Pointless Post

When I was a wee nipper, I could never get my head around the adult addiction to things like The Magic Roundabout.  Not for the seemingly obvious reason that it was a "children's show" but because of the time it was shown.  I remember hearing about it being a success because it was on before the news, meaning all the adults got to watch it.  But the news was on at 5.45 (only later moving to 6) and surely no grown-up was home from work by then?  Certainly my Dad never was, and what other standard did I have to judge by?

After I left college and found myself in the world of work, the same pattern repeated.  Having ended up in retail I was rarely out of the shop before 6 and always then had a significant journey home to face.  In fact I'm not sure now how I managed the two years I spent working in Newmarket - a 110 mile round trip every day from Felixstowe, having to be there for 8 and not getting home until at least 7 most nights.  Even when I moved to the Council and got into flexi-time I was still rarely home before 6 - often due to picking MrsB up from work (she is still in the business of selling things) but more likely just because of getting the required number of hours in per day after starting at around 9.

Since our recent office move, however, things have changed.  Because parking up here is a bit limited, I have to get in fairly early to make sure I get a space.  That naturally means I have reached my hours total earlier too so can head home.  And even though the new site is further from our house, I now drive straight here rather than messing about with Park & Ride buses so each trip is 15-20 minutes shorter too.  Plus MrsB has had her hours changed and now finishes at 4 so we are both early birds.

All of which is a long-winded excuse for the fact that we seem to have become hooked on Pointless.  The BBC1 quiz shown before the news with Alexander Armstrong.  Admittedly half the fun is wondering where on earth they get some of the contestants from, but still...  I always have been a sucker for a good quiz show, loving to shout the answers at the telly before the teams manage it but this one is a bit of a barrel scraper.

Is there a cure other than working more?

On the Telly

Beach from the pier, a photo by The original SimonB on Flickr.

OK, I know I've talked about the thrill of seeing somewhere familiar in the tellybox before, but ITV have taken it to a new level this week with Injustice, a "psychological thriller" stripped across all five days and largely shot in and around, well, here. Written by Suffolk local Anthony Horowitz, we have a lawyer and his family enjoying life by the sea in our delightful County. Except they are not explicit about much of this in the script, and certainly take a few liberties with reality. So I'm having fun spotting what is masquerading as where and trying to work out the bits I don't recognise at all. And of course while I know that this sort of thing goes on all the time (e.g. Cardiff being the entire universe in Doctor Who) it does reinforce the message that you can't use tv drama as a tourist guide when planning a holiday. The only other major show we have had up here of late was the dramatisation of the Ipswich Murders (Five Daughters) which was shot in Bristol to avoid upsetting the residents too much, but did feature some beautiful establishing and wide shots of the town as well as actual news footage from the time. This time we have also been mercifully free from bad attempts at Suffolk accents, unlike when Inspector Linley had a mystery to solve in "Suffolk" once (but with no recognisable geography).

Anyway, for those thinking about coming up to Suffolk on the strength of the locations, here's my reasonably spoiler-free rough guide to what is where (or where it definitely isn't):

Let us start with the house of Dervla Kirwan and James Purefoy. The town they live in is not specified other than it being coastal and with Ipswich being their mainline station/local court for him to work at. However, it is definitely Southwold as the pier and beach feature prominently, along with a few shots of beach huts.

Here in Felixstowe we had bad guys living on one of the static caravan parks down by the docks, and a long sequence showing our sea front in all its faded glory. They managed to make it very confusing by digitally dropping in some tower blocks (which play a key part in the plot). As you can see from the picture above, they really aren't there...

Staying in Felixstowe we have the station building here pretending to be the outside of Ipswich Station (with big Welcome to Ipswich signs just to prove the point). Of course they couldn't use the bit of our station where trains actually stop as we only have one small platform now, cut off from the still-impressive building as seen on TV by the car park. In real life, our station building now houses a few small shops, a community radio station, a pub, a cafe and the entrance to a supermarket. Still, they did use the car park as a car park, so that bit was real! No idea where the platforms they filmed at were though, didn't look like any I am familiar with and the few glimpses of trains seen were not ones that run around here either.

The bus we saw leaving from "Ipswich" station in episode 1 was indeed a genuine Ipswich Buses vehicle, even if they don't actually run to Framlingham (in fact there isn't a direct service from the station either). Mind you, the bus stop in the middle of nowhere certainly wasn't one of mine (I'd have made them one special and everything if they'd asked) and the flag was poorly positioned on the pole, probably breaking traffic signs regulations.



Bits I haven't identified include: The court building (definitely not Ipswich Crown Court, and not another building around town I recognise), the police station (again, not Ipswich or the force HQ at Martlesham) and the young offenders institute (although that is no doubt meant to represent Warren Hill at Hollesley Bay). Fields driven through in the middle of nowhere could well be local, although some of them seemed a bit too hilly to me... And of course while lots of the London locations were very recognisable there was also much that I probably wouldn't recognise if you dropped me there.


Mrs B, however, is just upset that Dervla was in town and she didn't get to see her... And you can see it all on the ITV plyer for next few weeks.

Strange delight on seeing local stuff on telly

BBC World service
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

A bit of idle channel hopping last night found us watching an old episode of Coast on BBC2, covering the edges of Norfolk and Suffolk. Although we had seen this one before, it had to be watched purely for the local recognition factor. The trip ended in Felixstowe and included a nice aerial shot over the town (missing our house by a matter of a few hundred metres, blast!) as well as some shots of the docks.

I can't decide which is stranger for people when seeing the place you live on tv. Being somewhere like Felixstowe where we get shown once in a blue moon, and then generally only on a specialist show like this (local news doesn't count) seeing stuff from just down the road gives a bit of a thrill. But I can't imagine what it must be like as a Londoner to see familiar stomping grounds in every other detective show, documentary or just as establishing shots in Masterchef. Does the thrill remain or is it "oh, there's another murder at my bus stop"?

Anyway, what I had completely forgotten from the previous viewing was an article about the Cobra Mist radar early warning system tried up at Orford Ness in the 70s from the building in that photo up there (now a BBC World Service transmission site). As it happens, I am reading a history of the Ness and the various clandestine activities undertaken there so it was great to see some of it in living colour. One thing I have always liked in Coast is the selective use of CGI to overlay historical views on the present scene, and they did a great job with the aerial arrays no longer standing on the beach by this block house.

Having been over on to the Ness some 20 years ago (when we had a trip up the lighthouse) and taken a river trip past a few weeks back it was once more a case of "ooh, I've been there" for me on seeing the place in the living room. Hopefully the sense of delight will remain next time something Suffolk hits the screen.

Dangerous Reading

Swallowdale
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

We watched the first part of choir-master Gareth Malone's new TV series last night - the Dangerous School For Boys. A fairly laudible attempt to improve the literacy levels of primary school boys who are lagging behind the girls across the country. He has taken over the boys from two year groups at an Essex primary school and is attmpting to get them more engaged with each other and the contents of books, poems etc with the aim of boosting the overall reading age by six months in the space of 8 weeks.

It looked like an interesting project, and what he has done so far did appear to be helping towards self confidence and expression for most of the lads involved. There was some negativity from the teachers, but I do feel he will be hampered mostly by the parents of the boys if anyone is going to drag the work down.

Now I know that when I was that age there were only three tv channels and all we had in the way of a computer was a ZX81, which when compared to the amount and quality of distractions available today may as well not have even existed. But the few parental interviews we saw appeared to back up the theory expressed by the boys themselves that reading and writing is boring. My view at that age was the polar opposite.

The first time my Mum pushed me into town in the pram she called in at the Library and I got my first membership card at less than a month old, never looking back. I would read and read all the time from as soon as I could get through a book on my own. In fact our primary school had "infant" and "junior" libraries and I was into the junior one a year or more before being old enough.

Yes I still watched tv, yes I played about on the computer, but there was always a book waiting for me. From Thomas the Tank Engine through Arthur Ransome and on to WIllard Price and more I have no idea how many books I devoured and re-read countless times before the age of 11.

Maybe it was parents and teachers who encouraged me, maybe I was just naturally a reader, but that's what I did whenever I had a spare moment. Which is why although I will watch the rest of the series, I'm not sure I'll be able to fully understand why those youngsters don't read.

(Semi)Traumatic TV

Been wondering for a couple of days what to write about the BBC drama Five Daughters, based on the Ipswich Murders of 2006. Hard to believe it was that long ago and yet still so fresh in the memory.

Being able to see the red light district from the office, and having the court opposite where Steve Wright was tried it was inevitable that we would get caught up in the events much more than if they had happened in a different town or even if we had been in a different office. At various points in both the investigations and the trial there were more TV crews hanging around our place than you could shake a stick at. So it was a bit strange to see it all brought back to life again in the name of entertainment. Because lets face it, no matter how worthy a programme is, TV exists to entertain rather than educate or inform these days.

Saying that both MrsB and I enjoyed the three-parter sounds odd, but hopefully you discerning readers will know what I mean. Trying to see it objectively, it was a compelling piece of viewing, and the fact that we got to see the background rather than the sensation was a superb choice of direction for the series. It did take me a bit of "suspension of disbelief" to fully appreciate the re-telling for what it was and to stop my brain screaming out that the locations were wrong (it was filmed in Bristol, whcih doesn't exactly match what I can see from the window here) or the Police people not being lookalikes of the real ones, but then in some ways that helped me to get beyond the bits I already knew.

Well worth catching up with on i-player while you still can.

And it has also helped refresh people of the great work the charities and other organisations have been doing for the last few years to tackle the issues that lead to the deaths. Hopefully they can keep it up and will benefit from a bit of renewed support.

Things just seem to go wrong

Having replaced the washing machine just after Christmas, in the last couple of weeks we have suffered from a dead dishwasher, dead telly and dead broadband and I've also had terrible toothache and lost the offending gnasher (first casualty in the war against empty gums which I talked about a couple of weeks ago).

Any one of these could have been coped with on its own, but arriving in close proximity was not fun on the old stress levels. And although replacing things (well, not the tooth!) has been expensive we did at least have cash in the bank so haven't got thoughts of repayments to dampen the future.

So, the old JVC 36 inch CRT has been replaced with a really rather nice Sharp 40" LED/LCD flat jobby. Having been generally unimpressed with "New" screens in shops and other people's homes I am pleased to say that with a bit of tweaking on the settings I have got this one to produce a nice, balanced picture with the colours at a suitable level of restraint. And as Mr Murdoch is now giving us a free box and free installation there is a man coming to upgrade us to Sky HD on Saturday. We decided after the trauma of having to upgrade the TV we may as well get the most out of it.

The dishwasher, hoever is more of a pain. After the old one died (taking our electricity with it, praise be for trip switches) we ordered a nice new one (Ariston, with a stonking great reduction on it from the same local firm as did us a good deal on the telly). They happily delivered but refused to install as it needed a hole cutting in the cupboard under the sink as this has larger connectors. When this was resolved and turned on the new one began chucking water all over the floor in minutes. Not good. nothing to do with loose pipes, this is a genuine fault with a brand new appliance. Fortunately they concur and are sending another one this week, but not quick enough for our liking. And the hardboard under the lino has warped with the soaking. Grrrr.

The tooth turned out to have shorter than average roots in a bit of bone that has eroded more than anywhere else in my mouth, so had to go. Annoying as it was otherwise perfectly healthy and unfilled. Still, pain all gone and I can eat crusty bread again.

Now the broadband signal has died. 20 minutes on the phone to India last night proved it is nothing to do with our router (or my reserve ADSL modem), micro filters, extension leads etc so definitely a BT problem. Wonder how long they will take to fix that.

And another funeral of a colleague tomorrow.

Not a happy bunny right now, so hopefully better news next time!

Sources of annoyance

Came home tonight to find the third charity bag through the door in as many days. Whay have they all decided to target us this week? Something to do with the distributors having been off over the school hols perhaps? They have all gone straight back outside where they will no douibt sit on the drive for a week before we give up and thrown them in the bin. I've never known an empty one be picked up for re-use despite them promising to. When we have clothes to get rid of they are generally in no fit state to go on to anyone so these bags really are a waste of time. So on that note, here are a few more things annoying me riight now...

Masterchef - The Professionals. Who the hell thought up the broadcast format for this? Having 45 minutes per group of hopefuls rather than 30 is great, but why is the first show split over two days? Makes no sense at all. Loving the show though, nice to see people who think they can do it all making the same mistakes as the amateurs.

People phoning up to complain about bus shelters. Especially the ones who see a pole or kerb go in and assume we will follow it up with a shelter. If only I had the budget. (OK, that's a pretty specific moan that won't be relevant to most people!)

Dark evenings. Autumn isn't supposed to come on this quickly. When I come home from work I want to enjoy a nice light evening still, not be thinking about putting the lights on to make the drive. It is still only September after all.

The Beatles remasters being yet again full-price discs. Haven't they had enough money off us all over the years? They should have done the decent thing and made them bargains. Especially when the first three albums would probably fit together on one CD.

Not being able to remember the other thing I was going to moan about!

So here I am sat at my new desk. I wonder if I can get round the whole allocation of the group before we move to another building. Can't say I have noticed any improved group dynamics resulting from this revised seating today, but we will all be keeping a weather eye on things.

Good weekend, which was nice. Worked away at home on Saturday - and also finished the Dam Busters. Comments from previous days still apply! Then as it was released to the paperback preferring hordes I popped in to Smiths on my way to collect Joan and obtained the 5th in the series Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Enjoying it just as much as the first four thus far.

Sunday we went to the market and for the first time in ages I actually got something other than fruit, veg and bird food. OK, so only a book but one I've been considering anyway for £5 less than the price on the back. More details when I come to read it. Then a bit of shopping and a lazy afternoon followed by relaxed evening. Waking The Dead has returned for a new series and we are pleased.

Today has been fine for me, but frustrating for Joan as there seem to be loads of internal squabbles going on in the shop right now. Feel very sorry for her but not sure what I can do to help. Oh well, four weeks from now we will be in the mountains so hopefully able to forget things for a bit.

Well, we are now on our third new Dyson in as many weeks. Having phoned the firm up and played it down the line to them they agreed it was something that was in need of an engineer visit or replacement so after booking the former Joan obtained the latter from Marion (well, it does still come in the old 30 day replacement window with Argos anyway despite being a replacement already) so I then had to cancel the visit. Hopefully nothing else will go wrong or we will just get a refund and be done with it. Mind you, I'm not sure what we would get in exchange as I have no desire to return to the days of emptying bags after cleaning a carpet or two, and when the thing works it does a great job.

But I was kind of right about Sunday - all we really did was go to Sainsburys and Makro to pick up a few odds and ends and didn't get a lot more than that acheived. We did have lunch at (no longer "Fatty") Arbuckles as it was conveniently located on our route. Quite tasty and they have had a repaint since we last went, but they have also changed menus and so forth and not the same as it used to be. I guess we will still go there occasionally (it must be about once a year or so) but won't be rushing back in a hurry. Mind you, we could have been put off slightly by the incredible number of screaming kids dotted around the dining area. Another reason I am so glad we have no offspring - I couldn't be doing with all the hassle frankly! Still, they do at least have variable portion sizes on the menu so we were able to go with small meals and actually finish them for a change. So many places these days seem to serve vast amounts that the wastage factors are ridiculous. I don't mind paying for what I eat, but object to a huge portion costing more then being wasted.

Yesterday and today spent getting to grips with my target of writing a procedures manual for the team. I should probably be doing things with the PSA area timetables but as Chris is off and has left no instructions I don't know where he is at with them. OK, so I could phone him at home, but I prefer not to. If nothing else it might encourage him to phone me at home on my days off, which I'm not at all in favour of.

New detective series starting tonight (55 Degrees North) set in Newcastle so I expect we will give that a try and hope it doesn't get Joan too homesick. And best of the current crime bunch Waking The Dead returns next week for a new series. Looking forward to that a lot.

And finally, finished The Gun Seller yesterday. Not much to say really, the plot all came to a nice end that was reasonably well paced but it hasn't left me wanting to know what happened next to the protagonists. Have now returned to the truth with the second Paul Brickhill world war two book in my collection - The Dam Busters. Again, one I've read before (and also seen the film a few times) so familiar ground but good stuff anyway. Am now in slight shock at realising it must be a year since I read the Great Escape but never mind, time flies and there's nothing we can do to stop it. This one is just as meticulous in searching out the facts and just as enjoyable to re-read.

Slightly annoyed with myself today - I wrote a bit for here last night then managed not to save it. Probably wasn't particularly earth-shattering but irritating to have lost it nonetheless.

Anyway, after two hours of fretting over what had happened to her, messages left on our answerphone, texts sent and even a call to work to find out if she really had left I finally got hold of Joan around 3.30 yesterday. Lots of worrying over nothing on my part as the morning had seemingly gone quite well and things are looking back on track for her. But I hate not knowing what's going on, not being able to talk to her etc. Don't know what I'd do if we were forced into a no-contact situation for an extended period of time.

Last night saw the end of the current run of Waking The Dead, which is a shame as once again the series has been pretty gripping. I know they don't come cheap, but I do wish they could manage more than four two-part stories at a time. Still we do at least get Silent Witness back this weekend in compensation. Not sure what it is about slightly gruesome police-oriented tales that draws us in. Of course I'd also love to see the BBC put the same care, attention and budget in to a decent Sci-Fi series...

Am finding the daily use of Park & Ride to get to work not too bad so far. And it is much better than sitting in the car stuck in traffic down some of the roads around here thinking about whether there would still be a space left in the car park when I arrived. OK, so door to door takes a bit longer, but I'm prepared to put up with that for a bit less hassle and stress of a morning.

Well, I'd like to have loads of stuff to waffle on about here but truth be told there hasn't been all that much going on worthy of mention. Joan is doing a lot better, but not yet feeling up to going back to work on Friday when her sick note runs out. I've just generally been getting on with stuff at my desk most days, attempting to get some sort of order for approaching my targets together. I think I am nearly there, but need Sonic to actually approve some items rather than just letting them build up in the big heap of crap dominating his in-tray. Gary has decided not to go and work for Chambers and now he and Charles have gone off to Switzerland for a couple of weeks. Very cosy I'm sure.

I did spend most of Thursday out and about in the south of the county trying to find new book outlets. Quite successful and lots of pretty scenery that I must take Joan around some day.

Still not received the council job application forms we requested over a week ago, and not been able to make a start on the other one yet. Maybe this afternoon. Also not been online at all so no idea what is going on in Llamaland, but am about to rectify that.

Book-wise I went straight from The Non-Born King to The Adversary and finished that off yesterday. Totally enjoyed the whole saga once again an now determined not to leave it quite so many years before I next peruse the pages. Been catching up on this month's magazines since then before deciding what to go for next. I reckon it will be the companion to the above then into the Mileu strand of the tale as I'm sure that will only take a couple more weeks. I don't want to be on the last book when it comes to our holiday as that's a hardback but there is just over a month still before we depart.

Big Brother has finally come to an end (well done to winner Cameron) and now we have to wean ourselves back on to other things I guess. Although there is the American version now available for watching...

Filmwise we've not seen many because of BB but did laugh a bit at Evolution and go through the usual rollercoaster of emotions with Apollo 13 last night despite having seen it several times before (and indeed knowing how it would end in the first place). I've also watched some of the extras on Tron which were pretty interesting.

Well, a simple chair delivery took over an hour, but I am trying to be on my best behaviour (even if I was absolutely famished by the time we finally got home) and didn't make a fuss! And no plans made as yet for next week so it still has a chance of being enjoyable.

There was bugger all worth watching on the telly last night, so we finished off the Batman DVD boxset with Batman & Robin. Not the most popular film in the series with the critics (or indeed the cinema audiences) but I like it. George makes a good Bruce in my opinion, and we can always watch Alicia Silverstone in rubber. A-hem. I'm not sure why people didn't like it so much - after all if you look at some of the original comics they are even more ludicrous! That only leaves one film and a couple of tv series discs we haven't watched yet, although we have seen them when they were originally broadcast or off tape so nothing sitting their crying out too loud for attention.

Oh, and there was also an Australian Changing Rooms care of the satellite. Not sure about the style of the show there - the New Zealand version mirrors the UK one almost exactly, but the Ozzies do things a bit differently. Still, the end results were interesting as ever (with ideas that may make their way into our place when I have the energy to pick up a brush again) and the girl who presents it in white shorts has rather nice legs!

Hmm, I seem to be turning into a dirty old man today. Better get on with some work. Actually, am out doing the deliveries mentioned yesterday - but not going out until a bit later as have just ordered a bacon roll from Alberts. Well, one a week won't kill me (unlike some of my colleagues who seem to be indulging every day).

And finally for now, actually saw this Blog listed on the most recent updates bit of the front page after yesterday's waffling went on, so if anyone saw that had a look and has come back again - Hello!

Feeling a bit more human today (although nearly lost it all again waiting for Blogger to open up, some serious slowness this afternoon!). Last night went really well, and we all had a good laugh so that helped. Plus today I had the sense to bring some music to work, so was able to wander the town at lunchtime assisted by my portable mini-disc player and a compilation of various stuff featuring loud guitars. Of course, I shouldn't really have that as yet cos it really is my birthday present from Joan, but hey, we are just too nice to each other. And it is also Valentine's day so love is flowing everywhere and feeling gloomy wouldn't fit in.

Tonight is once more a DIY and ER-fest so that should keep the spirits high. I might even find time to slip in a bit more reading on the magazines. New book info soon.

I think that will do for today as I really ought to go home soon. Perhaps I'll think of something interesting to fill this with in the future rather than just a few odd comments. Suggestions welcome!

Another day, another load of waffle. ER was indeed a good 'un last night. And I'm several pages further in to the Encyclopaedia. Enjoying that thoroughly even if it is likely to have the ultimate result of a severe dent in the bank balance. Already got Bagpuss on DVD, and thoroughly appreciating the quality afforded thus.

Going back to music, Suffolk Libraries seem to have a darn good selection of cds available and I tend to borrow them on a regular basis and if they happen to end up copied on to mini-discs when I get them home then hey, stranger things have happened. At the moment on loan I have: Bond - Born, AC/DC - Stiff Upper Lip, Megadeth - Risk and Afro Celtic Sound System Volume 1. All most enjoyable. I only wish I had more time in the day to listen to stuff.

Well, got to go to a grenn travel plan meeting now. Thrills or Tedium? I don't know.

Started a new book today:

The Encyclopaedia of Cult Childrens tv by Richard Lewis.

I have to admit that its probably a symptom of my age (I'll be 31 in a couple of weeks) but I'm just fascinated with the whole 70s & 80s nostalgia thing. How much of what I think I remember now is genuine memories and how much comes from the books and tv shows is a matter for debate though. Most of what I recall seems like it was good fun at the time when I think about the period, although I did have some pretty bad experiences at school. A couple of people who'd best remain nameless on here would not be welcome at my birthday party!

Anyway, back to the book. It looks pretty good from what I've read so far both in terms of style and content. For those of you who can't obtain it I recommend tv cream on the web instead. You can find that here. Fuller report when I get a bit further in.

Hopefully as this goes on a good picture of my tastes will appear. Basically I'll read anything that people recommend to me, but tend to stick mainly to certain themes so keep looking to learn more!

Musically I will also give anything a whirl. So, I'll be listing all purchases, recent spins in the cd player and stuff too. The last two cds I bought were:

Sum 41 - Half Hour Of Power and
Ginger - Greivous Acoustic Behaviour, Live At the 12 Bar

Both absolute corkers. Ginger I have been a fan of since the Wildhearts first appeared on the scene, and this double cd is very highly recommended for anyone who knows a bit of his musical history. I'm not sure it serves that well as an introduction to the man himself though as it (a) was recorded in fromt of friends and (b) gets very loose due to alcohol by the end. Sum 41 I discovered recently through the Kerrang channel on Sky TV and was instantly hooked. This was a surprise purchase as all the shops were plugging the new album as their first so I was not expecting this one to exist. Well, I call it an album, they refer to it as an EP on the sleeve notes, but as I've got cds marketed as albums that are shorter.... Anyway, they impress me a lot by combining current trends in rock with the older forms of Heavy Metal and doing it very well. Check it out.

That'll do for now. See ya.