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• The performances are not as good. Blander. Sorry but despite being competent comic actors, they cannot hold a candle to the originals. Martin Clunes could have pulled this off, except…
• There's no time for gags to develop. They've rushed straight in to the breakdown, whereas the original showed the decline happening slowly. The justification was within the programmes; here, it's been taken as read.
• The emphasis is on giving everyone something funny to do, compared to the original where people behaved 'normally' and Reggie reacted to them. The supporting cast are going for laughs from the start. This is a distraction.
• The series has no style, due mainly to its hurried approach. For instance, in the original Reggie would walk down Coleridge Close, Elizabeth Barrett Browning Cul-de-Sac etc. with Ronnie Hazelhurst's briliant variations playing over the top. No time for such beauty and pacing in the 2009 version. In their place, we have knob gags and swearing. Not like me to be a prude, but there we go.
• The show seems anachronistic and technically wrong. Whilst the original doubtless reflected British industry at that time (and the railway services accurately!), in this one, the corporation for which Reggie works feels false, and the train routes are wrong. Reggie would not travel in to Waterloo from Coulsdon. FFS.

•  My friend rang today and we talked bollocks for nearly 4 hours. Why don't I ever have a relationship with that much of a spark? Not enough shared history with people I've just met, along with other things…
• Big but necessarily gentle hugs to ross. 

zooniverse

Pam's parents are separating. A remark by Jim (her fiancee) has made her father decide to move into his own apartment. Jim pleads ignorance of making incendiary remarks.

J: So what did he say? … Was it my fault?

P: Yeah … He said that you told him how much you love me. About how you feel when I walk in a room. And about how you've never doubted for a second that I'm the woman you want to spend the rest of your life with. I guess he'd never felt that with my mum even at their best.

 

I cried.

Yesterday was strange and amazing.

Firstly, dad came home with the VW Scirocco that I suggested he look at, as suggested to me on a fitlads forum post, with comments that a 70-year-old really shouldn't be driving an Audi TT and that it would be a bit low for him. He parked the delivery-plated deep blue car on the drive. I gave my approval to the aesthetics and seating. It was surprisingly comfortable in the back for a 2 seater sporty model—even ross might be able to squeeze in! Pretty good economy too. He bought it. Sorted. We get it Friday.*

*Actual car may not match photo.

Earlier that day, I had decided to bid on the eBay auction for a first edition of Will Hay's 1935 book Through My Telescope. Will Hay remains Britain's most successful film comedian (artistically), coming from the same stable that produced Chaplin and Laurel, but was also a keen astronomer and aviator. It's remarkable how, at the same time he was topping the box office charts, he was also undertaking serious academic research and teaching Amy Johnston to fly! He's someone we should look up to (literally at one time).

I updated my facebook status with my intentions regarding the book, and Robin Ince commented suggesting a bidding war might start. Bugger, I thought, and I increased my maximum bid before I went out.

After dinner (lamb chops, yum), I got on the train at Watford Junction and thought I saw Robin Ince sitting just along from me. After much deliberation I approached him when he returned from the lavatory (sorry, Robin's not royalty) having left his bag unattended, which you must never do. We had a nice chat about Will Hay, missing bits of films, Paul Merton's high standards in theatrical presentation of academy-ratio material,* Robin's upcoming tour, Letchworth (where he was en route to perform), vintage mediums, my upcoming date and choice of pub (of which more later) and Jonathan Meades. This was in the space of 5 minutes. His brain seems to work in overdrive, turbo, sports setting, and he was as charming and eloquent as he was interesting and breakneck, not showing the slightest level of "Can't you see I'm reading" when approached by a fan. He must have been brung up well good. It was lovely to meet him properly. He seems to be spearheading the otherwise amorphous movement against dumbing down, religion and junk science. Comedians are driving the new renaissance.

( * Geekery corner )

I remember the one boyfriend of mine that Hertfordshire has yet supplied parking up in one of Letchworth's broad, broad-leafed avenues and remarking that it was his aspiration to live there. He later moved to Stotfold, a historic yet characterless village on the wrong side of the Bedfordshire border.

Which brings me on nicely to my date. We arranged to meet in The Rising Sun on Tottenham Court Road. A very neutral pub for a first meet. After a couple of drinks, we headed to 79CXR, then Comptons and the Admiral Duncan where we stayed till last orders. He was fairly new to the London 'scene', having grown up in Cheshire, and hadn't visited any of those pubs. It was nice to be a bit of a tourist guide. 

Introducing people to 79CXR is always fun, because of its seedy reputation. Whilst the toilets are usually full of gay men doing what gay men like to do, they're usually clean and that night were in a much better state than the Duncan's with the broken glass on the floor. 79CXR is a good value independent pub (G&T £2.50) and it's always fun to watch guys standing at the long 'observation' gallery, not talking to anyone, just watching, watching…. We managed to get the corner seat upstairs, which I've discovered, since the refurb in which the prevailing red has been diluted with dark grey, has a cold water pipe above from which condensation drips.

I feel we hit it off well and we had a very enjoyable evening, after we broke the ice. There was an increasing amount of kissing as more G&Ts were consumed. He was dressed very stylishly, not wearing the sort of streetwear/scally look that I tend go for and adopt, although he said he likes the photos of me in trackies that he'd seen. If he would like to meet up again, we may be able to find out how compatible we could be.

All in all, I couldn't have asked more for a Saturday.