More Of The Same

 Saturday. 4.00 p.m. It's a rather dull and overcast sort of afternoon. The morning started relatively sunny and pleasant, but as the day progressed it gradually became more and more overcast. I had hoped that I could go out with the video camera and do some filming, but it didn't seem such a good idea. I am gradually getting to grips with the various settings, thanks mostly to the various YouTube videos I have been watching.

I have been doing some housework. I have a Vax steam mop, which is extremely good for cleaning the floors in the flat, but it does take a great deal of effort to use. I have avoided getting a traditional mop and bucket but decided that the kitchen floor needed a decent cleaning, so I bought a Vileda mop and a bucket at Sainsbury's the other day. I put some Flash liquid in the hot water in the bucket, and I was surprised at how effective it was. I have cleaned the kitchen floor, and the bathroom, which has now got a new floor (I must have mentioned this in an earlier post.) Also, the entrance hall. It was whilst cleaning the bathroom floor that I thought I could get some new mats for the bathroom. The old ones were falling apart. I attempted to give them a machine wash a few weeks ago, but unfortunately, the sponge rubber backing came off and caused a real mess in the machine when I'd finished, and it took quite a lot of time and effort to remove it. Also in the tumble drier. So, yesterday morning I went to The Range, to buy replacement bath mats. Usually, you get a bath mat and a matching mat for the toilet, with a bit cut out to go around the pedestal. I wandered around the store, and it took me a long time to find any bath mats. What I eventually found was really not my taste, and when I did find something suitable, there was no matching mat for the toilet. I gave up and then went into Homebase, and, again, after some time wandering around the store, I left with absolutely nothing. I drove away and then went into Dunelm, which is close by. Again, a good deal of searching of the store, but, regrettably, absolutely nothing that even vaguely resembled a bath mat. By this point my patience was beginning to expire and, because my mission to purchase these items had produced nothing, I then decided, to return to my flat, to have a look on the Amazon website and, sure enough, there were plenty to choose from.  I eventually found what I thought to be perfect for the job and ordered a set and hopefully, they will be delivered this evening.

It only shows how it is so easy to find what you want on Amazon (other online stores are available.) Such a wide choice. In fact, it can often be extremely difficult to decide on an item when there is so much to choose from. Because I have Amazon Prime, I don't have to pay for post and packaging, and the item will usually be delivered the next day. 

5.00 p.m. The bath mats have been delivered from Amazon. They are a great colour and are exactly what I wanted.

Unsettled Weather?

Thursday. 7.20 a.m. It's not quite so bright and sunny this morning. As I write this, I can hear the wind howling outside. Does it want to be let in? No, but the idea of wind howling does suggest that. 

Friday. 5.40 a.m. It's raining at the moment. I took Alfie out, and we didn't stay out long. I didn't want to get wet, and neither did Alfie.

11.00 a.m. I have been to Sainsbury's. The rain held off, not that it made any difference. 

I did my shop in Sainsbury's (now there's a surprise!) and at the end, when everything I had on my list was in the trolley, I went towards the tills. By this time there was quite a crowd of customers, queuing up, like me, ready to pay. I had accepted that I was going to have to use a self-service till, even though I dislike them, basically because they always go wrong, won't accept some items, hence you get 'item in bagging area' and suchlike messages. When I arrived in the fenced-off area, where the self-service tills are situated, many of these benighted machines had  'out of service' notices on their digital screens. Crazy, to have so many customers in the store, yet not have these devices ready for your customers. A few customers were using those machines which were operating. So, I pushed my trolley out of the self-service area and attempted to find a manned till. One, (and I state ONE) was in operation, but many other manned tills weren't open. There was quite a queue forming,  people ready to put their shopping through the till. But I wasn't over-keen to wait, and then I noticed that there were now self-service tills opening, so I rushed back to the fenced-off area and managed to check off my shopping. All went well, except for one item that wouldn't scan. I just hate them. If you must insist on having these machines, which replace human-operated tills, just make sure they aren't faulty.

Saturday. 11.00 a.m. The weather is fine. Let's just hope it stays that way.

Sunday. 7.25 a.m. Not a great deal happened yesterday, as you probably can see from the one line I wrote above. I did watch the first episode of the third season of 'Clarkson's Farm' on Amazon Prime. I know he's something of a Marmite individual, you either like him or hate him (I suppose I hover mid-way.) and I must say it's very entertaining and watchable. Compared with what the BBC has to offer, a lot of which is wokefied (if that's the correct spelling. Indeed, is that even a word?) it does make a change and it's entertaining.. He certainly isn't 'politically correct' in a lot of what he does and says. 

I woke in the night and I could hear strange noises going on outside. Someone racing a car engine, making sounds which must have been annoying if you lived nearby and were trying to sleep. I think there are goings-on which the police ought to deal with, like racing along the grid roads around Milton Keynes, which is more than a little bit dangerous. I think those that do that sort of thing think, because it's late at night, that they can get away with that sort of danger, and that there won't be any police around to stop them.

1.35 p.m. It was my turn on the refreshment rota at church this morning. I don't do it alone, the lady who I work with on this is in the Thursday morning Bible study. I got to The Oaktree Centre at around 9.40 and began by filling up the coffee urn. This needs to be on, filled with ground coffee because it takes the entire length of the service to be ready to serve. The service usually lasts an hour and a half, finishing at around 12.15, but today it was a family service and finished earlier than usual, at around 11.30, so I had to leave several minutes before the end, to just make sure things were ready for when everyone came out and expecting either tea or coffee.

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.)

Pandemic Continues

Well, I'm awake at 2.10a.m. It's Wednesday morning, 22nd April. Each day, during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown is merging one day into another. Each day is becoming very much the same as the last and then the next. I couldn't sleep, so I got up to make myself a cup of tea. I turn on the television and, would you believe, someone attempting to sell me a Rug Doctor and telling me it can get rid of all that deep-down dirt, even bacteria. What about viruses? I doubt it. Live television is just boring. There's no excuse moaning about daytime television, constant programmes about antiques, people attempting to sell their house, because they've got more money than sense, so they decide to move to darkest Somerset, Dorset or Yorkshire. Selling their 2-bed semi in Maidenhead, because the kids have flown the nest and they've discovered the house is worth silly money. Then, they eventually move to the country and then discover that the nearest Tesco is a forty-minute drive from their new home, the mobile signal is weak and there's no broadband and that their family doesn't want to visit them, necessitating the new house having too many bedrooms with en suite bathrooms for them to stay in and they don't like being woken at 4a.m by the sound of bleating sheep or cockerels crowing, nor the fact that, if they do decide to drive to Tesco or the nearest town to buy a wooly jumper when it gets cold, they have to get stuck behind a tractor and trailer, crawling along at 5 miles per hour and there's now way they can overtake because the roads are narrow and there's nowhere you can safely overtake.

What I'm saying is, you don't have to put up with all this daytime stuff, just there to fill up space in the schedule. Come on, you've got catch-up television, BBC iPlayer, which has a rich variety of back-catalogue material to whet your appetite, not just more recent stuff, on their from the previous day, but some of it going back several years. (Oher catch-up services are available, such as ITV Hub, as well as streaming services such as Netflix and the newest service, Britbox. Then there's Amazon Prime video.) I scrolled through what was available on BBC iPlayer. There's stuff from the last few days and months, but it seems the BBC has realised that it has a great back catalogue of material which it can upload to iPlayer because people are relying on television for entertainment because of having to stay at home due to the lockdown. Channel 4 has box sets of their own stuff and, as something of a fan of Time Team, there's virtually every episode of that to watch. I have seen two of the first episodes of the original series and I'm shocked that Tony Robinson looks so young! Not surprising as it started in the early 1990's. I watched 'Scarborough,' the new BBC1 sitcom set in the Yorkshire seaside town. Having visited Scarborough on a couple of occasions and done a month in a summer season at the Spa Theatre, I know it reasonably well. This sitcom has a certain reality about it, probably because it's shot on location and it has characters what you can relate to and a good mix of ages, not all young and they have cast older actors such as Stephanie Cole who is probably best know for shows such as Tenko, Waiting For God, Doc Martin and Open All Hours. There isn't the usual studio audience cackling away in the background which there seems no real point in having and wouldn't really work in a show like this. I think she would be described as a character actor, as she can take on a wide range of parts and not get tied to a 'type.' It has a sharp script and the author, Darren Little,obviously has a keen ear for dialogue.

So, it's now 5.15.m., and I'm somewhat bored and still can't sleep, hence sitting and writing this. It's getting light outside and I've done the washing-up and the kitchen is sparkling clean. I'm finding things to keep myself occupied and I've even done the one job I detest above all others, changed the bedding. Putting a duvet cover on is one of the worst jobs but at least it's done and it can go in the wash later this afternoon.

(Thursday) I'm awake earlier than yesterday. It's 4.45, although I was awake far earlier. I've been reading my book, 'The Age of Decadence' by Simon Heffer, covering the period 1880 to 1914. A thick book of some 750 or possibly more pages and written in amazing detail. I have washed up in the kitchen and even had a shave and I have just learnt from the BBC website that social restrictions are likely to go on for the rest of the year. If that's the case, we're just going to have to get used to it, although I'm not sure how church is going to cope and how many people are going to cope if that's how things are likely to remain.

I've done the washing up as well as some other housework. I mentioned yesterday that I'd changed the duvet and bedding. The excitement is too much (irony here) and it's washed and back in the airing cupboard.

I watched the Globe Theatre production of 'Romeo and Juliet,' which is one of the free-to-view theatre productions being streamed via YouTube. I enjoyed it, plenty of good sword fights (I noticed, the fights were arranged by Malcolm Ranson, who was an A.S.M. or at least on the stage management team when I was an A.S.M. at Greenwich Theatre in the early 1970's.) This production had plenty of energy, good chemistry between the actors playing Romeo and Juliet and I loved the use of live music and the singing to underline some of the action. They really brought out the comedy some of which is actually quite raunchy, particularly the way The Nurse is treated. She is usually played by a much older actor  but in this production she is a good deal younger than usual.

I have been watching another episode of one of my favourite, and I think probably the best sitcoms, 'Outside Edge.' I have mentioned it somewhere on here in the past. It was made during the 1990s, by the now defunct ITV company, Central, and is based on the stage play of the same name. It revolves around a village cricket team, although not entirely about cricket (thank goodness, as I can't stand it. Memories of school enough to put me off entirely, unfortunately.) It has Brenda Blethyn and Robert Daws as one couple and Timothy Spall and  Josie Lawrence as two sets of married couples (there are others, but these two are the central characters.) I just think it's brilliant, and not your classic 'sitcom' in the sense that it's not set in a house, no sofas and no cackling studio audience and it's filmed on location which gives it a more realistic feel. I don't know how many episodes there where, but the one I saw earlier would seem to be one I haven't seen before, where the Timothy Spall and Josie Lawrence characters are set to re-take their wedding vows and it's all arranged, everyone is in church ready, and they can't make it to the church because they're in the loft of the lady who lives next door, attempting to find her cat which has decided to get itself stuck. As usual in a sitcom, there are complications and misunderstandings, but it ends up sorting itself out as any decent and respectable comedy should. The recent comedy I mentioned in an earlier blog post, 'Scarborough' is similar in that it doesn't have a studio audience and it's filmed on location. Brenda Blethyn is in an ITV sitcom, set, again, in a seaside town (why so many sitcoms set in seaside towns?) called 'Kate and Koji' and set in a café, although, having watched the first two episodes, I can't say I'm that impressed. It tries to hard and it's not particularly funny or well written. One-set, not particularly interesting group of characters and the storylines aren't that brilliant either.

I ordered some clip files and permanent marker pens from Staples. They don't have a bricks-and-mortar presence any more and the Milton Keynes branch closed some while ago. I went on line to order these items and was expecting them to be delivered in a week or two because of the pandemic and was a little surprised to see the delivery van draw up outside when I looked out of the window. I always ensure that I get the address correct when I order, but the driver thought the address was for another house in Dexter Avenue, so I went down to the front door and got the parcel.

Later. I've just been out with Alfie. As we were walking along Strudwick Drive on our way to Oldbrook Green, Alfie was surprised to see a cat in the garden of Dexter House, through the metal gate which is used by the mowers when they come to cut the grass. The cat was only a few feet inside the garden and laying in the sun, as cats seem to do, and Alfie pulled on his lead and refused to move, and began barking, but the cat steadfastly refused to budge an inch. I had to insist on Alfie moving away, but it took quite an effort of get him away from the gate.

Arriving at the other side of Oldbrook Boulevard, I noticed a group of youths playing football, or at least, some ball game, on the area of tarmac which is partially enclosed by fencing, and to me they didn't appear to be obeying the social distancing regulations.

Friday. I'm watching the National Theatre 'Twelfth Night' which is being streamed free on YouTube. A very clever staging, using the revolve and Tamsin Greig is absolutely amazing as Malvolia. A really stunning performance. Too good to miss. I know the play from doing it for 'O' Level and to degree level. When I first got to know Carol (we met on line.) and she was teaching at Stantonbury. she had to teach Twelfth Night and had no idea how to plan lessons, so I helped because of my knowledge of the play. I have seen quite a few productions over the years (if you know me I have a bit of an obsession about Shakespeare, from the historical as well as the literary angle.). But this one is a real knock-out.

Wild, Wet and Windy

(Tuesday)It's a wild and stormy day here in darkest Milton Keynes. Storm Brendan is battering the United Kingdom from the west and, going out with Alfie as I did early this morning, it took all my time and effort to remain standing upright. I took Alfie out for a second time at 1.30 and the wind was a good deal stronger. It's dustbin-day in this area and people had put their rubbish out for collection and some of it, mostly boxes and bags of rubbish, was being blown into the road. Someone along the road has obviously bought a Hitachi HD television (a smaller version of mine I have reason to suspect, along with a Henry vacuum cleaner, as indicated by the remaining wind-blown packaging. The other day some bright spark had dumped an old television in the side entrance to Dexter House. Could it be the same person who purchased the Hitachi television and dumped. More like, fly-tipped. the carton in the road? I think there may be a connection.)

Walking around Oldbrook Green there is paper and goodness knows what else being blown about by the wind. As the day has gone on, the wind seems to have got a good deal stronger. I took out Alfie again at around 1.30, but I don't think he appreciated the weather and tried his hardest to return home.

I didn't go to Camphill on Tuesday because I didn't feel 100%. A rather shaky feeling when I got up and horrible tingling in my feet.  It was rather like an electric shock, although quite mild. I don't know what's caused this, but probably some side-effect of the medication I'm on. I didn't think I was safe to drive the car, so I stayed in the flat. I need to discuss this with either a doctor, cardiologist or pharmacist.

(Wednesday) It's not so wild and wet outside this morning. The wind has dropped, thank goodness, and the rain has stopped.

I've been to put fuel in the car at the Shell station in Grafton Street. I've done well, because the last time I put in fuel was on Christmas Eve, on my way out of Milton Keynes, driving to Worcester for Christmas. It just shows how economical the Renault Captur is, being able to drive to Worcester and back as well as driving around Milton Keynes. Then I went to Sainsbury's and did a fairly large shop which means I have enough meals for a couple of weeks.

Went out with Alfie as soon as I'd unpacked my shopping and put it away. It was almost spring-like as we walked along Strudwick Drive. I have mentioned the amount of litter which has accumulated around the area, most around Oldbrook Green and, in particular, the litter bins. I did mention that this had been removed but today I again saw a couple of Council employees litter-picking, and one had a wheelbarrow with a black bin bag in for the litter. Why on earth people have to fling their litter on the ground I can't think. It seems it's usually the younger generation who do this, unfortunately. I always assumed that the youth of today were more environmentally aware than, say, my generation, but it would appear that this is not the case.

I went out with Alfie at around 2 o'clock this afternoon and no sooner had we got outside and in Dexter Avenue, walking towards Strudwick Drive, than the sound of a siren could be heard and within a few seconds a fire engine could be seen, moving, at great speed, towards Oldbrook Boulevard. I couldn't walk fast enough to get to the crossing onto Oldbrook Green, but I could see it turn left along Oldbrook Boulevard but by the time we reached the crossing it was well out of sight. No sign of smoke, so it was impossible to know where it was going. It could have been going to a fire, of course, but you have to remember that the fire service can go to other incidents, unrelated to fire.

As I walked along with Alfie, I followed a man in dark clothes carrying what looked like some sort of camera, with a sort of digital screen attached to it, rather like a smart phone. When he got to the green, near where men and boys kick a football into a goal, he put down the back pack he had on and it was clear that the device wasn't a camera, but the radio control of a drone. A few days ago I was again walking towards Oldbrook Green and I heard this high-pitched noise. It would be difficult to describe, but rather like something moving at speed, a bit like a sort of mechanical sound. As we got closer, I saw the small drone the man was operating. It flew up high into the sky and made a sort of insect-like sound, rather like a mosquito. It flew vertically and was quite scary and I don't think Alfie liked it. This afternoon it was being flown again and, as we got to the green, there was a flock of seagulls sitting on the grass and they flew up into the air and were scared off by the drone. We did our usual circuit of the Green, and by the time we got back to the crossing, I heard a sort of clunk sound and I think the drone crashed into the ground. Whether it got broken or not, I wasn't sure, but the speed it was going, up and down and then horizontally, I can assume that if it came down too quickly and the operator mis-judged the height,  and it must have crashed into the ground and therefore got broken.

I'm using my newly-acquired and up-dated Fire TV Stick. It has Alexa voice control built-in and 'she' will work if you press the button on the remote to operate the gadget. You have to wait for the blue line to appear at the top of the screen before 'she' will answer and do your bidding. You can call up apps which you download, such as YouTube, or else, if the thing is set up properly, play music from the Amazon Music store. I used to pay a monthly fee, but I cancelled it and now only have the free service which comes with Amazon Prime. Alexa will also play voice activated games, some based on television gameshows, such as Pointless, Deal Or No Deal or The Chase. But some of these only go so far and you can't complete them unless you pay a fee (which I haven't.), which means they can be a bit frustrating as you don't get to the final (if you manage to answer questions correctly.

Technical Problems and Medication

I've been having technical problems with my Panasonic Freeview set-top box. I think I've mentioned that I replaced Sky with Freeview. It made sense, because I didn't get the best value from their service and it was costing quite a bit for the privilege of having their service, and Freeview is, well, free. The new set-top box has been working perfectly successfully, but they keep on upgrading the software (I presume that's what it does, you keep getting messages to do this and then when you try to find channels, they have moved them around or added new ones. Somewhat annoying.) But after one up-grade, for some reason or other the box wouldn't connect by wi-fi to the internet router, which meant that I couldn't use the catch-up facility which it has, so couldn't use BBC iPlayer or ITV Hub and all the other similar services.  No amount of fiddling with the various settings would re-connect to the router. I have now got it working again, not connecting via wi-fi, but by connecting a cable to the box and plugging it in to the router. The cable purchased from Amazon and ordered on Thursday and delivered yesterday evening. One of the advantages of having Amazon Prime, you get next-day delivery on virtually all that they sell. The Freeview box is now working as it should and I'm enjoying watching a lot of archive material on the BBC iPlayer.

I recently up-graded my Fire Stick to one which now has Alexa voice control. This was bought for half-price during Amazon's Black Friday period, so it seemed a good enough excuse to get one. Not only do you get the range of video material but by using Alexa you can have games, which are voice-operated. I was surprised how easy it was to set up and get running. I'm really glad that I bought this when I did.

I have mentioned that I had been prescribed Sertraline and Temazepam. The first is a anti-depressant and the second is a sleeping tablet. I took the Temazepam for only a couple of nights but found that there were unpleasant side-effects. I don't think it helped me sleep, even though I had a hot bath and a hot-milky drink before going to bed. I still wake at around 4a.m. and was then unable to return to sleep, but the next morning I felt really nauseous and got horrible shakes, which didn't go off completely until around midday. I stopped taking it a day or two before I was due to drive to Worcester for Christmas, because I don't think I would have been safe to drive the car.

Later. I took Alfie out for his usual early-morning walk, walking along Strudwick Drive and across Oldbrook Boulevard and I couldn't help seeing 'that woman' who stands in the road stopping cars and asking for money. This must be the sixth time I've seen her. I was keen to get back to Dexter House without the possibility of her stopping me or even following me back. She's dressed the same way as she has been before, tidily dressed, wearing dark trousers or leggings, a short top, like a bomber jacket, has short-copped hair, mousy-coloured, aged mid 40's early 50's, height around 5' 8. When I got back to the flat I rang 101 and told the Police of this woman, because I'm concerned for her safety, either getting run over or even stabbed by someone (unfortunately these things happen.) She must live somewhere nearby in Oldbrook and presumably in a residential home for people with either learning disabilities or mental health issues. If so (and it seems more than likely.) she must have a key worker or at least a support worker, or even a social worker who would look after her care.

Later still. Having sorted out the Freeview box (as explained above.) the Fire Stick was playing up on Sunday evening. It would not connect to the wi-fi router. I could not get a connection until I restarted it (having gone to the Amazon site and searching for 'help.' This worked and it soon joined the wi-fi router and the problem was solved.

This And That

I've been doing The Bible Course at church and fortunately it's being run during the day, which is better for me, because if it was run in the evening, as most of these courses are, by about 8 o'clock I'm beginning to flag somewhat and my concentration goes out of the window. There is one more session next week and the 8 weeks is over. I think I'll give it a rest on the course front for a while. I went from the Oaktree Centre to Sainsbury's, because I had been texted by Lloyd's pharmacy that my repeat prescription was ready to collect. I can't believe they had it ready so quickly, because I did the order on line only a couple of days ago. From there, I went home, and had lunch, a sandwich bought in Sainsbury's, sitting and watching Bargain Hunt, something of a habit, I know, but nevertheless, I have learnt quite a bit about antiques from this show. It was being done in aid of Children In Need, with Debbie MaGee and Joe Pasquale and Richard Cadell and the infamous Sooty (in a box. WHY? We all know it's a man with his hand up the backside of a bit of fur fabric, so why the pretence? And why does Sooty never speak??? I've always wondered that, as a child, and even more so as an adult. Well, the wretched Sweep squeaks, so why doesn't the bear talk?) what has happened to Sooty? He looks different. His face is fatter. Has he been stuffing his face on cakes and buns? It's not the same Sooty I remember as a child. Mind you, when I was an A.S.M. at Liverpool Playhouse in the early 1970's I remember Harry Corbett bringing Sooty to the Playhouse for a week of shows, and being disappointed that there was actually more than ONE Sooty! I saw the many and various versions of Sooty as a puppet and it somewhat spoilt the illusion that they used more than one puppet. How soon the innocence of youth can be spoilt by such things.  But, it was for a good cause. Then, with his pleading eyes, Alfie insisted on going for a walk around Oldbrook Green. (Well, he'd been left all alone since I went out at about 9.15, so he did deserve it, poor little mite.)

A lot of really good television drama coming up. 'His Dark Materials' has already got to the second episode, of, how many? Is it eight or ten? Well, at least they're giving it space to breathe and do justice to the really complex storyline. Season two already in the works, so I believe. They're got the feel of the 'alternative Oxford,' Sort of steampunk feel, with airships as a form of transport. The Daemons are C.G.I., photo-realistic and seem to work very well, fitting in to the action very well and don't look as if they've been pasted on as some C.G.I. characters do, such as has happened in the revived 'Doctor Who.' Then, following that series, 'The War of The Worlds.' I'm intrigued to see how they manage to do this, set in the late 19th century, at the time it was written. I read all of H.G.Wells science fiction books when I was a teenager, 'The invisible Man,' 'First Men In The Moon,'The Time Machine' and 'The War of The Worlds.' Wells was amazing in that he was writing far in advance of his time and probably best described as The Father of Science Fiction. His short stories are also worth looking at and some are really creepy. Then 'The Crown' returns on Netflix, with Season 3, which, as far as I can understand, takes up the story in the 1970's and I think covers the Miners' Strike and other matters. Meanwhile, not to be outdone, Amazon concludes 'The Man In The High Castle,' which I've been following and have found to be really intriguing and I'm looking forward to how it all ties up. Can't wait to see what all these channels and other television services come up with. I know Apple TV + has just started and then there's Britbox, which is a joint venture between BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

Willen, Strange Phone Calls and Stents

Not easy writing this blog post. You will have noticed, if you're an avid follower of my posts on here, that I haven't posted anything for more than a week. We now know that Carol's cancer has spread, to her lungs and bones. I'm sorry, but there's no cure, no chemotherapy will destroy the tumour. It's really difficult to put these words on here. All I can do as a good husband is to be by her side, to help her with the pain whenever possible.  She is getting good care at Willan Hospice. We don't know how much time we've got left. It's appalling for me and the family. I have support from my church, Shenley Christian Fellowship. As you will no doubt be aware I have been attending this church since last year and I can't thank everyone there for visiting Carol, either at home, in Milton Keynes Hospital and now at Willen. 

Carol's mum and dad as well as her sister Jackie visited last week (I think it was last week. Time has gone into a sort of over-drive since all this began.) They came up from Bournemouth on the Monday and then stayed with family in Leicester, coming down alternate days and then returned home on the Friday of that week.

On the Tuesday I took Alfie, our Yorkshire Terrier, in to Willan Hospice to see Carol. I had to take him in the cage in the back of the car. No sooner had he got out of the car, than be began to bark noisily. In fact he barked almost all the time he was at Willen. I took him into Carol's room and he licked Carol's hands and face. I think she was really pleased to see him, but was somewhat concerned with him barking. Understandable, really, because we didn't want to upset any of the other patients. The staff loved him and made a great fuss of him, which Alfie, as expected, loved every minute of being stroked and being the centre of attention.

I had a telephone call yesterday. I rushed to pick up the thing, which is in the hallway. I'm talking here about our landline telephone. It's one of those cordless models. which means the unit sits in a docking cradle to keep the thing charged, so you can pick it up to answer and speak and talk anywhere within the house. On putting the thing to my ear there was no immediate response, no voice at the other end. I said 'hello!,' several times, then a further few seconds of silence. A sort of hollow sound, then a really awful, obviously mechanical or at least, recorded female voice said 'Good bye!!' and that was the end to the call. So, can someone tell me, what was it all about? Who on earth would bother to make a telephone call and then . . . .  just silence, followed by the awful female voice saying 'Good bye!' Someone's idea of a joke. If so, a rather pathetic one. What a waste of time and effort.

I've since been on Google to look for 'silent telephone calls,' and according to Ofcom these calls are not illegal, but if you can find out who sends them you can complain to them to get the company involved fined if they make too many of them.

I took Alfie out for his routine morning walk at about 7.15 this morning. Alfie doesn't understand that we can't go out when it's dark. It gets lighter later and later. I'm a bit annoyed that I make a real effort to pick up Alfie's poo and put it in a bin. I always carry at least one black doggy bag in my pocket for this eventuality, but it's unfair that some people don't pick up after their dogs as I see quite a lot of excrement on my walk around Eaglestone Park with Alfie. On the way back along the patch back to the house I am shocked to see a postman delivering mail. I don't think I've seen a postman much before midday around here ever. Certainly not in the time I've lived in Milton Keynes. There was a time once, long ago, when you could virtually set your watch by the postman delivering. In Bedford you used to get a delivery at 7 a.m, more or less on the dot, and then a second one around 11 a.m. Certainly not now. They seem to deliver when they feel like it. The other day we got our post delivered at around 4.30 p.m. which was a real shock.

When I got back home there was a pile of mail on the doormat. One was a package from Amazon, with a book in it which I ordered about a week ago. I am supposed to get stuff from Amazon delivered within 24 hours as I have Amazon Prime. Not really sure what they've been doing with that package. Usually Amazon uses their own delivery drivers for their parcels, but this was the Royal Mail. Never mind. At least I got my order . . .  eventually. But it seems the Royal Mail is slipping.

In that pile of mail I had a letter from the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford telling me that I would need a second stent fitted. No doubt they know what they're doing because it came from Professor Keith Channon, Honorary Consultant Cardiologist and Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine. I would imagine he has seen the scans done when I had the perfusion test done at Oxford all those weeks ago. I did wonder when I was going to hear. I'm not sure whether I will have to stay in hospital after having the procedure done and how I'm going to get there as well as back as I  don't think I could drive in either direction. Far too stressful.

HD Television Breakdown

Why don't electronics manufacturers make the things they make and sell more robust and reliable? We've had several electronic items breakdown, the most recent our Toshiba HD television. We bought it no more than four years ago, but it began to show signs of not working properly, first with the picture disappearing, but the sound remaining, this happening a couple of times, but eventually the picture would not come back on. It now stands on the desk on our bedroom, and downstairs we have replaced it with the small television we had upstairs and connected to a Sky Mini box, which meant we could watch all that Sky had to offer when we were in bed. This little set is fine for things like t news or the occasional programme we want to see in bed, but the quality isn't up to much, the picture isn't brilliant and the sound is awful. But I suppose that's what you get for your money. I think it was under £100 from Sainsbury's.  The Toshiba was around 35 inches, not the largest model, but it was a reasonable television set, meaning not only that we could connect it to our Sky Q box, but it had enough connectivity to allow us to also have an Amazon Fire stick connected, meaning a lot more variety of what we could watch, a great deal of it free (we have Amazon Prime, meaning we pay £79 a year and get free postage and packing when we buy from Amazon as well as a subscription to Amazon television programmes and films.)All these electronic items are connected via wifi through our Sky router. This unfortunately failed last week but it wasn't actually the router that went wrong, but the socket in the wall which has now been repaired by Openreach who actually own and run the internet network. The set had a built-in DVD player which was great because it meant we didn't have to have a separate player taking up further space as well as all the cables that would have entailed. This set are from Argos, who have a good selection of televisions to choose from

We had a microwave, a Cookworks model. Probably not the top-of-the-range model. It was also a grill, although we never used this facility. It hadn't lasted very well, rusting extremely quickly, the inside particularly. It has hardly been used, as we don't rely on microwaved food, usually cooking with our conventional oven. So recently I had to dispose of the microwave and took it to the tidy-tip in Bleak Hall. I believe in having stuff recycled where possible, so I expect it to be broken up and some if not all of it will be reused in some way or other. This also came from Argos.

The same thing happened to an electronic oven a couple of months ago. It was a Beko and we bought it via Amazon. But it failed because the oven gave up. It wouldn't heat up enough to cook a meal. The hob began to rust badly, so it was necessary for it to be replaced. We bought it via Very, which means we will pay it using our credit account. It was delivered and installed at a cost of I think about £35. They also took the old oven away after it was installed. The new one is a Hotpoint. It also has a ceramic hob. These seem far easier to keep clean and are reasonably reliable. But you still have to keep them wiped as soon as there is a spill or at least use the correct cleaner to keep them working properly.

Do manufacturers make the products they sell deliberately to break down? Do they have to be made of materials that wear out faster than in the past? If they don't (and I can't imagine they'd admit such a thing) it certainly seems that they do. It seems that things have a sort of built-in obsolescence which means that they don't last so that you are more or less impelled to go out and replace them. And as a result, have to spend out more money.  Some things, such as VHS cassette recorders, are now redundant and replaced by things like Sky's digital recorders which don't need tape or discs to record (or Freeview's various set-top boxes which have the facility to record programmes or Virgin's equivalent recorder.) In some ways these machines do mean you don't have all those clunky cassettes lying about the place and all the subsequent bother of having to fast-forward to find any particular scene on a tape as well as the wear-and-tear of these tapes, stretching and generally the annoyance of having tape in a plastic box. The same could be said of audio cassettes, which, in my opinion, were more trouble than they were worth. And don't forget 8-Track cassettes which were also dreadful and it's just as well they got junked.

One redundant system which hasn't survived and that's MiniDisc. I bought myself a micro sound system in around 2000 and it had a MiniDisc player in it. Very good quality machine made by Denon. It is a good system and takes up very little space near the television. But the MiniDisc system never seemed to catch on, presumably a replacement for cassettes. You can record on them, they're compact, (one will sit in the palm of your hand easily) is robust and the sound quality is about the same as a CD. But for some reason they never caught on, no doubt because they couldn't compete with MP3, downloadable from iTunes (and many other sites.) and uploaded onto iPods and other similar players, probably onto mobile phones. No moving parts and a machine will store thousands of tracks. A player is light and small, fits in your pocket and plays through neat little earphones. It's unfortunate that such a brilliant piece of kit as MiniDisc should become redundant, but that is the situation. I don't think the discs are sold anywhere, unless there are large stocks of them in a warehouse somewhere, but I don't suppose they are still manufactured.

These products come with guarantees and warranties (what is the difference between them?) When you buy these relatively expensive items you get the option to buy extended guarantees. I don't know whether they are worth having, because you can pay out a considerable amount of money each month for breakdown cover and it's probably more expensive in the long term (probably several years) and would be cheaper to just buy a new item, such as a television.

Reading Bill Bryson's 'The Road To Little Dribbling' and other thoughts . . .

Around 20 years ago I read Bill Bryson's book 'Notes From A Small Island.' It was interesting to read a book written by an American who had a sort of affection for our Green and Pleasant land. I am again reading a book written by Bryson, which is called 'The Road To Little Dribbling: More Notes From A Small Island.' He travels around Great Britain and comments on things that he sees, some of them the idiosyncrasies of life living in Britain. Much of his thoughts are similar to mine and reflects a great deal of  what I write on this blog. It's no wonder the book is so high in the charts, as published in the Sunday Times. As of the past Sunday Times (21st August 2016), the book is number 2 in the General Paperbacks section and has been in the top 10 for nineteen weeks, having sold somewhere in the region of 194,230 copies. I can see why he's so popular. An American, or even an outsider, who gives his own views on some of the quirks of Britain. He often compares America with Britain, particularly in the chapter when he discusses mobile phones (why do Americans refer to them as 'cellphones'?) As George Bernard Shaw put it so succinctly, 'two countries divided by one language.' Why are some words such as 'colour,' 'harbour' spelt without the 'u' in America, for example? Or 'cookie' in America and 'biscuit' in Britain? This isn't in the book, by the way. Just me making the observation. He discusses the obsession people in Britain have with their mobiles, and why they insist, particularly in public places, such as on trains, to have to talk so loudly when having a conversation. Why do we have to have voices in machines such as self-service checkouts at supermarkets, in lifts (elevators in America. Why?) or on moving walk-ways? These are issues I have discussed in earlier blog posts on here, and give me endless pleasure. I enjoy observing the peculiarities of people I come across in my daily activities, such as in the supermarket or when out and about generally.  A real fount of endless amusement. I think you will see this if you read any of my blog posts.  Bill Bryson made some rather uncomplimentary remarks in his earlier book about Milton Keynes, which I find rather annoying, having lived here for the past ten years. He has visited many of the same places that we visit, including Bournemouth, Dorset and the south coast, as well as Avebury, which we visited last week, Stonehenge and many other British places. Anyway, Mr Bryson and I have so much in common, including the fact that we're about the same age, although I'm probably about a year older. This particular book is on offer at the moment in Waterstone's and was one of the books you can select from a range of other books in their which they have in their 'Buy One, get one Half-Price' offers. I can't resist bookshops, and Waterstones in particular. I love books as you will have realised if you've read any of these blog posts. I have many books waiting to be read and if there's an offer on in Watersones, such as their 'buy two and get one free' or 'buy one and get one half price' I just can't resist. Well, who couldn't? But Amazon is where I tend to buy most of my books because they are generally so much cheaper than elsewhere. I know that Amazon has been vilified lately because of not paying their fair share on tax and so on, but when you can have virtually any book and then get it delivered within 24 hours (we have Amazon Prime, incidentally.) and not pay any postage or packing, it is so easy and simple to order as well as finding books that I wouldn't otherwise have found anywhere else. This is worked out because they can recommend books based on what you've ordered or have in your 'saved for later' list on their website.

Watching Amazon TV Series 'The Man In The High Castle'

Besides having Sky as our 'television provider' we also have Amazon Fire, which is linked to Amazon Prime. A couple of years ago Carol bought a Kindle Fire, and as part of the deal, we got Prime free, which meant we got anything we purchased through Amazon came with free delivery as well as Amazon's 'on demand' television service. When the first year ran out we had to decide whether to continue with it and pay £79 a year and to purchase a Fire Stick. This we did and set up the Fire Stick which connects to our Sky wifi router. You then get a wide range of 'apps' which allows you to watch television shows and films free but also some which you have to pay for through the Amazon account. There are quite a few similar services besides this Amazon service, including Netflix. We can get the main channels 'on demand' such as BBC, through their iPlayer as well as Channel 4, Channel 5, as well as a few more besides. Very good, except you can't download and keep the programmes as you can with your Sky+ box. I'm not sure whether the newer Fire box which Amazon recently introduced allows this, but it costs a good dea than the Fire Stick (which I originally bought from Argos and costs around £34 which, considering what it does seems very reasonable, particularly if you don't have Sky, Virgin or any of the other 'television providers.') We used to have Freeview at this address but found that, because we didn't have an outdoor ariel, the signal was poor. So we looked around for a solution and found that Sky was perhaps best. It was when we were searching around that we discovered that Virgin wasn't available in this area because Milton Keynes, although a modern city, didn't have a cable network to carry the Virgin television or telephone network.

It's great having Television 'catch-up' services such as iPlayer and similar as you can not only watch programmes you might otherwise miss when they are originally broadcast (usually up to a month.) but there is quite a lot of what I'd call 'back-catalogue' material. We've watched 'Doc Martin' through the Fire Stick which also means you can miss the advertising. We did start watching 'Downton Abbey,' having recorded episodes on the Sky+ box but the adverts we so annoying and irritating that we didn't bother to watch any further episodes but eventually caught up with the final series when it was on the I.T.V. 'player.' It now appears that all six series are on Sky+ 'box sets.' With Netflix producing a remake of the B.B.C. series "House of Cards" with Kevin Spacey in the lead role, and the fact you can 'binge' watch all the episodes and don't have to wait a week before the next episode is available to watch, you can see why companies such as Amazon are making their own television shows for 'instant' download or steam. (Incidentally, I was a 'Walk-On' in the BBC version of 'House of Cards.")

I am currently watching an 'Amazon Original' series called "The Man In The High Castle." It's based on a novel by Philip K. Dick, who is best know for writing the novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep," which was the basis for the film "Blade Runner." That film was directed by Ridley Scott, who is also Executive Producer of "The Man In The High Castle." I am enjoying this series immensely. It is set in an alternative future where the Nazis won the Second World War and rule America jointly with the Japenese. This shows that television can beat cinema when it comes to story-telling because you can the time, over 10 hour-long episodes, to allow the narrative to breathe and characters to develop over time, which you cannot possibly have with a film which for no more than three hours.

This is dark and brooding and has a real chill to it. I think it's because it's believable. We know that the Nazis obviously didn't win the war, but this could so nearly have happened. It's this that gives it the edge. Only only criticism is that many of the scenes are in almost impenetrable darkness, to such an extent that you can barely see what's going on. I realize that this under-lit quality adds to the suspense and atmosphere, but it doesn't really help that you can't see clearly what's going on. I do like the fact that you, as the audience, has to actually work hard to make out what's going on, they don't give everything away. I like being able to make conclusions for myself. A lot of modern television and cinema is far too obvious. It's almost as if the makers assume you don't have the intelligence to work things out for yourself. It have a certain cinematic look, well photographed and the set design and costumes are well executed. I would imagine they had a fairly large budget to be able to give it that 'look.'

Further Thoughts on 'Downton Abbey'

Warning: Spoilers

We have been watching the television series 'Downton Abbey' on catch-up. Over the last few weeks we have more or less 'binged' on the show.  The earlier episodes have been shown on the digital channel I.T.V Encore and then put on download or 'catch-up' through our Sky subscription, but we were stuck at the end of series 4 and there were no more episodes so we were left stranded, mid-air, as it were. We now have an Amazon Fire Stick which allows you to watch films and television shows which are streamed via the internet and, as members of what is called Amazon Prime, we can see a lot of stuff free (although we pay a £79 annual subscription which also means we can get free postage and packing when we buy anything via Amazon's website which is very convenient.) We did attempt to see the first episode of the series when it first came out, but, having watched it including advertising, we gave up. It has been taken over by so much advertising we couldn't cope with it, and  one of the advantages of catch-up television is that there's no advertising every ten minutes or so. Ads for sofas, car insurance and mobile phones is enough to put anyone off. We discovered that 'Downton Abbey' was one of the many television series we could watch, but up until the end of series 4. It appears that the final series is not free to watch. We will have to pay considerably more to watch it, but it's likely to be free once the final, Christmas episode is shown on Christmas Day. I have mentioned the show in previous posts but since watching it up until the end of series 5 (sorry, I refuse to use the American term 'season.') there is a good deal more about it which I want to discuss.

I'm still more interested in the 'downstairs' staff than the 'upstairs' family. The Earl of Grantham, as played by Hugh Bonneville, is a real stick in the mud. Reluctant to break with tradition and see the estate move forward into the 20th Century, or so it seems. Likewise, Carson, the Butler, seems to do anything to avoid any sort of modernisation. Why do the ladies need maids to help them dress and undress? Likewise, the gentlemen, can they not dress themselves? I understand that, during the earlier period, the Victorian and Edwardian eras, when the women wore corsets, loads of petticoats, had lots of hooks and eyes in their boots and shoes and cross-lacings in their dresses which would require a lady's maid to help, and the men wore stiff collars and cuffs in their shirts and the fact that clothes needed more care because they needed folding neatly, but it seems the aristocrats are incapable of any sort of work. But in the later period, for example the 1920's when clothing became simpler, ladies wore lighter dresses without any sort of lacings, they wouldn't obviously need assistance with their dressing and undressing. I can see, as regards plots, the valets and ladies' maids are integral to the storilines as they have to keep secrets divulged by their misstresses and masters. As regards the kitchen staff, as time goes on there are more appliances used in the kitchen which made the staff's lives much easier. We have visited many National Trust properties and seen the kitchens, notably Crag Side in Northumberland and Ickworth in Suffolk and they have modern (or at least, modern at the time they were introduced in, say, the 1920s and 30's.) At Cragside, for instance, the whole house was run using hydrolectric power. Infact, I believe it might have been the first country house to use any sort of electricity. The power generated worked such things as spits for roasting and even a lift between floors of the house and lighting. In 'Downton Abbey' the introduction of the telephone and radio seems to cause a huge stir amongst the artistocratic members of the household and the downstairs staff. At one point Carson is horrified by the thought of having to use the telephone but after a while relents and uses the thing frequently.

The 'downstairs' staff have more interesting 'story arcs.' Daisy has had the most interesting 'story arc' and has definitely grown as the show has gone on. She is now considering an education and hopefully will be able to break free from a life of drudgery downstairs. All this bought about since she had lessons with the schoolteacher, a rather firey character with Socialist leanings. In one particular scene when she comes to dinner at the house, she gets on the wrong side of the Earl of Grantham with her left-wing views. At this point we see a different side of Robert not seen until then. I think the way the stories have managed to utilize historic events, such as the sinking of the Titanic at the very beginning of the first series, the First World War and it's effects on staff and family, the move forward into the 1920's, the 'Jazz Age' and the introduction of such things as motor transport, radio, telephone and so on has been well done. Also, how the class system has shifted and how ordinary people has aspire to greater things rather than be stuck in a rut at the bottom of the pile. However, it will be interesting to see how the aristocracy cope with change as they have to come to terms with this shift in the class system and how they manage to deal with declining estates, the upkeep of large houses and also their fortunes being eroded by higher taxation etc etc.

The Grantham family run and own a vast estate with acres of land and property and they are often seen on horseback. But only minimally. I think there has been a foxhunt at some point and we've seen one of the ladies on horseback at a steeplechase. I think the fox hunting element has been only seen on a very small amount  of screen time to avoid upsetting the politically correct contingency, but let's be honest, the aristocracy have not been known to avoid upsetting people with their hunting, shooting fishing and generally ill-treatment of the wildlife of the countryside. There has been some shooting going on, but what else do these 'types' get up to? Compared to the downstairs staff, they're generally a very dull lot. 'Stiff upper lip' describes them well. Don't show your emotions (the men, of course.) except when the dog dies, not show any affection for your better half. Reserved, stoical etc etc. Meanwhile, the women are self-centred, moody, emotional, and thoroughly heartless in some cases. Mary spent episode after episode moping after the death of Matthew (understandable, up to a point I suppose.) And then she became a man-chaser. Building up the hopes of many men and then ditching them at the last moment. Lady Edith has been seen moping over her child which she had illicitly and then tried to palm the poor child off on a farmer and his wife who live on the estate and then pretended that she wasn't her child. What a tangled web etc etc.

I suppose 'Downton Abbey' does have it's appeal. It's well enough made, written and acted. A lot of time and effort has gone into the look and feel of the thing. The period is evoked well with both the settings and costumes. But to be honest it's somewhat dull. It can best be described as 'chewing gum for the eyes.' What I mean is, it doesn't take many risks. It's typical Sunday evening entertainment. It fits the so-called 'Ovaltine Television' mold. We always seem to get either vets, nurses, midwives and other assorted professions in our weekly dose of drama on a Sunday night. And invariably costume drama of some sort. It's the sort of last thing we see before we go to bed as the weekend draws to a close and have to contemplate going back to work on Monday morning. It's totally inoffensive, doesn't upset anyone in any particular way and is thoroughly Middle Class. We get our fill of nostalgia, although, as someone or other said, 'Nostalgia's not what it used to be.' It moves along at a snails pace. No speeding cars, police chases, guns being fired. It won't 'frighten the horses' as someone else also said. I don't dislike it and it gives employment to a great many good actors. I have to say it's great to see Dame Maggie Smith in something and definitely in her element. As I've said in an earlier post, she does seem to get the best lines.

The upstairs characters are not really characters I can identify with. They're rich and arrogant. Can't they see that their lifestyle is gradually coming to an end? Would they not have had some idea that things would change after what happened in Russia in 1917 with the Revolution? As would have happened when Charles I was beheaded and Cromwell took over with the Commonwealth? I can't really identify with them. They don't in general terms have 'character journeys' because they don't have to strive for a better life because they have money, position, power and so on. Meanwhile, the downstairs staff have to not only work extremely hard, but if they want to break free from their lives of drudgery, they have to work harder than most to get anywhere away from the confines of the house. Although, saying that, they do have the protection of the house and the family, security up to a point, a roof over their heads and free board and lodging.The best drama comes when the characters have to go on a journey, a really good story arc, which means that by the end of the novel/play/film or whatever they have changed from how they started at the opening of the story. Think of Oliver Twist or David Copperfield or even Les Miserables, where Jean Valjean changes gradually during the course of the story.

I have seen documentaries on television which give a relatively accurate picture of what life in a country house would have been like, similar to the large house depicted in 'Downton Abbey.' Yes, I know, it was never intended to be a documentary. It's more of a soap opera for those who want to have aspirations above their current position in life. Similar in some ways to 'Dynasty' or 'Dallas.' But there are aspects of life on a country house and estate which seem to have been conveniently forgotten. Such as the fact that the staff have to get up extremely early each morning (usually before 6 a.m.) to make up the fires, carry coal in buckets great distances from goodness knows where, empty the slops (or to be more accurate, the bed-pans, 'guzunders' etc etc.) because most of these houses didn't have sanitation as we know it in the 21st century. Then there's the matter of slave ownership, as many aristocrats made their fortunes by owning slaves who worked for them on cotton plantations. And then when slavery was abolished many former owners got large sums of money in compensation from the British government which they then often used to invest in such things as the railways, canals and many industries. And I suppose to be fair, 'Downton Abbey' is set in the early part of the 20th century when most of what I have mentioned in this paragraph would have been eradicated. Also, many of the owners of these houses and estates were fair employers, who treated their staff with respect and gave them decent wages, for the time.