. Dramady, (ie: Drama/comedy.) David Tennant does a rather fine job of providing the voice-over, which is what you always get in these 'reality' documentaries. Even that has a hint of mangled words, and twisted language, for want of a better word. It's interesting that he is used as he does a lot of genuine voice-over work on other 'real' documentaries, which gives a sort of realism to the fiction.

7.15 a.m. I've been out with Alfie. We did the obligatory circuit of Oldbrook Green and I now have 2480 sets registered on my FitBit. It's quite chilly, and we have been warned, on BBC Breakfast, that its going to become colder over the next few days, and there will even be snow in parts of the United Kingdom.

10.10 a.m. I have given Alfie a bath! He was getting rather smelly, and it seemed a good idea to clean him up. He goes for a haircut on 23rd March, which is quite a long time to wait. I have to organize things before he goes in the bath, for example, closing the bedroom door, because I don't want a wet dog on my bed. I have to take off his harness and collar before he goes in the water. I run a few inches of warm water into the bath before he goes in and use a plastic jug, bought for the purpose, to rinse off the shampoo, which is a product intended for use when bathing dogs. It doesn't create too much lather, which is easy to rinse off. I also use the shower, taking off the device which fits on the wall, to help rinse off the lather. He was filthy and the water showed how dirty he was. I think he likes being made a fuss off, particularly when I work the shampoo into his coat. Once he's washed, he comes out of the bath and I towel him dry, as much as possible, but, like all dogs who get wet, he shakes himself to take off most of the water. I then gave him a bit of a brush, and he's now settled down on the sofa, smelling a good deal better than before the bath!

Sunday. 7.15 a.m. Alfie came to me in bed and keep staring at me. I didn't pick up what he was doing and why, but then I thought he might need to go out. He barked, so I confined him to the lounge by closing the door and then went into the bathroom to get dressed. By the time I came out, dressed and ready to go out, I realized he'd had a 'little accident' on the floor. I managed to clear it up, and I now realize that the treats I gave him might have had 'consequences' such as the accident. Then I scooped him up, and we went out and onto the grass alongside Strudwick Drive. 

I have completed the transfer of the handwritten piece of writing onto word processing. I wanted to read it on a printed copy, so I set up the MacBook and the Canon printer, but the printer steadfastly refused to function. So, we're back on the 'dysfunctional printer' mode, which I thought had been rectified with the new Canon, but obviously not. I have a feeling that it might be possible to sort this out by resetting the printer, by whatever means, like a factory reset. I have attempted, but during this, the printer decided to print out two copies of what I had wanted. How, I don't know, as it wasn't connected to the Wi-Fi or the MacBook. I think it may have been enabled because the printer would supposedly have all the print data stored within itself and so could print those two copies. There is no other explanation for this. But I have now managed to read the print copy of the new piece of writing, and I am more than pleased with it and now I can continue with my writing. But still, the printer is causing a headache.

4.25 p.m. I'm watching the 'Great British Pottery Throw Down, which is on Channel 4, but I watch via catch-up. I'm not a great lover of some of the competitions on television, especially 'Strictly Come Dancing.' It's too hyped for my liking and anything with so-called 'celebrities' is a turn-off and some of the things which the judges say can be really nasty. That's not so with the pottery 'Throw Down.' No celebrities in sight, and the judges don't come out with nasty comments. Having attempted pottery at college, I found it very difficult to throw anything on a wheel and didn't succeed with it. I'm better at other areas of art, photography and creative writing are my thing.

Another Dawn, Another Day

Saturday. 6.40 a.m. I've just been watching BBC Breakfast. There's been a report about the stage version of 'Spitting Images', which has opened at Birmingham Rep Theatre. This was a hugely successful television show in the 1980s, satirizing many politicians and celebrities of the day. Some of the material could be quite cruel and biting. It was briefly revived on Britbox, the streaming service, but it never had the same level of satire as the original show, basically because a lot of material would be 'non-PC' and not get past the 'woke' brigade. I have a connection to Spitting Images, although very vaguely. I know several people who either worked in the moulding and sculpting departments or as puppeteers and I even auditioned for it, although I wasn't successful, it was an interesting and positive day nevertheless. It will be interesting to see how this stage version does and whether it will be toured.

I was out with Alfie around 7.10, and it would appear to be quite mild. No sign of frost.

Sunday. 8.20 a.m. I was woken in the night (it must have been around 2 a.m.) by doors banging and loud voices downstairs. Goodness knows what it was. I could not get back to sleep, so I decided to make something to eat, a bowl of porridge. Easy to make and tasty, as well as being good for you, helping to reduce cholesterol, not that I really need my cholesterol lowering, as it's at a good level at present. Then, I thought, I might as well watch television. Just news on BBC1, which continues all night. (By the way, why does the BBC have the same news on BBC1 and the BBC News channel? What's the point? Why have identical stuff on two channels? Surely they have material which can be repeated, even if it's older? Documentaries, for example?) I plumped for something on BBC iPlayer, a comedy called W1A, which is a mockumentary about the BBC. I have seen most of the episodes before, but it's worth a second look. With Hugh Bonneville as the BBC's Head of Values, Ian Fletcher. How accurate it is, I have no idea, but it parodies the sort of life within a large bureaucracy, with endless, pointless meetings. Whether it's accurate about the inner workings of the BBC, is open to doubt. The doublespeak is funny but at times it goes on too long. The fact that they come up with ideas for programme formats seems a bit false, in this day when most programmes are made by independent companies who then pitch their ideas to the broadcasters, in this case, the BBC. The BBC broadcasts them and in most cases doesn't own the rights.

Monday. 8.05 a.m. I have the windows wide open because there is still smoke coming into my flat. I really don't know why I have to put up with someone's fag smoke percolating my private space. It is totally unacceptable 

10.30 a.m. I've been to buy a few bits in Sainsbury's. There is a vast display of flowers, mostly red roses, in the entrance area. It does seem obvious that it's for Valentine's Day, which is tomorrow. Also, plenty of pink Champaign and other alcohol on sale, given prominence along the ends of aisles. Blatant over-commercialisation of this day. Also, Easter eggs are already given pride of place in another area of the store, as well as boxes of chocolates. 

Somebody who lives in one of the flats along the corridor from me has a Hyacinth Bucket complex (she, being the character from the BBC sitcom 'Keeping Up Appearances' played with extreme relish by the brilliant Patricia Routledge) They have a sign outside which says 'posher than next door.' Oh, dear! Are they snobs? How do you quantify 'posh'?  The word 'posh' is supposed to have come from a shipping line company which took passengers to India, or possibly, Australia, in the 19th or early 20th century. People would sit on the deck to catch the sun, 'port out, starboard home', or some such slogan was created, hence the initials spelling 'posh', I'm not sure how true that it, and presumably it hinted at wealth and position in society because people were snobbish about their social standing in that era (probably equally snobbish today, but you get my point. 

4.10 p.m. It's remarkably warm and sunny as I write this. It's not what you would call 'hot', but that's to be expected since it's early February, when you consider what the weather was like a few weeks ago, freezing and frosty, it's warm and pleasant, almost spring-like.

Tuesday. 6.30 a.m. I was awake, so, rather than lounging in bed, I got up, shaved and then did a pile of washing up. I can't stand going out and then returning to a sink full of dirty pots and pans. As I will be going to Camphill this morning, I won't be back in the flat until around 4.30 p.m., so washing up will be the last thing on my mind.

I have restored my Amazon Prime membership. It has been £79 a year, but then last year it increased to £90, which I didn't want to be taken out of my bank account (via Direct Debit) and more than I was prepared to pay, I cancelled. Then, on Sunday, I re-subscribed, but this time, on a monthly payment, of £8.99, which is far easier to handle. As a result of all of this, I decided to watch the second season of 'Clarkson's Farm.' I saw the first run, which is about Jeremy Clarkson's attempts to manage the farm he bought in Oxfordshire in 2008. I know, he does have a habit of upsetting people, and making controversial statements, but, as a farmer's son, I have a fairly good idea of how difficult farming is. I don't like the strong language that is used, but it's a good watch. Certainly not something which would be shown on traditional, terrestrial television, such as BBC 1 or ITV. Anyway, as all the episodes of the Clarkson show are available, I have already watched the first four. I know that Clarkson is something of a Marmite sort of person; you either like him or hate him. He seems to be a magnet for controversy. Just think the things he has said about, for example, Megan Markle. I won't repeat it hear. But if what he said, or in this case, wrote, in The Sun newspaper, which publishes his column, why didn't the editor of that paper edit the comments before the column was published? Let's just say, the Sun is a tabloid which needs to make money and to have such a controversial columnist attracts readers which ultimately attracts advertising which keeps the paper afloat. 

Amazon Prime doesn't just cover their streaming service. You get free postage and packaging on items you purchase from them as well as other of their services (which I have forgotten at the moment. I think music via any Alexa device for a start off.)

Current Television Comedy

What, in the way of television comedy, do the networks have to offer us at the moment? BBC1 can give you a rehash of the classic 1970's show 'Porridge.' It was revived as part of the BBC's 'Sitcom' season, something to do with it being 60 years since the first 'Hancock' television series. They gave us  rehashes of 'Are You Being Served?' (really awful. The original was never brilliant, a lot of cliches and rather annoying catch-phrases, Mr Humphry's limp wrist and Mrs Slocombe's cat and her over-the top hairstyles, but definitely stuck in a 1970's end-of-the-pier type comedy limbo.) Also, a prequel to 'Keeping Up Appearances' (I never saw it). The one-off episode of 'Porridge' was alright, up to a point, but it wasn't exactly what you'd call 'comedy gold.' It's the one episode which has been developed as a full series of six episodes. But let's be honest, 'Porridge,' in it's original incarnation, was brilliant for being great basically because it was a well-written and acted gem because of it's leading actor, Ronnie Barker. How on earth can an actor emulate his timing, his skill as a comic actor and general all-round likability? The BBC had revived another of his comic hits, 'Open All Hours,' and given David Jason's character, the downtrodden nephew, Granville, the central role. From being the put-upon delivery-boy to becoming the owner of the corner shop, might sound a good idea, basically because Jason is such a popular actor, and they know, with him in it, audiences will watch regardless. It's just that there remake, which is called, unimaginatively, 'Still Open All Hours' is just a clone of the original and is stuck determinedly in the mid 1970's. By now real corner shops have moved on, to being Tesco Extras and Little Waitroses. I think Arkwright's shop would have been taken over by Tesco's by now. It's just a rather creaky excuse for some corny jokes.

Let's leave off about the reboots. Please, BBC, don't do any more. Just because they get large ratings doesn't mean it's a good idea to do more. ITV revived 'Birds of A Feather' which was originally made for the BBC, and gets good ratings, but why do they have to keep on copying what the other channel does?

To original sitcoms. There's 'W1A', which isn't what I'd call a traditional sitcom in the sense that a sitcom is made in a television studio, with around 3 electronic camera, and is performed and recorded before a live audience. 'W1A' isn't made in that format. It doesn't have a live audience, to begin with, is shot (presumably) using a single camera, on location, in the style of a 'mockumentary.' It was a 'sort of' spin-off from the earlier series '2012' (to tie in with the London Olympics.) It has many of the same actors from that, Hugh Bonneville being one of those actors. There is a commentary, delivered by David Tennant (which is something traditional sitcom never has.) It is something of a one-joke comedy.

I've just discovered something on Gold, one of the UKTV digital channels. It's called 'The Rebel' and stars Simon Callow who plays Henry Palmer, a pensioner who absolutely detests the way old people are treated in society. It's based on a comic strip in 'The Oldie' magazine. In this way it is similar to a Radio Four sitcom called 'Clare In The Community' which is based on Harry Venning's 'Guardian' cartoon strip of the same name. 'The Rebel' is currently in it's second series, but, as I've only just discovered it, I've started watching it from the beginning of the first series which is available on catch-up. One of the advantages of having this technology is that you can watch series which you might not have otherwise managed to see. I know you can do this if you have DVDs of series, but in some way catch-up is better because you don't have to have piles of DVDs you watch once and probably never watch again. Anyway, I don't think Simon Callow has ever done sitcom before. He's generally known for fairly light comedy, or at least learning towards that sort of area, but I've never seen him in this sort of vehicle before. It's great to see actors in something that is slightly different from their usual roles. I can't see this being shown on the main channels, BBC1 or BBC2, although it might be shown after the watershed, because the language and some of the subject matter is quite, what I'd call contentious. By the way, don't confuse 'The Rebel' with the Tony Hancock film of he same name. There is no connection in any way with that film. Just a note.

Another more recent sitcom, although not in the stereotypical mould is 'Boomers'which is about three couples who are in the category of being retired. They live in 'Norfolk's only west facing resort, Thurnmouth. It ran for two series as well as a couple of Christmas specials on BBC1 and was written by Richard Pinto. It starred Philip Jackson, Alison Steadman, Russ Abbott, June Whitfield, Stephanie Beacham and Paula Wilcox. It was written by Richard Pinto. It's shot on film and has a similar feel to a much earlier series which also starred Russ Abbott with the sorely missed actor, Michael Williams, married to the fantastic Judi Dench and called 'September Song.' I think you would describe it as being 'bitter/sweet' as it could be extremely funny one minute and the next quite sad and extremely poignant. I think the best comedy should be able to shift between sad and the next be amusing. In a sense Anton Chekov's plays have a similar feeling to them, not entirely achingly funny, but having a depth to them beyond being merely amusing. It could definitely leaving you with a lump in your throat and give you pause for thought. Not a lot of modern comedy can do that. It moves from being funny one minute and the with a shift of emphasis be quite profound.