Autumn Days

 So, we're now into October! Where did September go to? It's now downhill to Christmas. I have to say, I don't like winter, dark days, cold, defrosting the car, slippery surfaces and all that that entails. I walked into The Range the other morning, in an attempt to find distilled water for my steam iron, they had Christmas stuff on one side and Halloween junk on the other. The shops are beginning to get stacked up with everything you can't possibly do without. But what is the point of stocking up with mince pies, when they will be stale before the festive season arrives? I call it junk, but let's be honest, most of it is.

8.30 a.m. It's surprisingly foggy this morning. I don't suppose it's really a surprise, as it's what you come to expect when the seasons change. 

I have my Friday load of washing on. I'm going to be a good deal more careful than I was this time last week when I did my washing. I had a load on and went down to check if it was finished, which I thought it had and opened the door of the machine and found the load sopping wet. Thinking about it now, I must have opened the door too early. The machine was probably about to go into its final spin. As a result, nothing would dry. I did attempt to get some clothes dried in the drier, but it wasn't going to happen as the clothes were far too wet. I had to resort to putting it all on drying racks and had one in the bathroom. Fortunately, I had the second one which we had at the house in Eaglestone, but the clothes weren't going to be completely dry until at least Sunday or even Monday and as a result, I had to contend with all my washed clothes hanging around and in the way for a couple of days. My fault and not a mistake I intend to make again.

1.50 p.m. It's got quite windy outside (well, it would be worrying if it was inside. Stupid man! What an idiotic thing to say!) In the short time, we were walking around Oldbrook Green, it seemed to get stronger and stronger

5.55 p.m. You know it's autumn when the television shows that have been off our screens return. 'Strictly Come Dancing is one and will be there in the schedules on a Saturday for around three months leading up to Christmas. I can't say it's my favourite show, although Carol loved it. I don't dislike the dancing, but I hate the way people can be so nasty, usually led by one of the judges, Craig Revel-Horwood. Picking holes in the contestants' dance performances. Anything with celebrities is a definite turn-off for me and many of them can hardly be called 'celebrities' in particular those who have been on reality television shows. The whole thing is driven by tabloid newspaper reporting and social media posts and picks up on the slightest mention of something which happens in the show.

As I write this, the fog has disappeared, but the wind has now been replaced by rain. It's falling quite heavily.

10.25 p.m. I've just got back from The Oaktree Centre, where we've had a quiz night, which is a money-raising for the second phase of the building. There were a fair number of people there, so it should have raised a good sum for the project.

Telly Watching- Part 1

At the moment we seem to be having a lot of similar television programmes which feature making-over or repairing items of furniture, toys, clocks, bicycles and so on. It started a few years ago with 'Money For Nothing,' where a restorer/maker/designer goes to a tidy-tip and rescues items of furniture and other things before they end up in the skip and are crushed. They then take the item to specialist designer/restorers who transform them item and then the presenter sells the item for a profit and the money they make is given to the person who was about to throw it in the skip at the tidy-tip. What makes this programme so good is that we see how an old piece of furniture which was past its best can be transformed and the journey it goes on to become something stunning and the money it can make when sold. The reaction when the presenter turns up with the money which has been made after the work has been done on their piece of furniture is a treat. I'm really surprised myself because some items are sold at ridiculous prices.

I suppose there have been many other 'make-over' shows on television over the years, 'Changing Rooms' and 'Ground Force,' and more recently 'Garden Rescue', but they don't have the 'repurpose' element in them, although 'Garden Rescue' does sometimes use recycled items, such as railway sleepers and other items in their make-overs, but not to the extent this rash of shows have.

Then there's 'The Repair Shop.' This is intriguing. People bring items into the shop to be repaired, usually, items that have some sort of connection to a friend, a family member, probably who has died. These items are in a really sorry state, in desperate need of care and attention. For example, a valuable piece of porcelain, a vase or bowl, but some have no real intrinsic value, probably the property of a grandparent or friend, which has a sentimental story to tell, such as a rather tatty teddy bear which survived a house fire or a clock which someone inherited but accidentally got knocked off a shelf and has been left in a drawer because no one can repair it, is the basic format of this show. A series of craftspeople, each with their own set of special skills, manage to restore and revive these pieces. It is a good show, but the sentimental side is beginning to get a bit tiresome. It seems the producers are trying their best to wring every tear out of the people whose items are being repaired. This usually at the end when the 'big reveal' is made and they see their beloved heirloom in its newly-repaired state. There is so much sentiment and gushing that a person can take, surely. Or perhaps not. It's all about nostalgia, and as someone once said, 'nostalgia isn't what it used to be.' (I may have got the quote wrong, but you get a rough idea of what I mean. But, on the other hand, it's great to have a programme where people are actually NICE to one another. Probably accounts for the series success, particularly during the lockdown where people are crying out for something soothing and pleasant to watch. Remember such programmes as 'The Weakest Link,' presided over by the 'Queen of Mean' herself, Anne Robinson, who could make some quite nasty remarks and 'you are the weakest. Goodbye!' was her mantra? Or Craig Revill-Horwood, one of the judges on 'Strictly Come Dancing', who could make some quite nasty quips about the contestants? Done in the mode of a pantomime villain. Just to get a reaction in some respects, and to get people talking on social media and thus increase the viewing figures.

This 'nostalgia' theme is carried through in the fact that the show is filmed in an ancient barn in the  Weald and Downland Living Museum near Chichester. Then it's been styled with objects that give a suggestion of nostalgia, metal advertising signs, bric-a-brac, dried flowers, carriage lamps from a bygone era, and so on. Playing on a rather fake past, in some respects, seen through a haze of soft focus, horses grazing, gaslight, drifting fog, and so forth. Not really genuine really, because living in, say, the 19th century, might have been fine for the upper classes, but pretty terrible for the lower orders, especially those working in the factories and cotton mills in the north of England.

The last of this type of programme is 'Saved and Remade,'  which is Broadcast on BBC2. Members of the public bring in items that have become redundant or have no real purpose anymore or hold some sort of emotional connection (much the same sort of thing which holds 'The Repair Shop' together.) It might be a wedding dress, an ancient sewing machine, or a transistor radio. Specialist craftsmen and women then have to 'repurpose' these items into a useful piece that can still retain something of its original use which can be a functional item in the person's home.

It's good that the BBC is showing programmes to at least attempt to recycle things that would otherwise be sent to landfill, but I think that there is a limit to the same sort of programme. Perhaps these shows are being made at the moment where it's difficult to produce other types of the show under government covid-19 restrictions.  They seem to think that if one type of show is popular, such as cookery or antiques, that if they make more of the same, then the public will lap them up.

Side-Effects of Flu Jab and Strictly Saturdays

As I have mentioned in an earlier post, Carol had her 'flu jab in Sainsbury's on Thursday evening. Mine was yesterday morning at Ashfield Medical Centre. I was beginning to think that I was getting a slight reaction to the jab with some muscle and joint pain as we sat down to eat our evening meal whilst watching Strictly Come Dancing. (I'll mention that a little later in this blog.) Carol, though, has had quite a bad reaction this morning (Sunday) and as a result we didn't go to church. I went to Lidl on Oldbrook Boulevard. I was really surprised by how busy it was in there. The first Christmas products are beginning to appear on the shelves and as a result you can't always find exactly what you want. In this case, stuffing to go with this evening's roast chicken. I then went into the Tesco just over the road, one of those 'mini' or 'convenience' branches. I was surprised how few people were in there. I'm not surprised as Lidl is so much cheaper and I could not find any Paxo (stuffing) for the chicken. I looked up and down the aisles but not a single packet could I see. I purchased a Sunday Times, using a self-service till and then walked out. I drove to the shop in Eaglestone, and sure enough, I found a packet of Paxo immediately. This must say quite a lot about the current retail situation in Britain, with Tesco once upon a time being the strongest supermarket chain, and since the financial crash of 2008 such 'discounters' as Aldi and Lidl have changed the way most people shop for groceries, being around 15% cheaper than the four major supermarkets, Asda, Morrison, Sainsbury and Tesco.

As for Strictly Come Dancing . . .  as far as I'm concerned the novelty of seeing celebrities making fools of themselves on the dance floor is beginning to wear a bit thin. The show is over-hyped and it's all over the tabloids and Facebook. You can't seem to get away from it from early September until Christmas. There's nothing at all wrong with the dancing, it's the over-heated audience that gets me. They cheer and clap at the slightest thing, cheering and making stupid noises. And why do they insist on putting people in the front row of the audience who you can see clearly behind the presenters when they are talking, a woman was on there last night who was dreadfully over made-up and kept staring at the camera. A real distraction.  Can they not just fade them into the background? Do we really need to see these non-entities so clearly? Bruce Forsyte, who didn't actually do a great deal when he was on, is sorely missed. I don't know what it is but he did add a certain élan to the proceedings, even though his jokes were somewhat tired.  Those two women, Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly really don't add a great deal. Never have, since this show began. How did the B.B.C. think that Tess Daly was a replacement for good old Sir Bruce Forsythe I can't think. She has all the talent of a shopping trolley. Though, in all honesty, there wasnt a lot for Brucie to get his teeth into in the first place, nothing to be 'hands on' as he would have been in the 'Generation Game' or 'Play Your Cards Right.' Lets be honest, an hour and a half of this is really far too much and Craig Revel-Horwood's miserable face is enough to put you off your rice pudding. Can he never say anything nice to anyone? I know he's been cast as the pantomime villain but it is wearing a bit thin by now.

The lighting and set design are really brilliant. When you compare it to the travesty of the revived Sunday Night At The Palladium, which has been done on the cheap and has all the atmosphere of a Sunday night at the local village hall, no expense has been spared. The way they can transform the set for each couple who dance is amazing. All done with lighting and digital effects. The moving digital  lighting which is used around the staircases is spectacular.

Greg Wallace got booted off the show. He deserved it. His dancing was like a flat-footed Teletubby. Judy Murray was not much better.  It must be very difficult when you are, in effect, in the shadow of a far more famous son or daughter, as she is. You can forgive her nerves, as most of the rest of the celebs should be used to the cameras, the audience and so on. But she wasn't much better. At least Tim Wonnacott made a brave stab at it, even though he wasn't a particularly brilliant. I don't expect he'll last much longer. Just have to wait and see.