I've been very conscious of the fact that I haven't added a new post to this blog for several days and now that a dear subscriber has nudged me, I feel compelled to write a little something regardless of how uninteresting it may turn out to be. If I get too boring, please feel free to throw rotten tomatoes and abuse at your computer screen!
I've spent the last few days concentrating on all things domestic. Twitter ensures that I am constantly behind in keeping house and home in any state of "togetherness" and towards the latter end of last week most of my tweets were tinged with guilt at not having made any inroads into tackling the European Ironing Mountain that had grown organically in my kitchen. I did climb that mountain on Friday and it took so long that, in the surreal world of Twitter, search parties and St Bernard dogs were being sent out to look for me. I also managed to vacuum before DH arrived home from Berlin so the weekend got off to a serene start. DH has mastered the art of "looking at me with a tone in his voice" and I grudgingly complete most acts of domesticity in order to avoid these. On Friday, I succeeded and DH was delighted to be home and to be fed a home-cooked incineration in a clean and tidy house. I have nominated myself for Stepford Wife of the Year and fully expect to win!
Josh had a sleepover on Saturday night at a friend's house which afforded DH and I the rare opportunity of going out for a meal without the family comedian in tow. I can't say I noticed any discernible effects of the current economic crisis in Westbourne where we had to wait for over half an hour to be seated in our favourite restaurant. It was heaving with people who didn't appear to have a care in the world!
Sunday comprised a quiet "family" day which we all enjoyed and I was even quite pleased to note that I didn't have any apparent withdrawal symptoms from not having been on Twitter for nearly two days in a row. Monday was designated as an "Admin" day which is probably why I'll be concentrating on admin this afternoon!
DH went off to Basel yesterday morning and I had been "volunteered" to help with catering for about a hundred people at a gathering last night. I spent all day sauteeing chicken, dashed home to collect Josh from school, showered and dashed back out again to "serve up". I was truly exhausted by the time the day was over. It was actually very enjoyable but I'm glad it can now be referred to in the past tense.
There were a couple of evenings that developed into "nights" that were truly manic on Twitter last week. It's very rare that I laugh out loud at anything in this miserable world. Television and radio programmes sometimes raise the glimmer of a smile on my face but there was some absolutely outstanding quick witted banter happening on Twitter. Side-splitting stuff ... the kind that makes me grateful that DH was abroad as he would have been truly disturbed to hear me cackling like a loon at some of the 140 character "one-liners". It's magical when that happens but quite a strange feeling to be in the middle of a truly outrageous comedy show! I've also started to follow and be followed by some really interesting people and I'm amazed and grateful that I can learn so much from so many in so short a time.
I've noticed on Twitter that one only has to mention (or "tweet") about a subject briefly before one is followed by a myriad of other Tweeters who are either interested in the same subject or hoping to sell something in connection with it. I happened to mention Berlin in a couple of tweets and almost immediately was followed by what appeared to be the Tourist Office there. (I say "appeared to be" - the follower tweeted in German to me and too many decades have passed since I sat my German "O" Level and I'm afraid I didn't actually understand a word that was written). I must hone my tweeting skills to be followed by people who are actually in a position to pander to my exact tastes. This week I shall be endeavouring to mention MacLaren F1s, Manolo Blahnik shoes and mews cottages in south west London. Follow me, follow me and send free gifts!
I made a couple of "observational" tweets to the BBC's Director of News who tweeted back that I should work for the BBC. I informed him that I used to work for the BBC. I said that I wouldn't mind returning to the Beeb on contract as I'm a "rare breed" and "I know about broadcasting". I've heard nothing further from him! There's no place at Auntie these days for an aged person who speaks good, grammatical English in "received pronunciation" and who has a good grasp that News bulletins should be for the unbiased reporting of the News and that Current Affairs programmes should be for commentary and analysis and that there should never, ever be any "fuzzy lines" between the two. When fuzzy lines occur, the public feels that the broadcaster can no longer be trusted. There have been far too many "fuzzy lines" of late - not only from the Beeb but also from ITN and most satellite News channels.
So I've arrived in the middle of this week without really knowing how I got here. The News is so rotten I'm only dipping into it when I feel strong enough but if anything grabs me about anything, I'll no doubt blog again before too long!
I've spent the last few days concentrating on all things domestic. Twitter ensures that I am constantly behind in keeping house and home in any state of "togetherness" and towards the latter end of last week most of my tweets were tinged with guilt at not having made any inroads into tackling the European Ironing Mountain that had grown organically in my kitchen. I did climb that mountain on Friday and it took so long that, in the surreal world of Twitter, search parties and St Bernard dogs were being sent out to look for me. I also managed to vacuum before DH arrived home from Berlin so the weekend got off to a serene start. DH has mastered the art of "looking at me with a tone in his voice" and I grudgingly complete most acts of domesticity in order to avoid these. On Friday, I succeeded and DH was delighted to be home and to be fed a home-cooked incineration in a clean and tidy house. I have nominated myself for Stepford Wife of the Year and fully expect to win!
Josh had a sleepover on Saturday night at a friend's house which afforded DH and I the rare opportunity of going out for a meal without the family comedian in tow. I can't say I noticed any discernible effects of the current economic crisis in Westbourne where we had to wait for over half an hour to be seated in our favourite restaurant. It was heaving with people who didn't appear to have a care in the world!
Sunday comprised a quiet "family" day which we all enjoyed and I was even quite pleased to note that I didn't have any apparent withdrawal symptoms from not having been on Twitter for nearly two days in a row. Monday was designated as an "Admin" day which is probably why I'll be concentrating on admin this afternoon!
DH went off to Basel yesterday morning and I had been "volunteered" to help with catering for about a hundred people at a gathering last night. I spent all day sauteeing chicken, dashed home to collect Josh from school, showered and dashed back out again to "serve up". I was truly exhausted by the time the day was over. It was actually very enjoyable but I'm glad it can now be referred to in the past tense.
There were a couple of evenings that developed into "nights" that were truly manic on Twitter last week. It's very rare that I laugh out loud at anything in this miserable world. Television and radio programmes sometimes raise the glimmer of a smile on my face but there was some absolutely outstanding quick witted banter happening on Twitter. Side-splitting stuff ... the kind that makes me grateful that DH was abroad as he would have been truly disturbed to hear me cackling like a loon at some of the 140 character "one-liners". It's magical when that happens but quite a strange feeling to be in the middle of a truly outrageous comedy show! I've also started to follow and be followed by some really interesting people and I'm amazed and grateful that I can learn so much from so many in so short a time.
I've noticed on Twitter that one only has to mention (or "tweet") about a subject briefly before one is followed by a myriad of other Tweeters who are either interested in the same subject or hoping to sell something in connection with it. I happened to mention Berlin in a couple of tweets and almost immediately was followed by what appeared to be the Tourist Office there. (I say "appeared to be" - the follower tweeted in German to me and too many decades have passed since I sat my German "O" Level and I'm afraid I didn't actually understand a word that was written). I must hone my tweeting skills to be followed by people who are actually in a position to pander to my exact tastes. This week I shall be endeavouring to mention MacLaren F1s, Manolo Blahnik shoes and mews cottages in south west London. Follow me, follow me and send free gifts!
I made a couple of "observational" tweets to the BBC's Director of News who tweeted back that I should work for the BBC. I informed him that I used to work for the BBC. I said that I wouldn't mind returning to the Beeb on contract as I'm a "rare breed" and "I know about broadcasting". I've heard nothing further from him! There's no place at Auntie these days for an aged person who speaks good, grammatical English in "received pronunciation" and who has a good grasp that News bulletins should be for the unbiased reporting of the News and that Current Affairs programmes should be for commentary and analysis and that there should never, ever be any "fuzzy lines" between the two. When fuzzy lines occur, the public feels that the broadcaster can no longer be trusted. There have been far too many "fuzzy lines" of late - not only from the Beeb but also from ITN and most satellite News channels.
So I've arrived in the middle of this week without really knowing how I got here. The News is so rotten I'm only dipping into it when I feel strong enough but if anything grabs me about anything, I'll no doubt blog again before too long!
Posts
I agree about fuzzy lines in the News and Documentaries.
ReplyDeleteI also don't like what they've done to Panorama. It's a shadow of its former self. It used to be a serious programme examining some current affairs topic in depth. Now it seems to have gone for a more populist approach although as it's been cut from 60 to 30 minutes, I suppose it's hard to do anything else. As for Jeremy Vine introducing each programme and then he disappears for the remainder of the time - what's the point of that? He's getting, as my grandmother used to say, "Money for old rope".
Can only agree. Jeremy Vine doesn't carry the gravitas that he once used to. Whilst I wouldn't dream of denigrating the Radio 2 "current affairs" slot, presenting what used to be the Jimmy Young programme doesn't exactly hold as much weight as Newsnight. It's a useful forum for MPs inter alia to get their point of view over to the "masses" but it's more "Sun" than "Telegraph" and most of the subjects are "Sun" orientated. (Not that I'm a broadsheet snob which of course, I am!)
ReplyDeleteUntil relatively recently I havent been able to watch British television. I have been isolated for 25 years or so (except for the odd trip back). [Oh dear. Used the "odd" word so beloved of BBC Weathermen. "The odd shower." No good is it.] Despite having the channels now, I still dont watch. Pointless listening to the news if you cant understand the accents.
ReplyDelete