In A League Of His Own

If you know us you will know that our son Paul works in television. He's loved tv since he was a kid and our house was full of his friends acting out his latest gameshow in front of his video camera so it was no real surprise when he wanted to make a career of it.

He's been in the business for some years now and has created a number of shows such as The Colour Of Money, Magic Numbers and Beat The Pack. In 2009 Sky put out a brief for a sports quiz show and Paul, working for CPL Productions, devised A League Of Their Own. CPL was successful in pitching the show and the rest, as they say, is history. So far seven series have been broadcast and in April 2014 Sky announced that they have contracted further series that will see it air until 2017. 

Marion and I are so proud of his achievement in creating such a popular format and his hard work and originality were awarded on Sunday night at the BAFTA ceremony when A League Of Their Own won Best Comedy Entertainment Programme. Paul wasn't able to attend the ceremony but to think that our son has gone from videoing his own Marble Maze in the garden when he was ten to creating the highest rated entertainment show on Sky1 makes us incredibly proud. Well done son. Can't wait to see you.

Greetings From The Garden

It's many months behind schedule but I'm finally using the garden office as I write. I should be looking out onto the beautifully planted new garden which was scheduled to be completed this week. 

But you didn't expect things to run to schedule did you? No, the landscape designer is currently in quarantine in case he is carrying the Norovirus so we won't see him or the huge quantity of plants we've ordered until next week and I have to look out onto the mud that we've lived with since January. I know that the snow has set things back by weeks but it's really becoming a drag now.

Tony completed the steps to the office today but his plasterer didn't turn up to look at the plastering needed before the landscaping is finished.

And without the plasterer the steps can't be finished. I've experienced nothing like this before on any of the home improvement projects we've done. It almost feels as if we're in the manana culture of Spain instead of the go ahead county of Suffolk.

At least Marion and I have been able to get our bit of the job done (on time please note).

Marion did all the months of filing yesterday and then we added the finishing touches to the office by hanging a few paintings, getting all the books onto the shelves and taking all the boxes to the recycling centre.

 

I think it's looking pretty good. And it's quite warm in here too, the heating has not been on and it's 6.30pm as I write.

I'll close today with the excellent news that Sky's A League Of Their Own,  the format created by our son Paul, has been nominated for a BAFTA in the entertainment category. I'm sure that it's just the first of many nominations that he will get in a glittering career. Hope we get to see him on the telly wearing a dinner jacket. 

The Countdown Begins

Well it's not just one countdown that's beginning at the moment - there are about four.

Our second grandchild is due in early August but we've been told that there's a good chance that the baby will arrive before then so the clock's starting to tick and we're getting very excited about welcoming her into the world and are looking forward to buying a new pram and lots of the other little bits and pieces that go with newborn babies.

Countdown number two is really Paul and Josephine's; they're buying a new house in beautiful Rochester with it's fabulous Cathedral, super Norman castle and speedy rail links to central London. They haven't exchanged contracts yet but we're hoping it's imminent and, as soon as the paperwork goes through, we're looking forward to going down to see the place and help them to move in. If we could tie the date in with the sale of our own place we'll be able to get all the furniture we're giving them delivered - we won't have room for it in our new home. It will be sad to see it all go but we'll be really delighted to see it stay in the family.

I've been working more on the 3D computer program finalising the layout of the house we've bought in Suffolk and seeing where the furniture we have left will fit. We're now counting down the days to when we can start with the alterations. The engineer has done all the structural drawings and the architect has worked on the plans and submitted them to three builders and to the local planning people for building regulations approval so we just have to wait for the builders to come up with their quotes and the planners to give us the green light. The house is much smaller than where we are now but the layout seems to work well on the computer and we hope that we really can make a silk purse out of what is at the moment something of a sow's ear.


Our final countdown is to leaving Southport. We haven't pressed that button yet but when it starts I expect it to come very quickly. We're going to go and live in the caravan in St Andrews (and hopefully spend some time in Rochester too). Look out for my blogs as trailer park trash.


I had a long chat with Paul this morning. We spoke about his hugely successful creation, Sky1's "A League Of their Own" and I felt guilty for not having watched it recently (must do better as a parent). Anyway I was thinking that I haven't embedded many videos on here for a while so here's one from ALOTO. I'm a very proud Dad.

Have You Checked Out The E-Petitions Yet?

With the Governments e-petitions initiative in the news I thought it was time to have a closer look at the site and see what it's all about. I've signed a couple of them in the past after receiving tweets and emails asking for support but I haven't really paid much attention to any of the content apart from the petitions in the links forwarded to me. You can check the site out for yourself by clicking here. At the moment there are some 468 pages of live petitions that you can sign. They are sorted in order of popularity and at about twenty per page that's almost ten thousand of them. I reckon there are over 1400 that have so far achieved just one signature and 6,400 (about 64%) have ten or less. You would have thought that anyone media savvy enough to set up a petition might also have a couple of Facebook friends or Twitter followers. Blimey, even I reckon I could drum up twenty or thirty signatures. 


When you think of all the millions using the internet (over thirty million are logged onto Skype as I write this) it's a sad indictment that for example only ten have taken the trouble to support a petition to prevent employers discriminating against diabetes sufferers whilst the same number support "No Dubstep To Be Played On The Radio Between 5am and 11 am". Spend ten minutes on the site and it appears to be pretty much an abject failure. Most of the popular petitions seem to be from Daily Mail territory (stop immigration, brig back capital punishment, tax travellers, and the like). I signed one to stop legal loan sharking and another to ban scrap metal merchants from making cash payments.


If you want five minutes amusement have a look through the rejected petitions. Pity the poor sod who has to read this sort of stuff for a living "THE TAZER IS BY THE UNTED NATIONS OWN COMITTEE ON TORTURE ,AN INSTREMENT OF TORTURE. IT WAS INTRODUCED INTO THE UK POLICE FORCE INITIALY AS A LAST RESORT AS AN ALTERNITIVE TO A BULLET FIERING GUN. NOW IT HAS BECOME THE POLICE FAVORITE MEANS OF COMPLIANCE. THE POLICE ARE NOW AUTHORISED BY THE HOME SECETARY ( TERESA MAY) TO USE TAZERS ON... CHILDREN, PREGNANT WOMEN, OLD AGE PENSIONERS, THE DISABLES AND THE VUNERABLE. YES ANYONE AND EVERYONE IS FAIR GAME ITS OPEN SEASON ON THE BRITISH PUBLIC. THESE EVIL TAZERS ARE NOT BEING USED FOR WHAT THAY WERE ORIGIONALY BROUGHT INTO SERVICE FOR, ONLY TO BE USED IN A SITUATION OF LIFE OR DEATH ............"

Don't forget to watch episode 3 of Josephine's Sorority Girls tonight at 9 on E4. If you haven't seen it yet it's a fun and light hearted show that highlights the differences between university culture for girls here and in the USA.

I see that Martin Kelner devoted almost his entire column in yesterday's Guardian to slagging off Paul's A League Of Their Own. He did pretty much the same hatchet job on the show when it launched two years ago but it is now in its fourth series and the ratings are strong. I sympathise with a lot of what Kelner says - Freddie Flintoff's recent response to another panelist "f*** off " is hardly Oscar Wilde - but it appeals to its target 10pm Friday night audience and that is paramount.It's an original format and long may it succeed.  Criticising the show in The Guardian is a bit like The Sun sending a reviewer to Covent Garden to report back on La Boheme. 

Hectic Times Ahead

You may think that retirement is all pottering around the garden, playing bowls and going down to the bridge club. But strangely (like lots of fellow retirees) we find the time flying by with little or no chance to do everything that we want to.

The next few weeks are typical. We've got the National Theatre's production of One Man, Two Guvnors at The Lowry in Manchester but before we go to the theatre we have to travel to Knutsford to deliver some items to an auctioneer as we are starting to clear out our antique collection. And then there's dinner booked before the performance. It's all go on that day. The highly acclaimed play stars James Corden who hosts our son Paul's creation A League Of Their Own which returns to our screens tonight for a fourth series on Sky at 10pm. Set your SkyPlus now or, if it's not past your bedtime, watch it.


On Friday we've got a day in Liverpool followed by a meal with friends (imminent arrival of their daughter's baby permitting) and a visit to see more friends on Saturday and a cottage break on the edge of the Lake District the following week.

Before that we've got some catching up on our cinema visits to do so we're having another marathon at FACT in Liverpool on Monday when we're off to the 2pm showing of Paddy Considine's critically acclaimed directorial debut Tyrannosaur. The trailer looks a bit violent and grim so we're lightening the mood later on with a viewing of Woody Allen's latest offering Midnight In Paris at 6.30. With a bite to eat thrown in for good measure that's another packed day. Another day will be spent out with the metal detector if I can find somewhere for us to go.

One of the less pleasant parts of retirement is seeing older relations struggling with old age. Both our mums, pictured here in their early seventies, are now in their mid eighties after being widowed relatively young. My mum is coping very well apart from occasional falls which have sometimes left her looking like she's done ten rounds with Mohammed Ali  but Marion's mum Flo (far left) is now finding it very hard to live alone and, after recovering brilliantly from two bouts of cancer in her seventies, is becoming increasingly confused. We've got several appointments lined up in the next few weeks in a attempt to find the best solution for her future but, whatever it is, it won't be the same as being fully independent like she has been for the past sixteen years. It's an unhappy and constant reminder to us of the necessity to make the most of what time we have got. 


On a lighter note, let's hope that when we visit FACT on Monday we aren't faced with this..

We're VIPs (Even If It Is Just For One Night)

Nowadays when every pimply rep in his Vauxhall Astra brandishes a business card declaring him to be some sort of "executive" - a word once reserved for only the highest echelons of British business- we perhaps shouldn't get over excited at our passes at Elstree studios last night describing us as VIPs. I once thought of VIPs as royalty, film stars, Nelson Mandela and perhaps the Prime Minister. But last night Marion and I, as guests of Paul's employers CPL, enjoyed the cachet of being VIPs if only for one evening.

We went to the recording of an episode of  A League Of Their Own, the Sky panel game that doesn't take sport too seriously and enjoyed an extremely funny couple of hours of filming plus CPL's great warm up man doing his usual very entertaining stuff. Alongside the captains Jamie Redknapp and Freddie Flintoff and regulars John Bishop and Georgie Thompson were guests Lee Mack and Rio Ferdinand. As a Liverpool fan I am supposed to hate Rio but I could only warm to him as an eloquent bloke who, despite nerves in an unusual environment for him, came across extremely well. Local Southport lad Lee  Mack added his usual wit to the proceedings and if the TV audience enjoy the show half as much as those in the studio it will be a huge success. Since Paul first developed this show almost two years ago it has grown and grown from a typical 30 minute panel show into a pretty spectacular extravaganza in an hour long slot.

Sadly for Paul (pictured here with Marion and the lovely Georgie Thompson) this was his last recording of "League" as he leaves CPL on Friday to join the BBC. His colleagues made us extremely welcome at the after show party and told us that we could always come to future recordings even though Paul will have left. It's always good when people leave jobs on amicable terms. I spoke briefly to John Bishop and Georgie who were both charming and it was a great experience for us to be surrounded by celebrities who (as I tweeted last night) will certainly not be name dropping us. I was disappointed not to get a chance to speak to Lee Mack to chat about his Southport connections but maybe next time.

Before the show I promised my VIP wife a good meal out in Borehamwood. Now I don't know if you've ever been to Borehamwood but I don't imagine that it is on any of the South East's great culinary maps and we walked the length of the high street in search of somewhere decent to eat. We ended up in the Fiesta cafe. Now I know that it doesn't look exactly posh in the photo but for just over £12 we had a great lasagne with salad, a chicken and mushroom pie with potato and salad plus two drinks. The service was impeccable and extremely friendly and, at less than the cost of a starter at some up market establishments we ate and drank our fill. I'm not suggesting it as somewhere for a special occasion but if you need a quick meal in Borehamwood  you would find it hard to beat for great value, lovely service and down to earth food. 

And finally for those readers who didn't notice or failed to click on the link to the photo of the vase that I was getting all excited about on yesterday's blog, here it is. It's such a fabulous piece of pottery that I will be extremely disappointed to sell it. But that's what I bought if for and I suppose that it will have to go.

I'm All In Favour Of Equality But.....

........today's decision by the European lawmakers flies against statistics and common sense. It seems that insurers are considered to be discriminating against men by making their motor policies cheaper for women. And why have they offered cheaper policies for women? Because, surprise surprise, it's not them you will find doing stunts in the local car parks to impress their mates before heading for the local dual carriageway in a fog of burning rubber and ploughing into a ditch en route. Whenever you see someone doing fifty in a thirty zone or you hear a car approaching long before the laws of physics suggest that you should, you can guarantee that the driver will be male. The insurers' records prove that the chances of being involved in a claim are much higher for young men than for young women so it made perfect sense that companies like Sheilas' Wheels should weight their policy premiums in favour of women and this judgement has made an ass of the law. You can can guarantee that the only outcome to this new law will be that women's costs will rise to match the men and the only benefit to males will be the comfort of knowing that they are paying the same as their female friends.

The same ruling will affect the cost of annuities offered to old men. Once again, it has been proved statistically that, on average, at the moment, women live longer than men. The pension providers take that into account when deciding the cost of an annuity and men have typically paid less due to their shorter life expectancy. Now they will be assumed to have the same life expectancy as their wives and will pay more (or get less pension for the same sum). Will this miraculously result in greater longevity for men? No. The only likely outcome is more profits down the line for the financiers.

While I am having a bit of a Victor Medrew day on the blog I might as well get this off my chest too. I got a bill from BT the other day. I've got an Internet phone here but I don't use it very often. However, some time last month I noticed that it had stopped working so I made a couple of test calls after fiddling about with the handset. The bill was for the princely sum of ......wait for it...... 25p. Now I don't know who is in charge of the accounting at BT but if they are sending out bills for less than the cost of the envelope and the postage I am glad that it is no longer a nationalised business. I reckon that that bill cost them at least 50p to process and ,when my payment arrives in due course, processing the payment will cost another 50p with bank costs. At today's petrol prices it probably cost me a quid or two in driving to the bank to pay the bill as well. So BT have generated a piece of paper that has cost a couple of pounds to receive 25p. I am probably not alone. I seem to remember a computerised BT debt collecting system once threatening bailiffs for an outstanding penny and if they are sending thousands of tiny bills like this out maybe an employee could come up with the simple money saving idea that bills of less than £2 are either waived or rolled forward. It would hardly be rocket science to program it into their system.

We are off down to Elstree tomorrow to watch the filming of an episode of the new series of A League Of Their Own which starts on SKY1 and Sky1HD on Saturday at 9.30pm. All the local hotels are booked so we are staying at the Days Inn at the nearby London Gateway services. We've stayed there many times and are always made to feel extremely welcome by their cosmopolitan staff. The price is reasonable and the rooms are always clean and comfortable and a cut above the average Motorway service motel in our experience.


I'll leave you with an ad that I assume will now be consigned to history.

All Systems Go For Our Perfection Dinner Tomorrow

I'm so glad that we are retired or tomorrow night's party to celebrate Josephine's Perfection (last episode of current series tonight BBC2 4.30pm) would have been impossible. We've had two people around for dinner plenty of times and we've had ten at the table before (although on that occasion we hired a chef). But this is the first time that we'll be cooking for that many ourselves and it's taken a hell of a lot of organising. Yesterday was spent shopping, today has been spent getting the house clean and tidy, the table set, selecting the best episodes of the show to watch  and printing some prize entries for our guests. Tomorrow we'll be cooking and preparing the food (apart from the dessert which we've ordered from a local patisserie). It's a good job that the diet is over as the lady on the cheese counter at Waitrose was a brilliant salesperson and, every time she suggested that we try a taste of a different one we ended up buying a piece.

And talking of diets, David, the owner of our local news agents the Bon Ton, asked me if I was getting better when I went to pay for the papers this morning. "Better?" I asked. "Yes" he says "I noticed your face looking thinner and thinner and thought you were ill". And to think that people go on diets to make themselves look better (not me I hasten to add).

One thing that we didn't take into account when choosing the date and time for our do was the day's sporting fixtures. With two passionate rugby fans and an Everton season ticket holder on the guest list, we've pretty well cocked up their day's sport for them with our 5pm start. It will have to be good now.

As the door closes on this series of Perfection another one opens and, next Friday, son Paul's creation A League Of Their Own returns to Sky1HD and Sky1 at 9.30pm. We won't be having a party to celebrate this one as we've already had a League party but we will be going down to Elstree on Wednesday for the filming of one of the episodes. It will probably be our last visit to a recording of A League Of Their Own as Paul is starting with the BBC in just over two weeks.


When we've finished watching Perfection tomorrow we might have time for some party tricks. I think I'll get everyone to have a try at this. Marion has just popped out for some distilled water.