Another Week In Happyville

Sunday. 9.05 a.m. Alfie and I were out before 5.30 this morning. Well, I was awake (which I suppose makes it easier to do things. Sarcasm is a good term for this.) and I don't see the point of ever just lounging around indoors, especially when it's daylight outside and the birds are singing sweetly, except for those monotonous tones of pigeons. What a dreary sound they make. Why can't they come up with more interesting songs? Well, pigeons are perhaps the most boring of birds in my opinion. Never have and will never stay in bed longer than necessary. Having had a bowl of cereal, Jordan's granola with raspberries, really tasty, I then thought I would go and get the car filled up with diesel. So, drove to the ESS0 filling station on Child's way and put in £30-worth and, on returning to my vehicle having paid, found, on turning on the car, that the fuel gauge hadn't moved much. It just goes to show how much they cost of diesel has increased, because before, when I had filled up with £30 it would more or less reach the top of the dial. Well, at least it's done and will probably need topping up again before I head off to Worcester at the end of the month.

Why is Saturday television so awful? All we get is football and more football. Fine if you're a fan, which I'm definitely not. Obsession is all I can say, with the schedulers piling it on relentlessly. Then, those programmes which I might want are shifted to a good deal later. Even BBC 2 has become a dumping ground of this sort of stuff, and then we get ancient repeats of Flog It, which is well past its sell-by date.ITV has just gone downhill into the land gone dumb with endless game shows. I have to admit, though, to quite enjoying The Chase, but probably only because of Bradley Walsh and the fact he can't avoid corpsing whenever a somewhat suggestive question comes up. But does ITV have to keep on promoting Britbox? I know they have part ownership of this streaming service, but it becomes irritating to have it advertised at virtually every commercial break. As it is, there are far too many commercials, which just become tedious. I watch most of my television via catch up. As you may, or perhaps not, know, I love anything to do with history, and there's a fair amount of very good history documentaries on Channel 5 and there are a lot presented by Tony Robinson and one which covers various periods of British history, such as The Tudors, The Georgians and The Second World War and The 1950s, but done from the perspective of the ordinary people in those periods, which makes a change from the politicians and monarchs.

I was out early on Monday morning, and as I was preparing to go out, I saw a fox in the communal garden. I had to look twice, and then, when I was in the kitchen, washing up, I saw a second fox. They must come in from the Strudwick Drive side, through the fence, and it might explain why Alfie sniffs around near the gate, as he must pick up their scent. Astounding to see these animals in the garden just goes to show that, if you get up early enough, you will have this sort of sight.

Wednesday. 7.05 a.m. Another mild morning. I was out with Alfie well before 5.30. No sign of foxes. Or any other wildlife for that matter, although we do occasionally see squirrels. often dashing across the road or scrambling about in the trees that line Strudwick Drive.

I have been having trouble with Amazon. I suppose I should rephrase that; not actually Amazon itself, but those who are supposed to deliver the items I purchase from Amazon. I may have mentioned that a few weeks ago I ordered the DVD of the new, Stephen Spielberg-directed version of 'West Side Story.' It was supposed to arrive on a certain day (I can't really remember now, but it doesn't matter.) and I found, through the Amazon website, that it had been delivered. But it hadn't. I contacted Amazon and they eventually sent out a replacement. It made me wonder, what on earth had happened to the original package? If the delivery driver had got the package and then said it had been delivered, what did that person do with it? Was it delivered to another address? I occasionally get my mail and online deliveries to another house in Dexter Avenue (I'm not going to give it here for obvious, privacy, reasons.) which is becoming somewhat irritating. The delivery drivers don't seem to read the address on these pieces of mail or online parcels. Surely not too difficult, you would imagine. But it is probably difficult for some but not the percentage of delivery drivers.

I then decided I wanted to show my support for Ukraine and their struggles in that country since the Russians invaded and started the war there. I wanted to buy a Ukrainian flag, so I had a look on Amazon and found what I wanted. The idea was that the flag could be hung out of my flat window. I also found a sticker to put in the back window of my car and ordered that at the same time. The flag was scheduled to arrive on Sunday afternoon, and then I saw an email from Amazon informing me that the parcel with the flag in it had been delivered and that it had been handed over to the resident. Well, I never received it nor did I sign it off as delivered, and, after a search of the front of this building, I saw absolutely no sign of any parcel. I contacted Amazon a couple of times and yesterday (Tuesday) I decided I would require a refund and Amazon told me they would have an enquiry as to what had happened to the delivery. I have now ordered another flag which should, hopefully, be delivered on Friday.

New Year

So, Welcome to 2020! I didn't do anything in particular for the New Year, but I was well aware of things going on outside as the evening drew on. Fireworks being set off, but why start them before Midnight? What is the point? Why set them off in daylight? I could see them clearly from the kitchen window of my flat. When I went out with Alfie later in the morning, it was quite obvious where the fireworks were set off, because there were the remains of fireworks on Oldbrook Green as we walked around the circuit. Bits of rocket stuck in the grass, piles of burnt-out firework cases and other debris. If you insist on letting off fireworks to celebrate New Year, then, fine, but do at least have the decency to clear up the mess. Generally, there was no end of litter all around the park. It was awful. There are litter bins all around The Green, but two were over-flowing with rubbish and there was litter strewn all over the place. Why can't people just put their rubbish in the bins or, at least, take it home with them? It's a total disgrace. Then there's the matter of dog mess. I always carry bags to pick up after Alfie and I would never leave it because children play around The Green, but there is a lot of dog poo that isn't picked up because I've seen it. If you get caught (and it's unlikely, because who is around to police this?) you get a fine (not sure how much.) But there are at least three bins for this purpose, so why can't people who have dogs and don't pick up after their pets, just do the right thing and put it in the bins?

I went out with Alfie a good deal later and I noticed that a lot of the litter had been removed, especially around the bins, which, as I mentioned above, had litter over-flowing all around them. As We walked further around Oldbrook Green, I noticed a man in hi-vis clothing emptying another of the bins and the rubbish which had previously been overflowing out of it was now gone. It would appear that Milton Keynes Council have been on the case and the mess was being cleared up, but it still doesn't excuse people's disgusting behaviour regarding dropping litter.

(Friday) It's been raining over-night. Not much of a surprise. Alfie got a bit wet when we went out at around 7.30a.m.

I've watched the first episode of series 12 of Doctor Who. I rather object to them calling it series 12, because Doctor Who started in 1963 and they didn't have 'series,' well, as far as I remember. It seemed to be all year long, but I suppose it must have been off-air for some part of the year. I imagine 'series 12' refers to the fact that it was re-booted in 2005. I've been a fan of this show since forever. I was the right age, as part of the audience it was aimed at, when it began in 1963 (I would have been 13.) It captured my imagination, a quirky old man ('The Doctor.'), as originally played by William Hartnell, who had a time machine which could move around 'time and space.' It changed every couple of weeks, with each story running for 2-4 weeks (some stories ran for longer.) so that when the Tardis took off at the end of one story you never knew where the next story would be set, so when the doors opened, it was a surprise. I imagine that is how it was kept fresh, with new stories as well as locations (historical or in outer space, on a planet or earth.)

It's taken a while to accept a woman taking over as The Doctor. I suppose it's because the character has always been male. But, having seen Jodie Whittaker in the role, it really makes no difference whether the character is male or female. Unfortunately, what lets the series down are the rather pedestrian scripts. But the latest episode was crammed full of incidents, action, car chases and plenty of tension that it was worth watching. I certainly got caught up in the whole thing. It was an attempt to latch on to the James Bond franchise (hence the title of the episode 'Spyfall.')

Spoiler Alert! It did have a Bond Vibe, with a spectacular car chase. Also, something of a Men In Black feel, with our heroes and heroines approached by what would appear to be spies (of one sort or another and Stephen Fry introduced as a sort of spymaster. But he gets killed off far too early, unfortunately. If I have a complaint, why so many 'assistants'? We seem to be going back to the days when Peter Davidson was The Doctor and there were superfluous 'assistants.' When it was announced that Bradley Walsh was to be cast in 'Doctor Who,' I didn't believe it. It just seemed an odd bit of casting for a comedian and gameshow host to suddenly be cast in the longest-running sci fi show. But he was and it was genuine. But with three assistants it seems over-loaded and unnecessary. The show bounced from one location to the next, which was somewhat disorientating, to say the least. We live in a world where people have a short attention span, so I imagine this style of television drama is a response to this.

I have discovered that he viewing figures for this episode was the lowest for years, a little over 5 million viewers. But this doesn't take into consideration such things as BBC iPlayer or other catch-up services. I watched it on catch-up. Perhaps the show is just not as popular as it was, at the time it was rebooted in 2005 it had viewing figures in excess of 10 million. Maybe people don't accept Jodie Whittaker as The Doctor and also the producers keep fiddling with the format at well as moving it around in the television schedules (it's now going to be shown on a Sunday, when it was traditionally a Saturday evening show.) Perhaps Doctor Who is coming to an end. Might it just have gone it's course? Television programmes have a shelf life. These shows just come to an end. If the ratings are too low to make it worth producing, perhaps the BBC will cancel it. It would appear that it's just being produced because they can generate income from merchandise attached to it. Books, comics, toys, games, you name it, they can licence it and make money. Perhaps the core audience doesn't appreciate having the Doctor played by a woman. Who knows? Which is why the audience figures are so low, or at least, might appear so.

Jody Whittaker as 'The Doctor' and Watching 'Quatermass'

I've just seen a trailer for Jody Whittaker as the new Doctor, and for what I've seen, it looks good. I won't even go there regarding the fact that a female has taken over this iconic role. Jody Whittaker will be absolutely fine, although she has a difficult job, following on from all the other versions of the character. Just make the role her's and she'll be great. But, please, can we now stop making an issue out of it now being a female character and just enjoy the journey, which is bound to be fun. I had my doubts as regards what it looks like, even in a short trailer of barely a minute or two, it has a sort of cinematic gloss, a look the show hasn't had in years. Definitely a Doctor for the 21st Century. If I have a quibble with how the BBC handles 'Doctor Who,' and that's can they stop giving away plot details, what the monsters are going to be like? It's a bit like reading a novel and suddenly jumping a few chapters forward to find out what's going to happen. In the old days of 'Doctor Who,' half the fun of the show was when the Doctor and his companions were travelling to their next adventure, whether in the past or the future, and we had absolutely no idea where they were going to end up, when the Tardis's doors opened, we saw the new 'world' for the first time, it was all a mystery, we had to discover who the villains were, or what the monsters we were about to encounter would be like. Today it's all spoilt by giving away far too many details and ruining the anticipation. Please, BBC, don't spoil things. If they do anything, the stories need to be better. It's a pity it all has to be played out within a 45-50 minute time frame. It must be an extremely tall order for the writers to tell a story decently in such a length of screen-time. The old Doctor Who was in a 25-30 minute slot and most adventures ran for about 4-6 episodes, giving a far better running time. But of course, in today's broadcasting landscape, everything has to fit the American format for television. Of course it's 45-minutes so when they sell the show to a commercial network they can put 15 minutes of advertising in to make the show run for an hour. With the shorter episodes the writers can have cliff-hangers at the end of each episode which keeps you guessing as to what happens in the next episode.

I couldn't believe that Bradley Walsh was to be cast in 'Doctor Who.' When I first heard about this, I didn't believe it, because I don't believe everything I see on the internet. After all, Bradley is best known as a comic as well as presenter of 'The Chase' on ITV. He's well known as a corpser, a giggler when some unusual or unsavoury answer comes up for the contestants to guess. He has done 'straight' acting, especially in 'Coronation Street' but not in anything such as 'Doctor Who,' so it will be interesting to see what he's like in this show.

The BBC has seen fit to put some of their classic material on iPlayer, in the archive section. I think this is an attempt to counter what Netflix and Amazon are doing with all episodes of a series downloadable so that viewers can 'binge' watch, shows such as 'The Crown,' and 'House of Cards,' (all, at least the new version, although I see the BBC version of 'House of Cards' is available in the archive section. Other stuff includes the brilliantly funny 'Nuts In May,' a really classic Mike Leigh play with stars Alison Steadman, which I clearly remember seeing when originally broadcast in the 1970's.) I'm currently watching 'Quatermass and The Pit,' which comes from the late 1950's. I think I've seen the Hammer version of one of the Quatermass stories but have never seen this television version of a later story. I'm surprised it survives in this 6-episode form and it's quite clear that it must have had an influence on the early 'Doctor Who' series and shaped it's development. Some of the acting and the sets are a bit creaky but nevertheless the story does grip and it's quite scary. Considering the technology of the period it was made and the fact they couldn't edit tape like they can now, it stands up remarkably well. It beats a lot of modern stuff. None of those annoying whip-pans and strange camera angles which add nothing. I believe it was broadcast 'live,' which must have been quite stressful for the actors and technicians. Some sections were on film and would have no doubt have been put in so that actors to move to other sets and cameras moved around the studio. I'm certain that the BBC attempted to restage one of the 'Quatermass' stories 'live' on BBC Four early in the 2000's, at about the time I switched over to digital when I got a Freeview box and I seem to remember watching it and it had David Tennant in it, before he took on the central character in the revived version of 'Doctor Who.'