Misfits Mid-Life Crisis Adventures in East London.

Week 361, Saturday 15^th until Friday 21^st May 2021.

Last year a highlight of Lockdown was growing tomatoes and broccoli.  Looking after the plants and harvesting the end result really was an achievement for me.

Recently I sowed 10 tomato seeds, within a few days 8 of them had sprouted above the surface of the soil.  Sadly only 2 have continued to grow, not sure what went wrong they were well fed, watered and I spoke nicely to them every day.  This week I tried again, using the container that successfully was the initial home to 10 seeds before the plants went outside.  I am not superstitious but that container just seemed appropriate to use again.

I really want this new batch of seeds to grow, if I could sing I would attempt that for a few minutes each day.  But as I can’t hold a note and as I really want these to thrive, instead of die I won’t subject the seeds to torture like that.  I will speak to them extra nicely though each day, maybe even a couple of times every day if they’re lucky.  Hopefully it’s not too late to sow the broccoli seeds, as they really were a lot of fun to grow; in fact I got 4 to 5 harvest out of those seeds.

I have never had Green fingers, if anything good has come out of this pandemic it that so many of us all over the world have discovered the joy of getting dirty in the garden (covered in factor 50, of course in summer.  If it returns!).  I have also started to enjoy watching Gardeners World, a programme I never thought I would enjoy.  This strange time that we are living through really has left long lasting effects.

And Now For Something Completely Different……

I horrified myself this week when I said “Haitch” instead of “Aitch”, working in a call centre I hear this multiple times a day**.  Please don’t think I am a word Nazi, just look at the state of the spelling and grammar in this ramble.  But the way people say “H” (not the one from Steps) does rub me up a little.  I am sure that when I was in school in the 70s and 80s I heard the 8th letter of the alphabet said this way, but only occasionally.  These days it seems to be all the time.

 After putting the caller on hold I turned to my friend who is also homeworking, she later described the look on my face as if I had been drinking unleaded 4 star direct from the pump.  I really think this was the first time I had said the letter like that.  I suppose there’s a first time for everything.  If I can help it I won’t be saying it again, there are standards which need to be maintained.  But at my great age it’s getting more and more difficult.  Maybe it’s easier to just breath out, let the belly hang over the waist line and be like everyone else and rename the letter “H”.

**By the way if you say Haitch, that’s fine, I hopefully haven’t come across rude.

And Finally……

While a nice man authorised that I was old enough to buy a bottle of drink (There was food as well).  I thought I was being helpful and moved the shopping trolley backwards slightly.  He stopped pressing buttons on the self-check out machine and said, “Mind my crouch”.  Oops!

The Hamster woke up one afternoon while I was busy on a call.  My friend got him out and into a large clear crate full of sawdust that he can burrow, hide and generally do Hamster things.  Because I was busy and not seen Chewie, when the call ended he was brought over for me to see him.  It’s always lovely to see his constantly twitching nose; it makes a tough day at work feel better.  He was as usual eating something, my friend handed me a small piece of broccoli one of his fave foods.  Without thinking I popped it in my mouth, my friends face instantly changed and had a look of horror on it.  It turns out the vegetable was for the Hamster, I was supposed to feed it to him.  Yes, I stole broccoli from a tiny innocent Hamster, I am a terrible person.  To say I am sorry, I will purchase for him and a friend expensive tickets to his favourite musical in the West End, it the least I could do.

Word of the week “Futtock”, (a curved piece of wood, found on the inside of a wooden ship).  And not “Fekkik” (which as everyone know can mean, “Stupid arse”.  In the Farscape universe).  I hope that’s clear, if not please send a post card with a Fifty Pound note taped  to the front to the following address,

“Surly you have better things to do with your time than read this carp”

South Sheep Dip Lave

Mogadishu

W12 8QT

My Mid Life Crisis Conts……

This week I have watched:

“60 Minutes: NASA Wasn’t Sure If Perseverance Would Be Able To Slow Itself Down As It Barrelled Towards Mars”, (Facebook)(07/05/21).  “Archive: 1979: Project Apollo: James Burke On Landing The Eagle”, (YouTube)(20/07/20).  “Blake’s 7”, (Series A, ep 8).  “Click”, (TX: 15/05/21).  “Colony”, (S1, ep 7).  “Delia Derbyshire The Myths And The Legendary Tapes”, (TX: 16/05/21).  “Farscape”, (S4, ep 9). “Fringe”, (S3, ep 12 & ep 13).  “Gardeners World”, (2021, ep 2, TX: 26/03/21)(ep 3, TX: 02/04/21)(ep 4, TX: 10/04/21).  “Have I Got News For You”, (S61, ep 7, 21/05/21).  “Inside No. 9”, (S6, ep 2).  “Intergalactic “, (S1, ep 3 to ep 5).  “Mike Skipper Coming Out Of Lockdown Quiz”, (FaceBook)(TX: 15/05/21).  “Pandora”, (S2, ep 4 & ep 5).  “Stargate Atlantis “, (S1, ep 12 to ep 14).  “Star Trek (Original Series)”, (S2, ep 15).  “Star Trek The Next Generation”, (S4, ep 4).  “Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back”, (1980).  “Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi”, (1983).  “Taskmaster”, (S11 (S2 on C4) ep 10, 20/05/21).  “The Great British Sewing Bee”, (S7, ep 6, 19/05/21).  “The Man In The High Castle”, (S1, ep 6).  “The Pact”, (S1, ep 1 to ep 6). “V Wars”, (S1, ep 6).  “This Time With Alan Partridge”, (S2, ep 4, 21/05/21).  “Van Helsing “, (S1, ep 10 to 13).  “Z Nation”, (S4, ep 10).  “Zapped”, (S2, ep 3 & ep 4).

Gerry Anderson Watched This Week:

“Space 1999”, (S2, ep 24 TX: 12/11/77). 

This week I have listening to:

“13 Minutes To The Moon”, (S1, ep 8, 01/07/19)(ep 9, 08/07/19)(ep 10, 15/07/19(ep 11, 15/07/19).  “Anglophilia”, (S1, ep 6, 16/07/18)(S2, ep 1, 16/10/18).  “Betamax Video Club “, (ep 33, 14/11/18).  “Box Of Delights“, (S1, ep 20, 25/10/19).  “Coronavirus Global Update”, (BBC World Services) (15/05/21) (16/05/21) (17/05/21) (18/05/21) (19/05/21) (20/05/21) (21/05/21).  “Doctor Who”, (TeeVee/The Incomparable) (S10, ep 4, 07/05/17).  “Griefcast”, (ep 142, 19/05/21).  “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Buddha”, (ep 36, 19/05/21).  “Makes Art Will Travel”, (S1, ep 2, 03/02/21).  “Mystery Hour”, (20/05/21).  “NASA: Gravity Assist”, (21/05/21).  “NASA: Houston We Have A Podcast”, (ep 196, 21/05/21).  “Nick Abbott Whole Show”, (15/05/21)(16/05/21)(21/05/21).  “Rob Beckett And Josh Widdecombes Lockdown Parenting Hell“, (S2, ep 34 (ep 105),18/05/21)(ep 35 (ep 106) 21/05/21).  “Smersh Pod”, (“Dr No”, 31/03/18)(“From Russia With Love”, 01/04/18)(“Goldfinger”, 01/04/18).  “Space Soliders Podcast “, (Chapter Ten, ”The Unseen Peril”, 15/05/21).  “The Adam Buxton Podcast”, (Bonus ep 14/05/21).  “The Audio Guide To Babylon 5”, (S2, ep 7 (ep 29), 14/06/15).  “The Friendship Onion”, (Trailer, 28/04/21)(S1, ep 1, 18/05/21).  “The Nick Abbot Habit “, (17/05/21).  “The Space Above Us”, (001, Intro, 05/05/16)(002, 05/05/16)(003, 05/05/16).  “This Week In Time Travel”, (The Incomparable)(ep 6, 09/05/17).  “Toby Hadoke’s Time Travels – Happy Times And Places” (15.1, “Kinda”, 17/05/21(15.2, 21/05/21).  “WTB”, (S2, ep 15 (ep 37), 21/05/21).  “What’s Your Problem With Nick Abbot And Carol Mcgiffin”, (18/05/21).  “Wolf And Owl”, (ep 24, 19/05/21)(Bonus #14, 21/05/21).

Songs I enjoyed this week, were by:

“Morrissey”,  “Arcade Fore”,  “Cast”,  “Cyndi Lauper”,  “Depeche Mode”, “Embrace”,  “Eurasia”,  “Green Day”,  “Heaven 17”,  “James”,  “Jesus Jones”, “Keane”,  “Kirsty MacColl”,  “Len”,  “Manic Street Preachers”,  “Men Without Hats”,  “Nivana”,  “Pet Shop Boys”,  “Placebo “,  “Pulp”,  “Simple Minds”,  “Smash Mouth”,  “The Cure”,  “The Smiths”,  “The Velvet Underground “,  “Train”.