Desktop memories

 

Hello There.

This isn't coming from a Commodore 64 as much as loved the one I had way back in 1985 with a printer and the tape drive although I late got the floppy drive for it which was way more reliable for loading programs.

Sadly it was way too early to come up with a CD-Rom which would of been the ultimate being easy to press for programs to be loaded up.

I did use it for games and word processing rather than using a Petite typewriter I'd been donated way back when from a female cousin.

My C64 came with some Adrian Mole goodies tying in the the series shown here on Central Televison of Sue Townsend's iconic tale of being a teenage boy in the early 80's (and beyond) which referenced the cultural landscape we grew up in.

Being 1985 there was no question of viewing on Channel 8 from Lichfield as the 405 line VHF service was switched off for good in the first few days of January that year so the indoor ten element aerial and booster was pointed towards Fenton to watch on my portable tv.

For music shows I'd sometimes plug the headphone output into my stereo although I prefered to watch them on the main set downstairs in colour.

65 Years of Blue Peter

Somethings are just constants in your life such as having a daily newspaper, listening to the news bulletin but how many tv shows have you watched for decades which included the period this massive Bush TV125 "dual standard" 405 and 625 line black and white tv was in the lounge?

Well actually it wasn't quite black and white more a bluey white for those of us who remember that era well.

In October 1958 the children's tv magazine show Blue Peter started originally for 15 minutes going up to a half hour not that I was around in 1958 but as soon as was able to take in what was going on, I started watching it with my siblings and it's continued ever since.

Of course over the years things have changed such as presenting styles, adventures and makes are more subject to "health and safety" than they were when I was younger and BBC programming cuts have cut the episodes per week down to one although there is internet content on the CBBC website that tops up the show.

Last Friday the sixty-fifth anniversary was marked - you might recall the entry on here for the sixtieth - so former presenters Matt Baker, Lindsey Russell and Radzi returned as the show took a look at past episodes and presenters although ideally a little more time was needed for that bit.

Abby and Joel, the current presenters, took part in a white water rafting challenge and Radzi had one to do as well.

There was a pancake make Matt, Radzi and Lindsey did that involved tossing them that had a few hair raising moments.

Henry the dog was discretely ushured out the way for the presentation and cutting of the birthday cake with candles on.

His Royal Highness Prince William was interviewed in the Blue Peter garden about his work for the environment and climate change encouraging projects using technology to reduce our impact in practical ways on the planet.

He also co-presented the post wall, a long standing feature of the show where viewers draw, write and make things that are posted the pick of which which are displayed and can gain you a iconic "regular" Blue Peter Badge whose theme this week was the environment.

All in all I felt the edition was enough to make marking this event memorable which it deserved.

Sorting through past effects and that

Another week on the and not just talking about innate objects blog as that's the thing with it not least with with its origins, the way the old photography blog forms a part of this even if chunks of photography today tend to be more on the scouting and related blog.

Part of this week has been devoted to cleaning up a bundle of long lost classical records that were found in Mum's room filed in almost Vogan style behind a chest and covered over to put anyone off the scent from the time there were issues with the roofing and associated leaks.

I'm also starting to think more about how that that intergrates to the reminder dealing with things such as recordings of the same works and also beyond what I mentioned on the other blog on Monday with new recordings but adding the odd period recording.

The other side of things is really more around how you're seen like I went to put out the Garden/Foodwaste bin around the time school ends so you go out and coming back the grand parent of child comes past with a seven year old girl who spots you.

They live just next door!

You are in your primary friendly poloshirt, grey short school short trousers and grey school socks as he nods to you knowing you're Dad's son helping out, are wondering how he'd explain this "big boy" that doesn't look anything like him to the girl and who knows roughly how old dad is to do a rough and ready calculation to what age you might be.

Pretty much everybody here is used to it as much as at weekends and school hols I alter presention to align more with what bio-boys would wear who generally speaking can't wait to be out of uniform unless we're looking more at "sunday best" type situation

That's the reality of this life when you're not in the closet: You own it.
 

Getting our trains back

We've occasionally talked about trains on this blog but as the big money sink that was HS2 had the section from Brum via Crewe to Manchester axed by an announcement by the Prime Minister at the ruling Conservative and Unionist conference on Wednesday a series of other projects have been given their go ahead using some £36bn that otherwise sould of been spent on it.

One bugbear here was how the town of Leek at the footslope of the Peak District had its rail connections removed in the Beeching era of the 1960's meaning what would of been a twenty minute train journey to Stoke was for many over an hour in the car or by bus and in the winter you can add heavy snow to the timing.

 Much of the track bed and indeed sections of track still remain although the station at Leek was demolished in 1970 and a supermarket built upon it and in this photo you can see the track at Endon in the North-east of Greater Stoke on Trent along the approach to Werrington as the land climbs upwards along many ridges.

There is a steering group backed by Stoke on Trent city council and the Staffordshire Moorlands D.C working on the proposals to restore this much needed link.

For me it would mean that within a mile walk I could catch the train from my local station on the East Midands Railway to Stoke and transfer to it saving a long journey by bus or car.