Back in Business

I went through a bit of a bad patch in September/October; one that I'm coming through now.
The compand for which I had worked since 2000 went into insolvency at extremely short notice - in fact, I arrived at work after a dentist appointment one Monday morning and half an hour later was out of work (along with everyone else in the company)
Everything went on hold (apart, that is, from the new glasses which I had ordered whilst still employed and which I badly needed - luckily I had set aside the cost of the glasses and I qualified for all the various NHS vouchers so the costs were covered!) and for a while I did think I would not be able to do any more podcasts or work on other projecte.
Luckily, I was only out of work for a few weeks - I do now have another job that, I hope, will become something permanent.

In the meantime, I produced a 'book' - really a booklet, containing a couple of rarely seen out-of-copyright E.F.Benson short stories plus one of my own (a pastiche or piece of fan fiction set in the world of Mapp & Lucia) and it is currently available for sale at my E.F.Benson website online store
(or directly from my Cafe Press store HERE)

Fame at last! (well, sort of...)

I've been a fan of the Reduced Shakespeare Company since I saw a production of "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)" at the Criterion Theatre, Piccadilly, London some several years ago; I have the audio recordings, I have a DVD of "The Complete History of America (abridged)" and I hold out the hope that I might get to see one of their other productions one day, in some form or other.  In the meantime, I listen to their weekly podcast, which is entertaining, informative and, above all, short.  Ish.

Today, I downloaded the latest episode (189 to be precise) and listened to it on my way home from work - it's about the right length for the cycle ride home and as Austin Tichenor was doing the traditional closing bit, I got to my front door.  And then I heard my name.

The podcast always features what the RSC calls "A Random Shout Out"; as Tichenor always states, "No reason, it's just random".  The shout out is usually of someone who has signed up to the RSC newsletter, or joined their website forum, which I did some time ago.  I never actually expected to hear my name on the podcast though, and it felt good - especialyl as Mr Tichenor actually used the correct pronounciation (you would be surprised at how many variations people find to pronounce my name - I used to get quite shirty about it; in case anyone wants to know, it rhymes with "Lines" or "Vines" and not "Bins" or Tins"
Thank you to the RSC and to Mr Tichenor, for bringing a little light into my day!  (It doesn't take much!)

Moving on, I have now harvested a second batch of spuds from the garden, and I'm having some of them for my dinner tonight...

Upgrades...

I've been installing OS's on different machines - iOS4 on the iPod Touch (it's settling down at the moment, and I'll have to get used to some things, but so far, so good) and Ubuntu on a spare PC I had doing nothing.

The latter will take some getting used to - at least with the iPod, it's more-or-less the same interface and I can work out how do do most things; with Ubunto, it's a whole new way of doing things and I'm going to have to concentrate for a while.
So, I now have multiple operating systems again!  Confusion, as ever, is waiting to see if it reigns...

Records, Veg and International Men of Mystery

It's been a busy old weekend - the weather has been nice, there has only been a couple of light aircraft (flying low-ish) to disturb the peace and I've been out and about doing things for different reasons.
Yesterday (Saturday 17th April 2010) was Record Store Day and, as a friend had asked me if it might be possible to get a couple of UK exclusive 7" singles, I bussed it down to Adrians in Wickford.  This is where the International Man of Mystery comes in - I found a stall in Wickford selling second hand DVD's and CD's and picked up Austin Powers in Goldmember, which completed my Austin Powers trilogy, for £2.  Bargain!  Made for entertaining viewing on Saturday night (after the obligatory Doctor Who session - of which I can only say: iDalek.)
Upon my return (with the requested records!) I decided to repot and plant out some of the various plants that have been littering my various windowledges over the last couple of months.
Here are some pics I've taken:

My garden table, covered with various pots and tubs taken out of the mini-greenhouse for a bit of direct sun and fresh air; the looking slightly dead thing in the middle is an old mint plant that I left out all winter - it seems to be reviving!  The other plants are Tomatoes, Sweetcorn and Peas.  Behind is the refurbished mini-greenhouse, containing the first of the chillies to sprout, plus yet more tomatoes and some more peas.

Slightly in shade, these are some runner beans - my first go at growing the things.

Another first, some peas!  I have more in the mini greenhouse, and another tub of similar size waiting for them!

The first of the sweetcorn to get planted in the ground - I've had success growing sweetcorn in this particular patch in the past and, as I haven't deliberately planted anyting here for a couple of years, I thought I'd give it another go now.

I've also done something I saw in a gardening programme (the first I've ever deliberately watched!) "The Edible Garden" - I've pulled up as many of the nettles I can find in the garden, bunged them in a bucket and drowned them in water - in a few weeks, hopefully, I'll have a nice rich nettle 'soup' for the tomatoes!

Catching up

First of all, I have the lurgi.  Again.  I just got over this last week and started getting set up to record some more interviews for my non-sport trading card podcast when I had to postpone due to one of my interviewees being lurgied; no sooner had I recieved the email telling me this than I started to feel that back of the nose tickle...  Meh.

However, I do feel well enough to update the blog.
Easter was fun for me as far as TV and Family was concerned - I got to have a nice roast dinner with my parents and sister on Easter Sunday, and also to watch brand new series of Ashes to Ashes (s3) and Doctor Who (s5) on Friday and Saturday respectively.  Plus there was a new feature length Jonathan Creek on the Sunday and the box set of the first 4 series (and two Christmas specials) of the same show turned up on Saturday (an Amazon bargain for which I exchanged some of my ill-gotten gains from having Amazon.co.uk associate links on my various websites!)

Gardening news (for which I have started a Twitter hashtag of #vegcrop2010 - though no-one seems to have picked up on it!): Most of the seeds I started planting in pots on my various windowsills have started to grow and (fingers crossed) flourish; some of them have been moved into the mini-greenhouse on my patio.  So far, three different types of tomato, sweetcorn, two types of pea, runner beans, radish, chillis and sweet peppers have sprouted, along with one plant that is either a globe courchette OR a butternut squash - the only thing that seems to have sprouted from the seets I took from last year's crop - the plants look much the same at this stage and I haven't a clue which it is (and won't until it starts to fruit!)
I have also started a run of potatoes and there are a couple of onions that seem to have been left over from last year's planting that have overwintered and popped up!
The garlic (from The Garlic Farm was mostly planted when I got back from the Isle of Wight in October last year and is doing terrifically well - all in tubs and troughs and all looking nice and leafy.

Gondolas

I was starting to wonder if I had imagined the whole thing.

Way back in the very late 70's/early 80's, I went to the local council run theatre (the original Towngate Theatre if you must know) with a friend to see a double bill of "Blazing Saddles" and "Life of Brian".  Leaving the cinema, my sides hurt from laughing.  That, however, is not the main point of this post - this YouTube link is: Away From It All - it should be noted that there is some increasingly strong language used (mostly in the second part)
The quality is not so good, but if you watch both parts of this short film, you'll get the gist.  The film, a travelogue of the sort that used to be a popular 'filler' in cinema programmes, was a typical example - full of cliches and terrible punning links between scenes - until, that is, you realise who it is performing the narration; the fun really kicks off in part 2, but you HAVE to sit through part 1 to get the full sense of the joke.
My thanks to the noble souls who found and posted this on YouTube and provided me with crucial proof that I HAD seen it - the internet is a wonderful thing...

Callback

First of all, a belated Happy New Year to anyone that might actually read this (I don't know if anybody does; to be honest, I very much doubt it given that I don't update very often, don't publicise and rarely have anything of real interest to say anyway!)

Secondly, about this time last year I made my first post of 2009 and noted that I had lost my Swiss Army Knife - I had search high and low for it and it hadn't turned up.  It was replaced shortly there after with another knife from the Victorinox range, and that was that.

Until this week when, as a result of having to clear out some stuff (I'm having the house insulated this week!) the original knife turned up in my bedroom (it had somehow found it's way under a pile of stuff that I hadn't tried lifting when looking for the thing last year)

It now has a new home - I gave it to my Dad as it might be useful in the long car journeys he sometimes makes!

Work is quiet still, and I have been taking a break from my podcasting activities for a while (though I will probably resume recordings next month - I possibly have a rather interesting interviewee lined up for the trading card podcast!)

The only other thing to say at the moment is that I have started to work on the outline for a longer piece of creative writing - I've been pondering a plot idea for the last few years (it's that legendary 'one book' that everyone supposedly has in them) but in a low period over the Christmas/New Year break I sat down and started to actually write an outline - something I haven't done before.
Now all I have to do is write the bits inbetween the 'bullet points' in the outline...

D.I.Why

I had a brainwave. I recently got one of those little gidgets that the Government is subsidising that is supposed to cut the amount of water used in a shower. Whilst I was fitting it, I thought, I might as well get a new shower head, the one I have having been there since I moved in 17 or so years ago.
A trip to the DIY store got me the showehead (and it didn't cost me anything asI had some internet survey vouchers which covered the cost!) and so I set to work.
All went well; the head fitted the flexible pipe; the gidget fitted at the other end, and water came out when I turned it on. Magic!

This evening, I decided to rinse around the bath using the new showehead - and notived that the flexible pipe is now broken. Doh.
As in computers, so in life - fix one thing, and two other problems arise to take it's place. I'm waiting for the second thing...

Stand By For Haribo

OK, I can slightly spill the beans now, as the programme in question has been on the air for a few weeks now and the week in which I hada slight involvement is long gone!
Way back in January I auditioned for a new BBC Quiz show entitled "A Question of Genius"; a short time later I was called and asked if I would like to be a standby contestant for the first week of the show, which would mean a trip up to the BBC studios in Glasgow. I jumped at the chance - it's not every day that you ge tthe opportunity to see behind-the-scenes of a TV show, especially not a brand new one!

I was very well looked after the whole time I Was there and the other contestants were a great bunch of people; unfortunately, my services were not required (though those of the other standby were as oen of the contestants lost her voice on the last day of recording!)
During the day, I spent my time in the Green Room watching the recording, drinking lots of tea and coffee and knocking back the Haribo (as well as enjoying the lunch and indulging in a little quiz practice with those contestants who had been eliminated from the various rounds); in the evening, most of the group went to various places in downtown Glasgow and enjoyed great food, conversation and drink (the first night we went to The Ubiquitous Chip, which served fantastic bar food; the next night someone in the group found a pub quiz at The Drawing Room in Sauchiehall Street so we went en-masse, split into three teams and came 1st, 2nd AND 3rd! As well as this, the food was again brilliant; I had Belly of Pork and it was incrediable!)
I won't go int othe technicalities of the show, being brand new, there were still a few loose ends to be shaken out of the format, but the end result was an excellent show which deserves to do very well indeed - I hope it gets recommissioned (especially as I'm hoping to audition again!)
Plus, I got to meet the host of the show, Kirsty Wark, who was friendliness personified - all the contestants said this and she proved it in the brief chat we had on the last day of recording!

At time of writing the show is still on - you'll find it on BBC2 at 16:30 Monday to Friday.

Questions, Questions...

I was in Glasgow this week. Why? I can't tell you - yet!
It was great fun though, and VERY interesting... All I can say (I think) is that I was involved with a new BBC Quiz Show being made by BBC Scotland, and that if the recording sessions I saw is anything to go by, it will run and run and run...

I WILL post about it once the show is on the air, I promise!

Toys and Games

Well, Yesterday was eventful. I collected my LOOOOOOONG awaited new iPod Touch in the morning (paid for almost entirely with gift vouchers gained from online surveys!) and, in the afternoon, I went for an audition for a TV quiz show (I won't name the show or the channel - yet...)
The latter was fun, and a real eye-opener - most of the other auditionees had already been on several other game and quiz shows; contestants form "Mastermind", "Going For Gold", "The Weakest Link", "Eggheads" and "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" (amongst others!) It was interesting hearing them all talk about their various experiences on some of the best known shows in British TV, and I learnt a lot about the process of appearing on a show from them.
Now I just have to wait for the call to tell me if I've got past the audition and onto the show itself...

See what happens when you neglect something?

New Year, New attempt to keep things updated, so I thought I'd come onto my blog and see about posting something new - first thing I see is that there is a comment I need to moderate - and it's from an old friend I haven't seen in ages and for whom I lost the email address! Hello, John! I'll be emailing you shortly!

Other news - I lost my trusty Swiss Army Knife (but will be replacing it soon-ish); I am so close to getting an iPod Touch (I'm just waiting for Macworld before getting one just in case they announce a memory bump); I have a few potential interviews lined up for the podcast; and I now have The Simpsons Season 10!
So, will this be the year I post more regularly to the blog (any of them)? Only time will tell...

Goodbye, Chairman Humph.

Jazz Legend Humphrey Lyttleton passed away today, aged 86.
He was an excellent trumpeter, an inspirational radio presenter (his long running BBC Radio 2 show "The Best of Jazz" only came to an end last month) and irrepressible Chairman of the 'Panel Show to End All Panel Shows', "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue", which I was fortunate enough to see being recorded last year (see the blog post "Samantha Live" below).

RIP Humph.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Busy day today - a very good friend celebrated her 60th birthday with a great party (from which I have just returned) and, earlier in the day, I attended a seminar on "Podcasting, Rights and Music" hosted by the UK Podcasters Association and the Open Rights Group at The Guardian's Scott Room in Farringdon, London.
It was a really great afternoon listening to experts in the field of Pod/Vodcasting and Music Licencing and talking to fellow podcasters about various aspects of producing podcasts (A quick plug for my two (at present) shows - UK C ardCast and Radio Tilling!)
The seminar was video streamed live using a Nokia N95 (which was interesting to see!)Apparently the edited highlights will be online later - for more on this visit the UKPA blog.
My thanks to UKPA for giving me the opportunity to attend.

If You, dear reader, are a podcaster based in the UK, you REALLY should consider joining UKPA - there are three levels of membership, with the most basic being free.

New Year, New Bike!

I've had my old Peugeot Puma mountain bike for 20 odd years - it's one of the first 'mountain bikes', and is really more of a standard Gents tourer frame but with thicker wheels, and 18 speed deraillier gears.
It's a bit big, a bit heavy and a lott juddery on the pitted road surface I use to go to and from work every day, so when I found I had enough vouchers to go get a new bike on Amazon, the old Peugeot was retired (no pun intended!)
The new bike, a CBR Java with full suspection, 21 speed derailliers, front disc brakes and alloy frame and wheel rims, arrived last Friday (the same day, by the way, that I went to see Spamalot with a friend who had a spare ticket - great show!).
The suspension take a little getting used to - I've tightened up the rear suspension as I was suffering from rather a lot of bounce - but so far, no reason to regret the decision to buy it!
The only downside is that it didn't come with mudguards - which means my back has been spattered with mucky water - but that will be fixed at the weekend.

2008 is the year I use the internet to get expensive stuff for nothing or next to nothing - the next step is to do enough online surveys to get me enough points for the iPod upgrade I want to make, from the 1st Gen Shuffle to the latest Classic (though I'm sorely tempted by the 32Gb Touch that has just been announced...)

Cheap Choo-Choo

It's been a while since I posted here, which would suggest to any casual reader that nothing very much has happened in my life lately. This is true.
In fact, probably the most exciting thing that I did recently was to buy a train set for my brother in the Marks & Spencer sale - what can I say, he likes model trains, and this was reduced from £149 to £9...

What I have been doing is working on podcast episodes, planning a second podcast (about the author E.F.Benson), and completing enough online surveys to enable me to get an iPod Classic this year (and/or a new bicycle!) Before anyone asks, no, I don't do those pyramid-type schemes, where you end up relying on the entire population of the UK signing up to referral offers so you can get the latest gadget - these are legitimate 'answer some questions online for points which you save up for shop vouchers' type surveys.

It's my birthday soon, so if anyone wants to help the 'Paul needs a new Bike, preferably with full suspension and a bit lighter than the current 20 year old model' fund, send Amazon.co.uk gift vouchers! :)
Amazon.co.uk Gift Vouchers

Fan-iddly-tastic!

Saturday afternoon, I went to the cinema to see "The Simpsons Movie" with my nephew - almost as much of a Simpsons fan as I. 30 year age difference between us, but we were both laughing (me with a chesty rumble as I have a cold at the moment) at much the same things for much the same reasons. There were a couple of moments when the question "What does that mean?" could be heard, but he answered me politely...
We stayed until the very end of the credits, which was an adventure for him - it was the first time he had been the last person in a cinema and he was thrilled by the experience - especially when he saw the various bits in the credits (and in the soundtrack) that "We're the only people who have seen" He (and I) have been waiting ages for this film - he saw the trailer at (I think) the Wallace & Gromit film when it came out and has been asking me ever since to tell him when it was coming out. Now, of course, he wants to know when the sequel is due out... And all because of one word said by one of the main characters in a credits sequence!
On the way home, he kept on singing the "SpiderPig" song. No-one else in the family quite understands why he and I love The Simpsons as much as we doo, but then they gave up on me when I first got into Star Trek, and he's following a similar path with Star Wars (you could say he is my young Padawan...)
Now, of course, it's "When is the DVD coming out and can I get it for Christmas?"

Said by both of us at the same time, to the bemused stare of his father/my brother, who came to pick us up from the cinema.

The Sound of His Voice

(DS9 fans will get the paraphrase of an excellent Season 7 episode!)
My speaking voice isn't that hot. I've discovered that there is a slightly sibilant tone, and I sound way more 'Esturary' than I thought. The reason I've suddenly realised this is that I have been recording a podcast covering Non-Sport trading cards (one of my many collecting/hoarding activities!)
I suspect this is something that happens to everyone the first time they hear a recording of their voice - I had the idea that my voice was posher, clear and well enunciated; now I understand why some people have problems understanding what I say!

Samantha Live!

Well, I'm back from the Clue recording and it went about as swimmingly as it could have! There are pictures, but the ones taken in the theatre are decidedly blurry, due to the zoom on my camera not being sufficient, me not being used to the various settings on the thing and the fact that one of the ushers was a little too strict about the 'No photography' thing. Still, I'll post a couple at the end.

Now, if you don't want to know who the guest panellist was until you hear the radio broadcast (in June), look away now.

Stephen Fry.

Stephen Flippin' Marvellous Fry

Sir Stephen of the Fry-ness.

Result! I was hoping for Jeremy Hardy (given we were at the home of the English National Opera, that would have been apt) by Sir Fry-ness was a more than acceptable alternative, given the fact that I'm a huge fan (and even wrote a letter to him, to which he wrote a really nice reply!)

Anyway, to start at the beginning - I got into London at around 11am and proceeded to Mornington Crescent as something of a pilgrimage (I thought it appropriate - after all, I would, hopefully, be watching a game that night and so seing the place for real would be the perfect start to the day)

On the platform, having just got off the Northern Line train.

I went up to street level (by lift - MC is one of the few remaining Tube stations with lift access), went through the ticket gates and saw - rain. Chucking it down, it was. Luckily, I had my brolly, so I dived out, and crossed the road to take the following pictures:

The Station from the pub doorway opposite (umbrella framing device entirely my own!)

A slightly damp me in front of the station - the thinning hair is purely a trick of the light (he wrote hopefully...)

I went back into the station, having first noticed the statue in the pedestrial area in front of the station:Closer inspection reveals it to be of Richard Cobden (link to Wikipedia)

What I forgot to do, of course, was take a picture of the Blue Plaque erected in the memory of Willie Rushton (mainly because it wasn't until searching Wikipedia for the Richard Cobden link above that I realised there WAS a Blue Plaque! Rats! - that means another trip in due course...)

I re-entered the station to continue my journey around town (pausing only to take more pictures of myself:

That's the last of the pictures of me, I promise)

I killed a few hours at the British Museum (which was heaving - unsurprisingly, given it was a Bank Holiday Monday and it was still raining) and Oxford Street (where I found a die-cast Dalek keyring is, of all places, Marks and Spencer - my local branch had a few before Christmas, but I hadn't bought one because I was hoping for reductions in the January sale - of course, no Dalek keyrings were in the sale) I did hope to find the Dalek Egg Cup M&S did for Easter, but no luck.

Eventually, I went off to King's Cross station to meet up with my friend, and (after a most enjoyable Indian meal near Charing Cross Road) we walked over to the London Coluseum. Huge crowd assembled in front of the theatre - a good mix of ages, which slightly surprised me (though it really shouldn't have done) . On a counter in the lobby were SIGNED copies of Humphrey Lyttleton's anecdotal memoirs "It Just Occurred to me - The Thoughts of Chairman Humph" (amazon.co.uk) for sale - so I bought one.

Entering the auditorium, and finding our seats, on stage were the tables covered in a BBC Radio 4 sheet, and (at the back) a piano:

A mirky pic I know, but you can just make out that there are 6 microphones - two each for the teams, one for Humph and one for - yes - Samantha! So, the rumours that Samantha is a completely imaginary entity can be dashed right now - what other proof does one need? :)

Jon Naismith came on stage and did a little 'warm-up', telling a pretty awful joke that made the audience laugh in much the way you'd expect a pretty awful joke to do - he asked for a show of hands to see who in the audience were first timers to a recording and it appeared to me that almost the entire audience were newbies! (that audience, by the way, was in the region of 2400 - according to Naismith, the largest audience (not including the radio listeners) they had yet performed to - I'm proud to be a part of Clue history!)
Next, Naismith introduced the teams; huge cheer after every name, and a seriously huge cheer for Fry. Next came Colin Sell and finally, Humphrey himself. Samantha was slightly delayed, attending to a few personal matters at the back.

The show started. I won't discuss all the rounds, or what songs were performed (though I will say that Stephen Fry got almost a standing ovation for his effort in "One Song To The Tune Of Another") but at one point, Humphrey made a comment about having celebrated his 86th birthday two weeks ago and Colin Sell struck up with the tune to "Happy Birthday", and the audience sang along. If you have never heard "Happy Birthday" sung by nearly 2400 people in a theatrical setting...

One round that didn't seem to do very well was an attempt at a "Life on Mars" spoof, which I suspect will either be dropped completely, or will be severely cut.

An interval followed (mad dash for the bar) then the second half, and the second week's show with the moment everyone had been waiting for - Mornington Crescent! This match involved a new Mornington Crescent computer game joining in - if it gets left in the broadcast edition, regular listeners will recognise the voice of the computer (and that's all I am saying)

A couple of pictures of the cast, though as stated above, they are not particularly good:

(L-R) Stephen Fry, Colin Sell, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Humphrey Lyttleton, Jon Naismith (Samantha had to slip off at this point to attend to an urgent call of nature), Graeme Garden and Barry Cryer.

And finally, a shot of the laser Display Board (I think being held by Samantha; a stagehand was having difficulties with it, and she had to pull it off):

It may be difficult to make out, but the display shows "Kingdom"...

So. I've seen Clue live. Would I do it again if I got the opportunity? Yes! Being in the presence of so many people all determined to heartily enjoy themselves, makes the whole experience 10 times more fun, being able to join in the traditional audience responses without having people in the home/office/bus look at you askance is a great relief! I may even try to get to the tour the cast is doing with Jeremy Hardy ( a sort of "Greatest Hits" - not for broadcast and being performed at a number of theatres in August and September, with the possibility of more dates next year)

This time tomorrow...

...I'll be at the London Coluseum, ejnoying the early stages of an "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue" recording. The time has dragged since I managed to get the tickets, and now the day is finally upon me. What to do before the show? Well, I'm meeting up with a friend and we're probably going for a curry beforehand (if you have the seats behind me, my apologies in advance!) but I'm not meeting him until late afternoon, so I have most of the day to kill. Suddenly, a light bulb appeared above my head (I know it did, I was it reflected in my monitor!) - a pilgrimage to that holiest of Clue holies, Mornington Crescent. I shall be going via Tower Hill, which may well leave me open to accusations of going deliberately into nip, but I don't care.
Yesterday, I planted some Tomatoes.
Tomorrow, I see Clue and visit a nondescript (probably) Tube station.
On Tuesday, I await the Gas Meter Man.
It's an exciting life I lead.