Auntie Beeb

Tonight's offering in the Hidden Decades season on BBC4 was quite brilliantly realized, "Our Hidden Lives" looked at the lives of four people in the immediate aftermath of WW2. The tensions and uncertainties in these ordinary lives were so sensitively portrayed and, the whole atmosphere of the piece struck chords with me; it really is amazing how much I recognized of that era, in spite of the fact that I was a mere 1 years old at the time. Of course the austerity years were so much a part of my childhood. A totally involving gentle production.

Earlier in the evening, we caught (minus the first fifteen minutes) "The Battle for Britain's Soul" (BBC2), tonight centring on the eighteenth century. We both are looking forward to the rest of the series, it was simultaneously informative and entertaining. For me it succeeded where a more po-faced presentation could have proved a complete turn-off. Thank you BBC.

Telecommunications

My full emergence, from the night's repose, occurred somewhat reluctantly at around 9.20am. The morning rest was somewhat interrupted by the doorbell ringing at about 7.30am, summoning my beloved to recover a parcel from the doorstep. Despite the disruption, we are still pleased with the prompt delivery of Helen's new mobile 'phone from Amazon, so yours truly quickly transferred the SIM from her antique machine and, inserted the battery after a slight problem discovering how to open the battery compartment. We haven't had mobile telephonic machines before, where the SIM goes in a separate section rather than under the battery.

Only one telephone call has disrupted my morning ... "Hi this is .... of Holiday rewards ...", at which point I bellow to the (presumed) recorded voice .."stupid American cow ...!". I despise cold-calling whether in person or telephonically and, I think that the organizers of such sales tactics should be locked up for life and subjected to a barrage of nuisance calls twenty-four hours a day!

My irritation doesn't last for long, even though the only thing I want from the Americans is the withdrawal of their forces of occupation from the UK!

Reminiscing

A lazy start to a leisurely Sunday but, not too leisurely for my beloved, who managed to allow sufficient time to get to morning service without a last minute run. This evening Helen has gone to the Harvest Supper, at her chapel; maybe one of these days I’ll be sufficiently energised and confident to attend the chapel with her.

It’s only a couple of years ago that I had no problem coping with church services, jazz clubs and general socializing; since that time I’ve been unable to cope with sizeable groups of people, regardless of the setting and, the duration of a church service proved impossible to cope with. The spirit is weakening because the flesh is weak!

I’ve been catching up on some more VHS recordings today, an old Omnibus programme on Louis Armstrong and, Pennebaker’s ‘Don’t Look Back’, the film of Bob Dylan’s 1965 tour of the UK. Both of these programmes were hugely enjoyable and, in different ways, reminded me of a time when once I was a young man!

Tiredness and Television

It has been one of those days when I found it nigh impossible to feel wide-awake! A night of vivid, albeit quite abstract, dreams led to a rather spasmodic sleep pattern. The erratic pattern continued into the day but, after preparing tomorrow's lunch, in the late afternoon, I became fractionally more alert.

Tonight was the 'boot camp' phase of "The X Factor" which proved reasonably entertaining viewing and, we also dipped into some of the 'Hidden Decade' programmes on BBC4. The decade 1945 -1955 I find quite fascinating as it coincides with my childhood and, one can only feel grateful that the period of austerity has not haunted one's subsequent life. With my health problems, I can only express my appreciation of the National Health Service brought in by the post-war Labour Government.

I've been sat in front of my laptop for far too long, concentration seriously flagging, so it's time to say Au Revoir.

Tales of consumption

Tonight,for the first time in many years, I watched 'Taggart'[ITV1]. I could never bring myself to watch it after Taggart was written out of it (I believe that was when the actor playing the eponymous character died), unable to imagine the programme in a language I could understand. Having said that, tonight's story was really quite gripping, with some wonderful human touches in the environs of three murders.

Before that started, we watched the beginning of 'Talking Bob Dylan Blues'[BBC4], a concert recorded at The Barbican featuring Odetta, Billy Bragg, K T Tunstall and many others. I've recorded the full two hours of that concert for future consumption.

Talking of consumption; whilst watching the TV shows aforementioned we enjoyed a wonderful Vino da Tavola 'Monticello Rosso' ... I must remember not to be put off by the simple VdT designation.

From acupuncture to system massage

The physio called this morning to go through the "history" of my illness and, is going to be providing a course of acupuncture, in the hope that this will alleviate some of the pain problems. Admittedly, in recent weeks pain hasn't been as much of a problem as fatigue and, Helen (the physio who shares the name of my beloved) seemed to be pleased with the efforts I had been making with regard to 'pacing', diet and vitamin/mineral supplements.

Too often in the past, Helen had been aware that the recommended graduated exercise approach recommended for some of her clients had proved detrimental. As someone who has suffered with ME herself, she is now much more cautious and, clearly understands the difference between depression and other causes of "tiredness". Anyway, I look forward to starting the acupuncture with only the mildest possible degree of trepidation!

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On the computing front, I decided this afternoon to install the AntiVir PE Premium on my laptop and, replaced that programme with ntl Netguard on my PC. At least it gives me a minor sense of achievement and, it has once again shown the usefulness of the new Flash Drive ... it saves a little on 'download' usage!

A limitation of 'Netguard'

A problem just occurred to me last night regarding ‘ntl Netguard’! As it’s installed on my laptop and, a laptop is by definition portable, would Netguard protect me if the wireless connection came from a router on another ISP’s network?

The simple answer is no! [The following statement comes from the NTL website: “Netguard will not work while you are connected on another ISP’s network. It will start to work again once you reconnect to ntl’s network.]

Moral: do not rely on Netguard for a portable computer!

Just wondering, would it be possible to transfer AntiVir PE Premium from my PC to my laptop. Maybe I should pursue this idea!

Dark Nights and a Warm Heart(h)

After a day which held the promise of rain and, brought the odd light rain shower, as dusk approached so did a darker heavier shower, the sort that makes one think the gods are vengeful! It really is good to have the curtains drawn, as the temperature has taken a distinctly wintry turn, to shut out the blustery darkness.

Dvd and video recorders are both set up for more of the mini Dylan season and, we’re all set to watch “CSI: Miami” and a repeat “CSI: New York”, both on Channel 5.

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Friendship has broken out between the minnows in the aquarium; it could well be a sense of gratitude that they don’t have to face the autumnal changes that the pond fish are experiencing.

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I just give thanks that we are fortunate enough to have food in our belly and, a roof over our head.

Televisual Treats

Just caught the end of the Dylan profile, though we've recorded it all on Dvd, and now I'm just watching a follow up programme, "Dylan's Legends" (BBC4) at the moment about Woody Guthrie and featuring Pete Seeger (one of the heroes of my youth) ... we're currently recording this on VHS. It's always good to have one or two recordings to look back at and, look forward to!

Watched the final episode of "Rose & Maloney"(ITV1), which co-incided (time-wise) with the first hour and a half of the Scorsese Dylan profile. The electronic media is a wonderful thing; it's so easy to champion it when it presents programmes that suit one's own interests!

A bottle of 'Stafford Lodge', Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, 2003 enhanced our appreciation of these televisual treats.

From blood-letting to libations

Today, it was time to visit the blood-letters once more, although only one phial was required to carry out a liver-function test. It was really good to walk straight in, no queues, just yours truly. Helen, my beloved chauffeuse, didn’t even have time to read one page of her book in the waiting area; it was all over and done with so quickly! On my next visit they’ll require several phials of the red fluid but, that only adds seconds to the process. The important thing is to remember the quiet periods!

On my return home, decided to do a bit of work in the garden (details of which are recorded by Heterocon). Both Helen and myself are looking forward to the first part of Scorsese’s “No Direction Home – Bob Dylan” (BBC2) this evening. An event to be recorded! Perhaps I ought to raid the wine cellar to find an appropriate libation.

With threatening skies outside, it will be wonderful to just cosy-up with my beloved!