Tag Archives: daytime TV

A New-style Monday

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I rose at my normal time and took Julia to work this morning. It might be a day off, but after a few weeks the novelty of having a lie-in while she struggles on her two bus trip to work has worn off. It’s a rehearsal for retirement – I can either show some discipline and do stuff, or I can decline into a grumpy watcher of daytime TV. It’s a tricky choice but I have decided to do things while I still can.

After that I will become a grumpy watcher of daytime TV. Grumpy is easy enough, but I may have to pay for some better TV.

Second, I made a drink and set to with a submission for a poetry magazine. It involved editing a few poems that had been returned (it’s strange how you can see improvements once they come back).

I then relaxed with another drink  and read a few blogs.

It’s time for lunch next, using more of the  Sweet Potato and Chilli Soup.

After that, the plan is to do some decluttering and do another set of submissions but experience suggests I will probably watch TV and fall asleep for most of the afternoon. This life/work balance stuff is quite tricky. I’ve been decluttering for weeks now and only succeeded in moving a few things around. One small bag did eventually move as far as the bin, but it’s not an impressive record and Julia is talking about having a go herself, meaning that more of my carefully collected treasures will be at risk. Once she gets going she knows no mercy where my stuff is concerned. Her own stuff, however, seems to spread throughout the house, because you always need wool and fabric bits and half-finished cross stitch kits . . .

That, it seems, is a Well Known Fact.

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Another Day, Another . . .

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Goldfinch at Screveton

Another day and another small advance. Things are looking up slowly – I am better today than I was yesterday (even though I am far from fixed) and I have had another poem accepted. It’s for a members’ anthology and the system is that if you submit five you automatically get one in. Submit three and you have to be selected by the editor. I always go for three as five seems a cheat and I will know any entry has been tested.

Moorhen on bird table

Obviously, as I become older and follow the family path to dementia, I will be glad of the other option to ensure seeing my name in print.

Julia left me ham sandwiches for lunch yesterday. I am being well looked after. However, I hadn’t been very hungry so I’d left the, For breakfast, after the fruit and cereal, she added cheese to the sandwich and we had cheese and ham toasted sandwiches as a sort of brunch. The catering really is very good at the moment, though I expect it to revert to self-catering next week as I continue to make small recoveries day by day.

Nuthatch at Rufford Abbey

I’m managing to keep up with the blog but anything creative seems to elude me – a combination of sleep deprivation and daytime TV is blunting my wits.

I’m thinking of two historical mystery novel series – Mistress Marple, an elderly spinster from the village of St Mary Mead and Poirot, a refugee from the Eighty Years War in the Spanish Netherlands, owner of a twirly moustache and a formidable set of “les cellules grises”.

Goldfinches – Dearne Valley

They will need a little work, including some name changes to avoid being sued into oblivion by the Estate of Agatha Christie (now Agatha christie Ltd). That’s the trouble with daytime TV – you fall asleep, wake up with a brilliant idea and find someone has already written it.

More birds. Tomorrow I will try ducks.

Like a Stork, I have a Big Bill

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No parcels today, no coins, no postcards of dubious taste.

The car is in for its annual MOT test, plus a service and an examination of a coolant problem. Or a “no coolant” problem, to be precise: it’s using nearly as much water as diesel. Fortunately it seems to be ending up under the car so should be easy enough to fix.

On top of that, one of the tyres looked a bit flat on Sunday, and triggered the tyre pressure warning light. The sidelight warning light has been going on and off for months, though the sidelight is still working, and I suppose under the new rules this will cost me money too.

I can’t help thinking that my last VW did a quarter of a million miles without leaking and had no warning lights to go wrong.

To fill my carless day I am performing a study of daytime TV. I started with Quincy ME and have now moved on to Storage Hunters – UK. The have brought couple of the American regulars across because we don’t seem to have enough homegrown idiots.

I’m currently watching Combat Dealers. It’s an antiques programme, but with some unusual stock.

After that I may need a cup of tea, as TV watching can be quite onerous.

Later…

I had the tea. Then, just before lunch, the garage rang.

The water leak is likely to require a new water pump, which is not going to be cheap. The tyre has a screw through it and needs repair. The warning light, of course, needs attention. Warning lights, it seems to me, are always going wrong and needing expensive attention. It’s almost as if they have been there to cost motorists money.

Imagine a big sigh here.

Apart from the money, they will need to have the car for another day, though I’m hoping that will be next week.

At least it gives me a chance for a postcard and a pun about a big bill.

It’s 12.16 now and I feel like I’ve done enough. Blog, TV research, pun. This afternoon I may try a limerick and a nap before the quiz programmes start.

For now, lunch calls.

This is a picture of tomatoes in the Mencap garden, I feel in need of a peaceful picture.

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Sword of Sherwood Forest and Daytime TV

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Daytime TV strikes again!

The quiz schedule has recently changed and, in looking for something else came upon Sword of Sherwood Forest. With Richard Greene as Robin, Peter Cushing as the Sheriff and Oliver Reed as one of the villains it’s actually better than many of the Robin Hood films, though the fight scenes let it down badly.  The Disney version is my favourite, so I’m not sure I’m a reliable reviewer of the Robin Hood canon.

I did write to Russell Crowe’s agents suggesting he might like to promote the film by working with Nottingham Outlaws RL.

The agents didn’t get back to me, a golden opportunity passed and the film received mixed reviews. I’m not saying the things are linked, but it wouldn’t have hurt to send a simple email reply. Also, the sequel never appeared and what has Russell Crowe done since? For the purposes of karma may I suggest you don’t mess with The Outlaws.

Back on quizzes, it used to be The Code, Fifteen to One, The Tipping Point, Pointless and The Chase. Admittedly I often doze off during The Tipping Point, and get annoyed with the way The Chase appears to cheat the contestants at times (as he did yesterday), but it’s not a bad line-up.

Sadly it has been disrupted by replacing The Code with The Boss, an overly complicated format with a presenter who is unable to lift it from the gutter. I’ve not seen such a load of rubbish since I had a junk shop.

It’s probably a good thing to break the habit as daytime TV is not really good for me. On the other hand, I know a lot more trivia than I did three weeks ago.

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Sundown in Sherwood

This is a picture from Sherwood Forest, the shooting of Sword of Sherwood Forest actually took place in Ireland!