Misfits Mid-Life Crisis Adventures in East and Central London, Surrey and Kent (for coffee and cake).

Week 328 Saturday 26^th September until Friday 2^ndOctober 2020.

I used to travel across London on tubes twice a day.  Since mid-March I haven’t been on any mode of public transport or anywhere near central London.  It’s not that I have deliberately kept away; I just haven’t needed to make the journey because of working from the living room.

Last Saturday (26^th Sept) I returned to the capital.  I sat on the train like an excited youngster as if it was my first time.  I was genuinely excited to be back on the rails, traveling with one of my sisters who let me tag along to an appointment of hers.

It was very nice to see that most passengers had masks / face coverings, some even had them covering their nose and mouth.  I lost count the number who wore the mask to protect their delicate chin (in some cases multiple chins) and beards.  Others used the mask as a fashion accessory dangling it stylishly from one ear.  I’m sure it won’t be long before hip fashionable people have a mask hanging from each lughole.

Seriously it was good to so many people being sensible, looking after themselves and others.  Travelling into London that day may have looked a little different, but it was comforting to know that somethings have not changed.  There were plenty of train delays, cancellations, with numinous apologetic recorded and live announcements echoing around the platforms, it’s as if the last 6 months had never happened.  My sister was very late for her appointment due to the train crawling mile after mile; a slug would have completed the journey faster.   I enjoyed my few hours in the capital; one thing I realised that morning is I don’t miss the daily commute and the expense.  I am very happy to stay at home.

And Now For Something Completely Different……

Mid-morning Monday to Friday an email arrives which provides call stats from the previous day.  It lists the total number of calls each person answered during that day, as well as other very boring call centre info that even after all these years I don’t fully understand.

Every day I scan the list, not to see who took the most calls, but to check that my name is “NOT” there.  Yes you read that correct!  Since these emails started 6 weeks ago my name has never appeared.  I genuinely have no interest in how many calls others took, and definitely don’t want to see how many I took.  The bosses know I am working, if they have an issue it’s for them to contact me and say something. 

I really am not a competitive person, these e-mail conjures images of all the people I used to see in the office every day in their living rooms, bedrooms, attics, garden sheds/dens, sex dungeons (it’s a big team, one of them must be in to kinky things) getting all excited at the number of calls they took and studying who did or didn’t do better.  I have said it once and I will say it again in capital letters; I AM SO GLAD NOT TO BE IN THE OFFICE, MIXING WITH OTHERS.  Does that make me a bad person?

And Finally……

I spoke to a man who was a little confused why we had called him Mr Angeljack.  Of course I corrected his surname, but I couldn’t help comment how Angeljack sounded like a 1950s American detective.  Luckily he agreed.

Later in the week I talked to a women with a title (not the usual, Ms, Ms or Mrs) hers was extremely posh and privileged.  I didn’t know if I should have been curtsying while she spoke over the phone.

Passed a car on another carriageway engulfed in flames.  Initially I thought it was a bomb fire on the hard shoulder.  As I passed I could clearly see it was a car, the occupant (I assume) stood well out of the way just watching.  

A driver passed me on a busy road (a different one to the above), enjoying a large white ice cream.  It wasn’t a particularly warm day.

Overheard two workmen wearing Hi-viz, reminiscing about Miss Diane and Benny from Midlands ITV soap “Crossroads” (1964 to 1988).

My Mid Life Crisis Conts……

This week I have mainly been watching:  

“BBC News Special”, (BBC News)(TX: 30/09/20).  “Britain’s Biggest Dig”, (S1, ep 3, TX: 29/09/20).  “Click”, (26/09/20).  “Farscape”, (S1, ep 1 to ep 9).  “Farscape: 1^st Chiana (Gigi Edgley) Interview (About S1)”, (YouTube)(TX: 22/10/11).  “Farscape: Bloopers Pt 1 & Pt 2”, (YouTube)(TX: 08/07/07).  “Gardeners World”, (S, 2020, ep 29, TX: 02/10).  “Glitch”, (S2, ep 5).  “Have I Got News For You”, (S60, ep 1, TX: 02/10/20).  “McQueen”, (2018).  “Mortimer And Whitehouse Gone Fishing”, (S3, ep 6, TX: 27/09/20).  “Mr Men”, (S1, “Mr Happy”, TX: 31/12/74.  “Mr Silly”, TX: 28/01/75.  “Mr Jelly”, TX: 14/01/75.  “Mr Snow”, TX: 25/02/75.  “Mr Bounce”, TX: 11/07/75.  “Mr Forgetful”, TX: 22/08/75.  “Mr Funny”, TX:12/09/75.  “Mr Bump”, TX: 14/01/76).  “Reality Z”, (S1, ep 1 to ep 10).  “Rising Damp”, (S1, ep 1 to ep 4).  “Penguin TV Live (Phillip Island National Park, Australia)”, (FaceBook)(TX: 28/09/20)(TX: 30/09/20).  “The Graham Norton Show”, (S28, ep 1, TX: 02/10/20).  “The Great British Bake Off”, (S11 (S4 on C4), ep 2, TX: 29/09/20).  “The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice”, (S7 (S4 on C4), ep 2, TX: 02/10/20).  “The Lost  Room”, (S1, ep 4 to ep 6).  “The Office”, (S1, ep 1 to ep 6)(S2, ep 1 to ep 3).  “Van Helsing”, (S4, ep 6 to ep 9).                                     

Doctor Who Watched This Week:

“The Shakespear Code”, (S29 (S3), ep 2,Prod Code 3.2)(TX: 07/04/07).

“Gridlock”, (S29 (S3), ep 3, Prod Code 3.3)(TX: 14/04/07).

“Daleks in Manhattan”, (S29 (S3), ep 4, Prod Code 3.4)(TX: 21/04/07).

“Evolution Of The Daleks”, (S29 (S3), ep 5, Prod Code 3.5)(TX: 28/04/07).

“The Lazarus Experiment”, (S29 (S3), ep 6, Prod Code 3.6)(TX: 05/05/067.

Gerry Anderson Watched This Week:

“Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons”, (S1, ep 10, TX: 01/12/67).

“Space 1999”, (S1, ep 11 TX: 13/11/75),

“Thunderbirds”, (S1, ep 5, TX: 28/10/65).

 “UFO”, (S1, ep 9, TX: 02/12/70).

This week I have mainly been listening to:  

“Adam And Joe (XFM)”, (Original TX: 30/08/03).  “Anti Social Show”, (ep 85, 28/09/20).  “Betamax Video Club”, (ep 21, 11/07/18).  “Clinton Baptiste’s Paranormal Podcast”, (S3 Coming Soon trailer, 22/09/20)(ep 1, 30/09/20).  “Coronavirus Global Daily Update”, (BBC World Service) (26/09/20) (27/09/20)(28/09/20) (29/09/20)(30/09/20) (01/10/20)(02/10/20).  “CNN, Coronavirus: Fact Vs Fiction”, (ep 151, 28/09/20)(ep 152, 29/09/20)(ep 153, 30/09/20)(ep 154, 01/10/20)(ep 154, 02/10/20).  “David Tennant Does A Podcast With….”, (S2, ep 8, 29/09/20).   “Gossipmongers”, (S4, ep 3, 28/09/20).  “Griefcast”, (ep 114, 30/09/20).  “Grounded With Louis Theroux : The Joe Wicks Podcast: Teaser Ep”, (28/09/20).  “NASA: Houston We Have A Podcast”, (ep 164, 02/10/20).  “Nick Abbot (Whole Show)”, (26/09/20) (27/09/20) (25/09/20).  “Rob Beckett And Josh Widdecombe’s Lockdown Parenting Hell”, (S1, ep 45, 29/09/20)(ep 46, 02/10/20).  “Something Who, (ep 3, 03/09/19).  “Soundtracking With Edith Bowman”, (ep 213, 26/09/20).  “The Adam Buxton Podcast”, (ep 131, 25/09/20).  “The Froth”, (S2, ep 1, 29/09/20).  “The Nick Abbot Habit”, (28/09/20).  “The Skewer”, (BBC Radio 4)(S2, ep 1, 01/10/20).  “The Supermassive Podcast”, (ep 9, 25/09/20).  “What’s The Problem? With Nick Abbot And Carol McGiffen”, (S1, ep 36, 30/09/20).  “Morrissey”,  “The Polixce“,  “The Stereophoinc”,  “Gorillaz”,  “The Killers”,  “Bob Marley And The Wailers”,  “ABC”,  “R.E.M”,  “Soft Cell”,  “Bon Jovi”,  “Dire Straits”,  “Fleetwood Mac”,  “Keane”,  “We’ve Got A Fuzzbox And We’re Gonna Use It”,  “They Might Be Giants”,  “Mirillion”,    “Richard Marx”,  “Starship”,  “Starsailor”.