Baking Cakes (and the Art of Avoiding Life's Little Frustrations)

Monday. 6.30 a.m. It's Monday, and at 2 o'clock this afternoon there'll be the second Monday Club at the Oaktree Centre. Last week was well attended, not by Shenley Christian Fellowship members, but by several community members who are regular attendees. Plenty of cake and tea. Yesterday, after church, I was asked if I could make cakes for today's session. I have been checking ingredients in my cupboards and setting things up, as I will have to go out and stock up on some ingredients. I will go to Lidl later this morning. I have also printed out a recipe for Victoria sponge cake from Delia Smith's website.

11.00 a.m. I went to Lidl at just after 9 o'clock and stocked up on ingredients as I mentioned above. I really have to organize my kitchen, as there is a definite shortage of space. I had set a lot of it up around 6 o'clock, even before I'd taken Alfie out, but I wasn't going to do the circuit of Oldbrook Green because yesterday I walked at least, 11500 steps and was quite exhausted, but I am attempting to do far more steps. Anyway, as I write, the Victoria Sponge is finished, with raspberry jam as a filling and a sprinkling of icing sugar on top and it's in it's tin, ready to take to the Monday Club just before 2 o'clock. 

Tuesday. 3.05 a.m. Oh, dear! Alfie isn't very well. I thought he needed to go out, so I hurriedly got dressed and we were out on the grass (this was around 10 o'clock last night.) But he didn't do anything, just walking along the grass. We went back indoors and he did a mess. He seems to have the runs. Cleared it up. Not nice. But he'd done another, which I have just cleared up. I have had to change my duvet, due to another accident. I don't know what caused this mishap. I have decided to stay at home and not go to Camphill and sent an email. I feel disappointed, but I really can't leave him on his own all day in the flat.

2.30 p.m. As I have already reported, in above, Alfie hasn't been very well, which meant I didn't go to Camphill this morning, unfortunately. I thought it wasn't such a good idea to leave him on his own. I had a £25 Marks and Spencer voucher to spend, which had been earned from doing online surveys for a company called Maximiles. I wanted to spend it and decided to drive into the Central Shopping Centre. I got to my usual car park in Secklow Gate. I had hoped to pay using the RingoGo app on my iPhone, which I have used on quite a few occasions. It means you don't have to fiddle about with change and use the ticket machines and, if you need extra time to park you don't need to return to your car and can use the app to add your time and pay. But the app wouldn't open and for some unaccountable reason wanted the password to continue. This was somewhat exasperating, so I paid with a £1 coin I had in my pocket for such an eventuality. Having parked and paid I went into the shopping centre, first going to Boots to buy liquid Feroglobin which I have been taking for several months as a supplement. It has 14 minerals and nutrients in it. It's quite difficult to find it on the shelves, and had to ask an assistant to show me where it was. Having paid, I came out into the walkway and went to Nationwide to take out some money from my account and I walked towards NatWest to pay the cash into my account there. This NatWest branch has been there in all the time I have lived in Milton Keynes, but I discovered, much to my disappointment, that it had closed. It was then that I realized that there was a new branch at the other end of the shopping centre, opposite John Lewis and near Middleton Hall.

I crossed over the road from what had been NatWest and re-entered the shopping centre and went into Marks and Spencer, going up on the escalator to the menswear department and bought a set of shortie pyjamas and long pyjama bottoms. Easy and straightforward.

 If you know the shopping centre, you will know it must be a good half mile or so. On arrival outside, I found a machine which would allow me to pay through a slot, provided I used my debit card and my P.I.N. I couldn't get the machine to work, so I went inside the branch. I asked a member of staff whether I could pay the cash into my account via a teller. Yes, upstairs, I was told, although there was a queue. When I arrived upstairs there was indeed a queue, but the cashier/teller wasn't in place. Goodness knows, what was going on? Was it a tea break or something? The queue wasn't moving. I wanted to make a simple payment, that was all. It was at this point I thought to myself 'I'm turning into Victor Meldrew, the character in the sitcom 'One Foot In The Grave', who is constantly being frustrated by life's little upsets and is known for his line 'I don't believe it!'

There were several more ATMs nearby which could be used to pay in cash. I had to ask a bank staff member to help me operate the machine. You can use your card and your P.I.N. and then insert your banknotes through a slot. I then discovered that you can put them in a bundle and don't have to insert the notes individually.

After all the frustrations of A.T.M's and other things, it was time for a break, so I went into Costa on Middleton Hall. The other week I had a really great hot chocolate which had cream and bits of Kit Kat sprinkled on top. But, unfortunately, when I asked at the counter for another, I was told it was a special edition and they no longer sold them. So, I settled for a hot chocolate and cream. Well, why not? The after experiences of the day I think I deserved it.

So, that was my shopping trip! Nothing much else to report here. 

More Reading and Watching

I have finally finished the set of history books taking British history from 1956, with the Suez Crisis and through the following decades right up to the 1990's, through the Premierships of Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, Harold Wilson, Edward Heath, Margaret Thatcher, John Major and Tony Blair.  I have now given history reading a rest and I've read 'Skellig' by David Almond, which I have read before, but enjoyed enormously. Initially intended as a children's book, but equally enjoyed by adults. Subtle and clever, definitely worth a read. It's not a long novel, which probably is in its favour. 

I'm currently doing an on-line course from something called Futurelearn. I've done several of these courses, a couple on William Shakespeare, another about Hadrian's Wall and this one is about The Tudors. As a result I'm reading Hilary Mantel's Booker-Prize winning novel 'Wolf Hall.' I had never imagined I'd enjoy a historical novel, but this is excellent and I'm surprised how much I am enjoying it. I watched the first episode of the BBC television adaptation, but I just couldn't get into it and didn't watch any more episodes, but the book is really good. Some books don't adapt well to television, and it seems to me that's the case with this particular book.

Martin Clunes has a new sitcom on BBC1 on Fridays, not that the day it's broadcast makes a lot of difference these days,because you can watch most television programmes either recorded on your Sky Q box (other personal recording set-top boxes are available, incidentally) or trough iPlayer. I'm not sure whether I like this new show, called 'Warren.' He's a driving instructor with a bad temper. He doesn't get on with his customers. He definitely has an attitude problem, Martin Clunes other leading character, in 'Doc Martin,' might also have an attitude problem, but at least you have sympathy for the character. The comedy springs from the fact that he's a doctor who should show some sort of empathy for his patients. On the other hand, Warren is just plain annoying. You really have no sympathy for him and it's no wonder his driving school business fails so miserably. Miserable git comedy is funny with the right character and the right script, but this just fails completely. Victor Meldrew, admirably played by Richard Wilson in 'One Foot In The Grave' does at least get your sympathy, and it has got a decent, well-written script. 'Warren' misfires on so many levels. Going back further in television comedy history, I could mention Tony Hancock, a character who was pompous as well as miserable. You could have sympathy for him and the scripts written by the legendary writing pair of Galton and Simpson almost single handedly changed the history of sitcom development and writing.

Comedy of failure is a style of comedy which can be described of many modern sitcoms. 'Fawlty Towers' isn't exactly the most successful of hotels, run by Basil Fawlty, who seems to fail and every turn. Rigsby in 'Rising Damp' is a similar sort of character. His home, which he shares with several lodgers, isn't exactly perfect. Rigsby is a failure in the sense that the can't cope with the views of his lodgers and is a somewhat disreputable character. Compare these sitcoms with 'Warren' and you see that it doesn't stand a hope of being a successful show for BBC1. I think it would have shed audience figures  over the next couple of episodesbecause of the fact it is so awful. The BBC is probably expecting the fact that it has Martin Clunes as the central character which will draw an audience. Some hope! He has done better work, particularly with 'Doc Martin.'

The BBC has done rather well with early-afternoon drama. The 2.15 slot has seen such drama series as 'The Indian Doctor,' 'Moving On,' 'Father Brown,' and now 'Shakespeare and Hathaway.' This latest is set in Stratford-On-Avon and the action revolves round two investigators, with the rather predictable names which are reminiscent of William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway, two former inhabitants of that town. There is a certain quirkiness in the plots and there are sly references to the plays of William Shakespeare. It is similar in style to 'Father Brown,' which period had been shifted from the 1920s-1930s setting of the original G.K.Chesterton short stories to the early 1950s and set in a fictional Cotswold village. Again, quirky and with a comic edge and with a strong cast lead by Mark Williams as the eponymous Catholic priest come crime investigator.

Returning to the theme of comedy about failure, the BBC has bought back Alan Partridge, who must surely be the best example of such a type of comedy. The new show, called 'This Time.' It's a sort of spoof version of the BBC1 early evening chat show, 'The One Show.' Partridge, played by Steve Coogan, is a character you either love or hate. He has been a presenter on a range of radio and television shows over the years, mainly on lesser-known stations, particularly the fictional North Norfolk Digital. He's a bit like Hancock, he imagines he's a success, but he's a total failure. He has grand illusions of presenting all manner of shows, but just can't hack it. The new show began shakily, but as we're currently on episode 3 it seems to have found its feet. It is really about the allusion of show business, television in particular. You see behind the scenes, cutting from Partridge and his co-host sitting on the sofa smiling inanely, to what happens when they're 'off-air.' The smiles vanish and we see beyond the surface. We see the cameras and other technical equipment, the make-up ladies who swoop on the presenters to apply powder and other make-up to their faces and tidy their hair before the cameras roll once more. This is more like satire than straightforward comedy. There is a good deal more to it than just being plain 'comedy.'

I have been watching further episodes of 'Warren,' the new sitcom which stars Martin Clunes, and which runs before the Alan Partridge spoof chat-show 'This Time' on BBC1. I will give this comedy the benefit of the doubt and probably go back on what I have said earlier on this blog post. It has needed three episodes to find its feet. By this episode it has settled down somewhat. That's doesn't mean I don't dislike the central character of Warren, but there is more plot and sub-plot and this episode does at least have some decent one-liners. It has a better story arc than the first two and does at least tie up at the end. Not brilliant, but like a lot of sitcom, it takes several episodes for the writers and actors to settle down, let the characters breathe and develop naturally. You can't always get the full set-up or what the characters are like in only one episode, so I will continue to watch and see how things develop. I can't imagine an actor of Martin Clunes accepting a poor quality script, and bearing in mind that this show is made by Hat Trick productions, known for it's success with comedy over the years, it's bound to improve and I'm sure it will and the BBC will be rewarded with audience figures to go with this.

Something Of Nothing

So, I'm short of things to talk about in this blog post. Which is unlike me. I can usually manage to find plenty to waffle on about. Just staring at a blank screen or sheet of paper can produce writer's block. Many writers have managed to create something out of nothing. When I'm out and about I always attempt to start conversations. If we're in a waiting room for example, as we've been doing for the last few months in N.H.S. facilities, it's always a stress-reliever if you can start a conversation. Even at the supermarket check-out, I always feel sorry for the staff who have to put up with grumpy customers who don't like waiting for any length of time. Whenever I've done any television walk-on work and I arrived early on location and have to sit and wait (a great deal of that when doing that sort of work.) I always manage to strike up conversations with all and sundry who I sit next to, usually on a bus or whatever. As a result, in some cases, I've managed to get more work, or find out such things like other agencies taking on people which has lead to me getting cast in other shows, or going for auditions for things I would have otherwise known about.

There have been quite a few instances of television shows which have had complete episodes which  utilise 'nothing much happens' for an entire 30 minutes running time. 'EastEnders' have done several complete episodes which have just a single character or only a handful of characters in a sort of one-act style storyline. Well, like most television soaps, not a lot happens, or if it does, it's very, very slowly over months and months. Then, just think of the famous 'Sunday Afternoon' episode of the classic 'Hancock's Half-Hour' where all that happens is Hancock, Sid and Bill discuss how boring things are and nothing much happens. There's an episode of 'One Foot in The Grave' where Victor, Margaret and Mrs Warboys are stuck together in their car in a traffic-jam  on the way to some Bank Holiday destination and, again, nothing much happens, except, of course, that Victor gets on everyone's nerves with his constant moaning and upsets several people who are in other cars in the jam.

Taking of traffic jams, I get annoyed when we get stuck in them on the motorway, usually when we go north on the M1 and it's caused by roadworks and they cone off one of the lanes and, as we pass by at a crawl, I look over and there's miles and miles of these roadworks and nothing going on that would possibly warrant coning this section of motorway, no sign of workmen digging holes, laying tarmac or otherwise being busy. 

Of  course, Hancock was created during the 1950's and 1960's when Sundays were boring, nothing was open, no cinemas or theatres and shops had very restricted opening hours, so sitting at home doing nothing except watching the rain-drops running down the window pains would have had resonances with most of the audience who were listening at home.

Perhaps the most famous instances of nothing happening must of course be 'Waiting For Godot' written by Samuel Beckett, where the main characters spend the entire play doing virtually nothing as they wait for Godot who never appears. It's a lot of almost gibberish dialogue.

Then there's works of art. We've been to Tate Modern and seen art which can, as best, be blank canvasses or have nothing in the way of a 'picture' on their canvasses, just canvas with a few slits in or a couple of blocks of coloured paint (think of Marc Rothco.) I won't go into the artistic value or otherwise of these pieces of 'art.' A few artists work in what's called 'conceptual art,' perhaps filling a space with  - nothing. Which is supposed to make a statement. But don't ask we what. Not actually my idea of art. Supposed to make you think.

John Cage, the composer, created a piece of music called 4'33", which consists of silence for 4 minutes 33 seconds. Quite frankly it can hardly be described as 'music,' but being a minimalist composer it couldn't be much more minimal if it consists of nothing. Not sure whether this is considered a serious piece or whether he was having a joke on the audience.

So, at the end of this blog post, where I started off with nothing, I have quite successfully managed to write about something.

More About Sitcoms

I'm continuing to watch 'The Good Life.' For something that is well over 40 years old, it stands up remarkably well. I'm more than certain I saw it when it was originally broadcast in 1975. It's the sort of thing I would have watched with my family. I think my mother would have loved it. I know it was on at about the same time that 'Fawlty Towers' was first shown, but she hated that. I can see why, as Basil Fawlty is actually quite an objectionable character. Loud and a real bigot. 

Regarding 'The Good Life.' What makes this show work so well isn't necessarily the central characters of Tom and Barbara Good (Richard Briars and Felicity Kendal in tip-top form) but the secondary characters, particularly the neighbours Margo and Jerry Leadbetter. They make a good contrast with the self-seficiency lifestyle of the Goods. Both are materialistic to a large degree. We see the homes; the Goods house deteriates a good deal the further the Goods get into their way of life while the Leadbetter's house appears very neat and tidy, expensive furniture and fixtures and fittings. What really rounds out the character of Margo in particular is the clever use of what I'd call 'Invisible' characters, those characters which have an 'off-stage' presence. Miss Mountshaft, the doyenne of the choral society of which Margo is a leading light. Although we never meet this woman, we get a great deal of description of what she's really like, and in particular, during the episode where Margo is rehearing 'The Messiah' and turns up on the Good's doorstep in a long white shift dress which she wants Barbara to take up for her and she says that Miss Mountshaft had one set of measurements, her own, so we get the idea that she must be a very large lady. The very name Miss Mountshaft is likely to get a couple of laughs as it's definitely got the potential to raise a titter or two as it's got a sort of double entendre sound to it.

Another sitcom which has an 'invisible character' is 'Keeping Up Appearances.' The Buckets have a son whom we never see, but who has a habit of telephoning and always wants something from his mother or father, usually money. This son, Sheridan, is supposed to be at University (how old is he? If Richard is retired, how old were they when he was born. If he's at university he must be in his 20's. From what we discover, he comes over as incredibly camp. Is he gay? Does Hyacinth realise? Does his father? Again, like Miss Mountshaft, this invisible character helps to round out the characters of Hyacinth and Richard.

In 'One Foot In The Grave' we hear about the Meldrew's son, who died at an early age. Although not actually an invisible character, mention of this deceased child helps to give us more information about the back story of the Meldrew's. Although Victor is generally a somewhat irritating and annoying character, giving the background of their child does give them a bit more believability and makes Victor a good deal more three-dimensional and less of a comudgeon.

A Bit More Writing and Rep At The Seaside

I managed to get some writing done this morning. Not a great deal, but at least something. I think when you're a writer you spend more time on working out plots and characters, the actual mechanics of a piece, longer than the actual, physical, pen-to-paper (or in my case, pencil.) writing. I suppose it's a bit like the scaffolding on a building site, along with the foundations, the work that goes on before the actual building with bricks and mortar s very important, the undergound pipes, sewers, drains and so on. You need the scaffolding in order to make the process of building easier.

There was a programme on television last night, BBC East, one of the 'opt-out' slots on BBC1 last night, all about the Summer Theatre at Frinton-On-Sea in Essex. I mention this place in one of my earlier posts on here. This company has been going as a weekly 'rep' for something like 76 years, doing a season of around 6-7 plays which run for a week each, and have no more than a week's rehearsal and put in in what is little more than a village hall., what is known as the McGrigor Hall I remember going to see a production of Noel Coward's play "Hay Fever" with my grandmother there when we went on our annual summer holidays when I was quite young and I think it might have been that which sparked off my interest in theatre. The closest I got to that sort of set-up when I was working in theatre was doing a season of four plays at the Century Theatre in Keswick when we each play ran for two days and then changed so we had to 'strike' the set after the show at around 10 o'clock and bring in the set for the next play and then re-light it all, including  re-setting all the furniture and props. Quite a tiring process. I can't believe that they manage to produce a show on such a tiny stage. The careers of quite a few quite well-known actors started their careers there such as Sir Anthony Sher, Gary Oldman, Vanessa Redgrave, Timothy West, David Suchet and Linda Bellingham. This television programme was narrated by Richard Wilson who was in a play there last year called "The Dog." He's of course best known to television audiences for his portrayal of the character Victor Meldrew in the sitcom "One Foot In The Grave."