10 unblogged things I did in November
Sun 1: Took all my bats down.
Sun 1: At the end of today's Radio 4 Midnight News the headlines were followed by a trail and then the programme Take Four Books. Hang on, I thought, where did the weather go? The Midnight News has always been followed by a beefy weather forecast ever since I started listening in the 1990s. The same thing happened tonight - no weather presenter, no weather - so I checked the Radio Times and they have indeed killed it off.
Until last night the listing always said News and Weather, but from today onwards it's only News. This cancellation wasn't announced, but it is plainly part of the latest round of BBC cost cutting, essentially forced by the last goverment enforcing a lengthy licence fee freeze. Other plans include scrapping the late-night weekday weather bulletin on BBC Two and using automated graphics for the overnight edition of Weather for the Week Ahead on BBC One. It's all so weather presenters don't need to do a late shift any more, saving cash and also helping the BBC to slim down their team of meteorologists by three. The Radio 4 Midnight News is also due to be cancelled before next spring so I shall be going to sleep less well informed on all fronts. Cold fronts, alas.
Sun 1: Today is the 10th anniversary of the introduction of the slogan 'See It. Say It. Sorted.' It's annoying, it's senseless and it gets played far more often than you'd like, but it is extraordinarily memorable and that's why it's still around ten years later. Apparently more than 200,000 texts are sent to 61016 every year, and since 2016 over 80,000 crimes have been recorded by the British Transport Police. Use of See it. Say it. Sorted. is mandated across every train operator and station in England, Scotland and Wales, so if you want to escape either take the bus, stay in your car or head to Northern Ireland instead.
Sun 1: This sign outside Meridian Water station intrigued me. It tells passengers which platform to use for various destinations, and it's not very good. Firstly the red lines are misleading because these lines branch rather than being sequential. No trains go direct from Stratford to Hackney Downs (p3), for example. But mainly I thought "hang on, can you really get a train from here to Cambridge?" because northbound trains from Meridian Water are exceptionally thin on the ground. So I checked the timetables and no you can't, ditto zero trains go direct to Stansted Mountfitchet. Also only the last train of the day goes to Liverpool Street, all the other southbound services go to Stratford, and only the midnight train goes to Hertford East. They really have made this much more complicated than it should be.
Southbound trains per weekday
to Stratford: 41
to Liverpool Street: 1 Northbound trains per weekday
to Bishop's Stortford: 7
to Hertford East: 1
In total 316 trains depart Meridian Water station every week, 85% of which go south to Stratford, so most of the rest of what's on the poster is irrelevant most of the time. Or indeed wrong.
Sun 1: Oh come on, it's far too early for the supermarkets to be launching their Christmas TV ad campaigns. Sainsbury is repeating its BFG theme which wasn't very engaging last year, and Tesco has a sugary 'delivery driver goes the extra mile' storyline that I expect to be sick of by Bonfire Night. It's also much too early for Tesco to be screening an advert for turkey prices at Waterloo station, and FFS even the John Lewis Christmas ad is launching today (3.11.26).
Mon 2: If you're taking part in Movember, I'm pleased to say I've spotted A Mustache Barber in Whitton. That said this may just be a traditional barber shop, not a tache specialist, because the list of specialist trims in the window goes no further than a flat top or a beard trim. If only they had a website or some online presence beyond an Instagram account they gave up on three years ago then we might know better.
Mon 2: What station is this?
You know Fulwell .
Mon 2: Today was the 90th anniversary of BBC Television commencing public broadcasting from Alexandra Palace, i.e. television was 90 years old today. There are many ways to commemorate the event, my favourite of which is always to watch Adele Dixon singing the opening song, The Magic Rays of Light.
There's joy in store
The world is at your door -
It's here for everyone to view
Conjured up in sound and sight
By the magic rays of light
That bring Television to you
Alternatively you can download the very first Television Number of the Radio Times as a 100 page pdf here (or view the next week's issue with the first TV programmes here). Also BBC4 is screening one of those first night programmes on Wednesday evening at 11.45pm, making Television Comes to London the BBC repeat with the longest gap between first and second showings... 90 years and 2 days.
Mon 2: As usual poppies have appeared on the front of many tube trains, as here on the Waterloo & City line. But I wonder if they've stuck poppies on both ends? You can see this end as trains enter the platform at Waterloo and when they arrive at Bank. But the other end is invisible to passengers because it's always in the tunnel at Bank and beyond the platform at Waterloo. Technically you could see it if you were standing on the arrival platform at Waterloo when a train arrived, but nobody does this so I wonder if they bothered with two poppies or just one.
Mon 2: Tower Hamlets libraries are holding their Writeidea festival again on the weekend of 20th-21st November, a chance to hear two dozen authors talk about their books in the comfort of the Town Hall. Most talks last an hour and all are free, even if you're not a signed-up borrower or indeed live outside the borough. Authors include Deborah Frances-White, Tim Pope, Dan Cruikshank and Owen Hatherley, so for example on Saturday at 4pm you could be hearing about LGBTQ history in the suburbs, how football shirts reflect politics or how best to draw a pub. Website here, programme here.
I do love my local library. Today I returned one novel on the Booker Prize shortlist and left with two more, which hopefully makes me better read than most.
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