Growing up…

Someone asked if I grew up with 3 TV channels and no smartphone? My answer:

We watched 1 channel, on black and white TV. God save the queen played when the station closed and then a high tone would play to get you to switch off your TV.

We listened to Radio 1 and the light programme, with Jimmy Clitheroe on at the weekends. My mom got the thunderbird theme tune played on the radio for our birthday.

We had rotary phone (eventually) after we moved house. Then we had spin dryer, boiler/top loading washer with a ringer.

In the old house we had a toilet at the end of the yard but we had one downstairs in the new house. In the old house we had a tin bath. In the new house we had a brand new bathroom. And my parents bought an electric shower. Shall I go on… Memories.

BBC Radio 4

What do you listen to while you work?

I’ve listened to BBC Radio 4 for years now. It’s mostly speech except for ptogrammed like Desert Island Discs.

In the 1980’s I heard the serialised version of the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy. And found the answer to life the universe and everything was 42. Then I listened to the Hobbit, and later the Lord of the Rings trilogy with Micheal Horden, Ian Holm and Bill Nighy. I even got the cassette tape version of it.

Other favourites include: I’m Sorry I haven’t a clue, the News Quiz, Dead ringers, the Infinite Monkey Cage, and many others.

I think you can hear a lot of these can be heard on the BBC SOUNDS ap.

I would make compassion and empathy classes mandatory in schools.

What would you change about modern society?

Something needs to change. As the world gets more complicated, resources diminishing, people may be becoming more selfish?

But is that because we see so much more of the bad things going on in the world? It is only since film and TV and then the Internet that we have been able to see wars and conflicts in real time. We are not always sheltered by time or censorship of terrible events. Computers give us access to horrendous content that could change the way we think. But statistics show that in some countries crime has decreased considerably over the years.

As countries seem to be heading towards populist, right wing agendas, perhaps we should look at the ethics of news, bring in compassion and empathy. We could go back to religious rules, like turning the other cheek, enacting laws so that the weapons of war are not easily available, or working against theft and violence. But it doesn’t have to be a religious interpretation. Not all of those rules make sense. Why not work with humanitarian or humanist ethics? Listen to world courts and follow their precepts.

If compassion and empathy were taught in school we might not change the current situation but we could change our futures or our children’s futures.

April fools day

The Peak Wildlife Park posted a prank on Facebook today. It reported that some of their Humbolt Penguins had taken flight today and if anyone saw one or found them in their garden they should report it to the park (to check their migratory habits?).

Of course Penguins don’t fly, (and they don’t migrate either as far as I know, but I added that bit), so it was obviously an April Fools joke, but it’s nice and gentle, not rude or unkind. I remember an old one on TV when they reported that the spaghetti trees were being harvested and another one on a children’s TV programme about dehydrated water!

I haven’t seen many jokes today but I liked one about flat pack Easter eggs from IKEA, (chocolate bars), may your April Fools day be fun!

Peak Wildlife Park is at Winkhill, Leek ST13 7QR, UK. Details can be found on Google.

British comedy!

What makes you laugh?

Over the years I have had the pleasure of watching British TV comedy shows and I have to share a few titles with you.

Favourite anarchic comedies are The Young Ones about mad student life which were shown in the 1980s onwards, and Red Dwarf, a survivor on a asteroid mining ship woken after 2 million years lives with a cat that has evolved into a humanoid, a hologram of a dead crew mate and a computer called Holly and an android called Kryton, I think this was from the 90’s? But has recently been resurrected. Also Father Ted, an Irish priest living on Craggy Island on the West Coast of Ireland.

Then there’s the Vicar of Dibley starring Dawn French about the first female Vicar of Dibley Village. Absolutely Fabulous, mad fashion designing japes, the Royale family, a strange TV watching family, and so many more.

The thing is these are not rom coms or comedies like Friends or Cheers. They have some very silly and sometimes quite rude ideas. If you find them Enjoy!

Watching videos

I’ve fallen into a bad habit, I’ve started to watch a lot of Facebook videos, one after the other. My phone keeps showing me hairdressing videos, five minute crafts, films about Agate, car crashes, American politics, police stopping cars. The trouble is its easier to watch one after the other rather than whole TV shows. Part of it is because hubby likes watching train and war films. I get bored by whether the train is running on narrow or standard gauge or even broad gauge. I don’t want to know the difference between tanks and armoured cars. I don’t want to know which general won what battle. So the phone videos have increased, which I think might be impacting on my arm problems. I don’t think I’m addicted, but it’s keeping my mind off things….

I hate ad breaks!

Every five minutes it feels like, you are just following the action in a film or TV show and suddenly… Bang, its off and another set of adverts! And it feels like the frequency increases the closer you get to the end of the programme.

I try and avoid TV channels with lots of advertising, but some are worse than others. You will be watching a scene where the action is reaching a climax, someone has just been killed, there’s been an explosion, the detective is about to reach a conclusion…. Then off and into ads about credit scores, electrical equipment, charity draws or new sofas, and each break has a similar selection of ads. Some channels with old fashioned films are crammed with adverts about mobility scooters, train excursions or stair lifts! They are clearly selected for age demographics. Stop It!