Misfits Mid-Life Crisis Adventures in Surrey, Gloucestershire, Northamptonshire and East London.

Week 367, Saturday 26^th June until Friday 2^nd July 2021.

Can I say sorry now, because this has been written in a hurry.  Hope it makes scene.

This last week has been so busy in the call centre, a lot of the time it really has been call after call after call with very little breathing space in between.  When a call starts I just want to get on with business, answer the enquiry end the call as soon as possible.  After this I can write my notes and enjoy the precious seconds of nothing as the clock on the screen counts down to zero allowing the next call to come through.

Occasionally a caller throws a curveball at me and says “how are you” or something like that.  On Friday this happened and I panicked and said “just glad it’s Friday, it’s nearly the weekend”.  The person replied straight away saying loudly “It’s coming Home”.  For a fraction of a second I really didn’t understand, then realised this was a Kicky Ball reference.  Anyone who knows me will know that I have absolutely no interest in sport; it doesn’t register with me in any way.

At the end of the call the very nice person asked me excitedly how I was watching the game. Because there was no time to think I just said “with friends and beer”, I must have sounded convincing as the caller approved of this response saying again “It’s coming home”.  I did wonder if he wanted me to say it back to him, I think this is a phrase that like-minded people say to identify each other.  I couldn’t say it, I couldn’t lie that much.  I wonder what they would have said if I had references sporting names I can remember such as “Steve Cram”, “Daley Thompson”, “Fatima Whitbread” or “Zola Budd”.  Yes I am old and can only name a few sports personalities from the last century.  It might have made the call more interesting.

 It’s lovely that the caller is happy and enthusiastic about sport; I am just not one of them.  Don’t worry I won’t be totally out of the loop, because neighbours all around will make there feeling’s very clear.  I will endeavour to have my ear buds pushed in as far as possible to drown out the noise.

And Now For Something Completely Different……

My sister was taking mum and her twin home last weekend, I was with them we realised that a slight detour on route would take us passed Jezzer Clarkson’s farm.  We had all recently enjoyed while watching Clarksons Farm so thought why not pop in.  We left early thinking we could arrive around the time the shop opened, we could buy a few gifts, maybe see the great man and still get mum and my baby sister home for lunchtime.

Sat in the back I navigated using two phones (don’t ask) only causing my sister who to make a couple of U-turns on small country lanes, we still arrived minutes after 9.30 am.  Looking out of the window we were all stunned, it would seem lots of others had the same idea; the queue was already snaking around the small carpark.  Seeing this we came to our senses and continue on our journey to mums house.  It would have been lovely to stretch our legs at Casa Clarkson, but let’s be realistic we would have been waiting to cross the threshold of the shop for a couple of hours and would Jezzer really be at the shop on a Sunday.

About 10 mins further down the road we did stop when we saw a sign for a farm shop (Fenemore Farms).  I would have loved to have visited Clarksons farm properly, but I think we choose wisely (still a fave quote from a great film.  D you know it?).  This lovely little shop was empty (though there were a couple of people waiting, when we left) it sold very reasonably priced products which originated from the farm or surrounding ones.  Plus the lady behind the counter was so nice and loved to chat.

It was a lovely morning with family, we did visit Diddly Squat in a way.  One day when the popularity has died (in reality it won’t) down, we will visit with the hope that we might see a tall man with fuzzy hair stubbornly doing what he wants and not listening to the experts around him.  I will definitely return to Fenemore Farm when I need more of their beautiful honey.  

And Finally……

Eating porridge early one morning, my friend said from the other side of the room, “I’m looking up Simon Bates“.  After swollening I questioned this.  It turns out she said, “I’m looking up side gates”.  My only excuse is I didn’t get a lot of sleep the night before and it really was early.

Next week’s ramble will probably include something about my forthcoming return to the White Isle.  Don’t worry I won’t inflict on you a picture of me in my new swimming cozzie.

My Mid Life Crisis Conts……

This week I have watched:

“CHiPs”, (S2, ep 4 & ep 5).  “Click”, (TX: 26/06/21).  “Colony”, (S2, ep 4 & ep 5).  “Dinosaur”, (2021).  “Friends”, (S6, ep 9 to ep 11)(S7, ep 6 to ep 10 & ep 12 to ep 13 & ep 20 to ep 22)(S8, ep 4 to ep 6 & ep 10 & ep 12 to ep 14).  “Fringe”, (S5, ep 1 to ep 11).  “Glastonbury: Legends Of Glastonbury”, (TX: 27/06/21).  “Kaleb Cooper Reveals All About Working On Clarkson’s Farm – This Morning”, (YouTube)(TX: 21/06/21).  “Live At Worthy Farm: Backstage“, (TX: 27/06/21).  “Star Trek, (Original Series)”, (S2, ep 23 & ep 24).  “The Curse of Mr. Bean”, (S1, ep 3).  “The Great British Sewing Bee”, (S4, ep 5, TX: 13/06/16)(ep 6, TX: 20/06/16)(ep 7, TX: 27/06/16(ep 8, TX: 04/07/16)(S5, ep 1, TX: 12/02/19) (ep 2, TX: 19/02/19)(ep 3, TX: 26/02/19)(ep 4, TX: 05/03/19)(ep 5, TX: 12/03/19)(ep 6, TX: 19/03/19)(ep 7, TX: 26/03/19)(ep 8, TX: 02/04/19).  “The  Last Leg”, (S22, ep 5, TX: 02/07/21).  “The Watch”, (S1, ep 1 to ep 6).  “Van Helsing”, (S2, ep 11 to ep 13)(S3, ep 1).

This week I have listening to:

“30 Animals That Made Us Smarter “, (BBC News/World Service)(S2, ep 1, 28/06/21).  “Betamax Video Club”, (ep 61, 06/02/20).  “Box Of Delights”, (S1, ep 26, 15/11/19(ep 27, 19/11/19). “Coronavirus Global Update”, (BBC World Service) (26/06/21) (27/06/21) (28/06/21) (29/06/21) (30/06/21)(01/07/21)(02/07/21).  “Doctor Who”, (The Incomparable)(S10, ep 10, 18/06/17). “Farscape”, (TeeVee)(30/06/21).  “Game Of Thrones”, (TeeVee)(S6, ep 5, 23/05/16)(ep 6, 30/05/16).  “Griefcast”, (ep 139, 30/06/21).  “Lazy Doctor Who”, (ep 218, 27/06/22).  “Makes Art Will Travel”, (ep 6, 03/03/21).  “Mystery Hour”, (01/07/21).  “NASA: Gravity Assist”, (02/07/21).  “NASA: Houston We Have A Podcast”, (ep202, 02/07/21).  “Nick Abbot Whole Show”, (26/06/21) (27/06/21)(02/07/21).  “Space Soliders Podcast – Flash Gordon’s Trip To Mars”, (Chapter Three, “Queen Of Magic”, 26/06/21).  “Star Trek Universe Podcast “, (10/12/18).  “Smersh Pod”, (02/03/18). Talking Bottom”, (28/06/21) (29/06/21) (30/06/21).  “The Audio Guide To Babylon 5”, (ep 35, 07/09/15).  “The Nick Abbot Habit”, (28/06/21).  “The Skewer”, (BBC Radio 4/Sounds)(S4, ep 5, 30/06/21).  “The Space Above Us”, (050, 22/02/18)(051, 08/03/18)(052, 22/03/18).  “This week In Time Travel”, (The Incomparable) (20/06/17).  “Toby Hadoke’s Time Travels – Edward Peel Interview”, (28/06/21).  “Toby Hadoke’s Time Travels- Happy Times And Places”, (18.1, “The Highlanders, Pt 1″, 02/07/21).  “WTB”, (End Of Series 2: Best Bits, 02/07/21).  “What’s Your Problem With Nick Abbot And Carol Mcgiffin”, (28/06/21).  “Wolf And Owl”, (ep 30, 30/06/21)(Bonus #19, 02/07/21).

Songs I enjoyed this week, were by:

“Morrissey”,  “10cc”,  “Amy Grant”,  “Art Of Noise”,  “David Bowie”,  “Erasure”,  “Keith Urban ft Nile Rodgers,  “Madonna”,  “Natalie Imbruglia”,  “Nirvana”,  “Punjabi MC”,  “Soft Cell”,  “Terence Trent D’Arby”,  “Texas”,  “The XX”.