Misfits Mid-Life Crisis Adventures in East & Central London and Surrey.

Week 377, Saturday 4^th until Friday 10^th September 2021.

As a child there were two jobs I wanted to do when I was grew up.  One was a BBC camera person.  I would make models of the large TV studio cameras and pedestals I would see on programmes like “Blue Peter” out of Lego or mums tupplewear containers with cotton or wool trailing out the back representing the thick power umbilical cord.  The other job I wanted to do was an Astronaut.  I don’t need to say I haven’t achieved either job.  Though when I worked for the BBC (a long time ago) I got to see every day and occasionally push a camera round on its heavy pedestal.  If I saw a camera stranded sitting being ignored, I couldn’t resist on touching it.  Even now at my grand age I get giddy when I see a TV camera (rereading this make me sound sadder than I thought) on screen or in real life.

Whenever NASA or ESA (European Space Agency) do a call for a new class of Astronauts (more than 22,000 recently applied when ESA advertised) I have a look at the application process.  Sadly because of a combination of not being a US citizen (for NASA, and just not being clever enough for both space agencies) I never submit an application.  Being an interested and enthusiastic an armchair scientist is not enough to get a foot in the doorway (which of course I totally understand).

My love of space is probably the main reason I learnt to Scuba dive, floating neutrally buoyant is the nearest to being weightless I will feel.  It really is such an unbelievable feeling which sadly I haven’t experienced in years; I am still qualified and should get wet soon.  I am absolutely fascinated by space and space travel, one thing that bugs me is that there are so many missions currently being planned that I may not be around to either witness happen or read/see the results of.  One thing I desperately hope is that human set foot on Mars in my lifetime (currently planned for the mid-2030s).

I don’t fool myself that I will ever reach for the stars.  But next week there is a mission “Inspiration4” which give a small glimmer of hope for ordinary (though the crew are still extraordinary) people.  At midnight UK time (8pm EDT) on 15th September a SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying a Dragon capsule will launch from Cape Canaveral’s historic launch pad 39a carrying 4 civilians for into low Earth orbit for 3 to 5 days.  These people will become real Astronaut, I say this as there is still a lot of debate as to whether Branson and Bezo and their respective crews are considered astronauts after their recent journeys.

This week the first two episodes of a new very interesting Netflix documentary about all aspects of the “Inspiration4” flight called “Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission To Space” became available.  Of course, I watched them straight away, and can’t wait for the next two next week.  The crew are ordinary people, they are civilians who genuinely have the “Right Stuff”, they really will be the first civilian crew to travel into space.  I plan to watch the launch live and follow the whole mission closely until splashdown.

 One day “normal” people will go into space regularly, maybe even people like me. However, I don’t think space travel will ever be as routine as science fiction or space agencies and government like to think.  No amount of money will stop this from being a very expensive and dangerous form of travel.

I am currently looking for another job, is it too late to try and become a TV Camera person, even just for a couple of years.  Sadly, as with being an astronaut just having an interesting in TV and film production and how programmer or film is made is not good enough.  People say to children all the time that dreams come true, in my case they didn’t.  But I will continue to dream about reaching for the stars, and working on a studio floor.

And Now For Something Completely Different……

Recently I have noticed a horrifying trend at work; minutes before a break or lunch I get a complicated call which results in me going late, in some cases a delay of up to 10 to 15 minutes.

On the upside being late means there is less time to work until either the next break/lunch or the end of the day.  The switchboard randomly allocates calls, it doesn’t deliberately check the time and put a call through to me because I am about to have a break.  Or is this the start of the machines taking over.  Should we all be worried?

And Finally……

Saying to MOZ “It’s a good job you’re not a man”, after she tried to put her card in to the wrong hole.  That evening we went to the theatre, in the dark auditorium before the show she tripped after not seeing the edge of a step.  Don’t worry she recovered and rescued her drink only spilling a very small amount.

Felt so embarrassed to tell someone they had a refund of 69p.  I jokingly said I’d leave the credit in an envelope on their doorstep, because even with a small amount like that it will take a couple of weeks to show in there account.

Like proud parents my friend and I were counting Hamsters poohs next to his wheel.  It’s nice to see he does get some exercise during the night (See last week’s ramble if you don’t understand).

My Mid Life Crisis Conts……

This week I have watched:

“15 Storeys High”,(S1, ep 1 & ep 2).  “Blake’s 7”, (S2, ep 6).  “Chris And Meg’s Wild Summer”, (S1, ep 2, TX: 05/09/21).  “Class Dismissed”, (S5, ep 1 to 3).  “Click”, (TX: 04/09/21). “Colony”, (S3, ep 8 to ep 10).  “Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission To Space”, “(S1, ep 1 and 2, TX: 06/09/21).  “Entourage”, (S3, ep 1 to ep 12).  “Farscape: The Peacekeepers Wars”, (ep 1 & ep 2).  “Gardeners World”, (2021, ep 21, TX: 13/08/21)(ep 22, 20/08/21)(ep 23, TX: 27/08/21)(ep 24, TX: 03/09/21).  “H20: The Molecule That Made Us”, (S1, ep 2, TX: 01/09/21)(ep 3, TX: 08/09/21).  “James Blunt: You’re Beautiful, (Official Video)”, (2004).  “James Blunt – You’re Beautiful (Making Of)”, (YouTube)(TX: 17/05/07).  “Missions”, (S2, ep 6 to ep 8).  “Money Heist”, (S5, ep 4 & ep 5).  “Monsters At Work”, (S1, ep 6).  “Mortimer And Whitehouse Gone Fishing”, (S4, ep 2, TX: 05/09/21).  “Natalie  Imbruglia: Torn, (Official Video)”, (YouTube)(1997).  “Sia – Chandelier (Live At ”We Can Survive”, Hollywood Ball) SIA Showed Her Face Finally!!!”, (YouTube)(TX: 15/12/14).  “Sixpence None The Richer: Kiss Me“, (Official Video)”, (1997).  “Stargate Atlantis”, (S2, ep 12).  “Star Trek (Original Series)”, (S3, ep 10 & ep 11).  “Star Trek: Lower Decks”, (S2, ep 5).  “The Golden Girls”, (S3, 1 to ep 12).  “The Guardians Of The Galaxy”, (2014).  “The Hitckhickers Guide To The Galaxy”, (BBC TV, 1981)(S1, ep 1 to ep 6).  “The Sarah Jane Adventures”, (S1, ep 2 & ep 3). “The Last Leg Of Tokyo 2020”, (ep 12, TX: 04/09/21).  “The Umbrella Academy “, (S2, ep 7). “The Walking Dead”, (S11, ep 3).  “Van Helsing”, (S4, ep 5 & ep 6).

This Week I saw live on stage:

“When Darkness Falls”, (Park Theatre, Finsbury Park)(04/09/21).

This week I have listening to:

“30 Animals That Made Us Smarter”,(BBC World Service)(S2, ep 11, 06/09/21).  “Betamax Video Club “, (ep 32, 28/11/18)(ep 39, 09/01/19).  “Coronavirus Global Update”, (BBC World Service)(04/09/21)(05/09/21)(06/09/21)(07/09/21)(08/09/21)(09/09/21)(10/09/21).  “Doctor Who”, (The Incomparable/TeeVee)(S11, ep 7, 19/11/18).  “Farscape”, (The Incomparable/TeeVee)(08/09/21).  “Game Of Thrones”, (TeeVee)(S7, ep 1, 18/07/17).  “Lazy Doctor Who”, (The Incomparable)(ep 221, 06/09/21).  “Maureen & Jen”, (26/09/13). “Mystery Hour”, (09/09/21).  “NASA Houston We Have A Podcast”, (ep 212, 10/09/21). “Nick Abbot Whole Show”, (04/09/21)(05/09/21)(10/09/21).  “Radio Astronomy (The Sky At Night Magazine)”, (09/08/16) (21/06/21)(26/06/21).  “Rob Beckett And Josh Widdecombe Parenting Hell”, (S3, ep 17, 07/09/21)(ep 18, 10/09/21).  “Smersh Pod”, (01/04/18)(13/04/18). “Something Who”, (16/01/20).  “Space Boffins”, (10/09/21).  “Space And Things”, (STP9, 29/0/20)(STP48, 29/07/21)(STP 54, 09/09/21).  “Star Trek Universe Podcast”, (27/21/18)(09/09/21).  “The 99p Challenge “, (BBC Radio 4)(S2,  ep 3, 02/08/01)(ep 4, 09/08/01)(ep 5, 16/08/01)(ep 6, 23/08/01).  “The Adam Buxton Podcast”, (ep 159, 04/09/21).  “The Audio Guide To Babylon 5”, (The Incomparable)(ep 44, 11/01/16).  “The Friendship Onion”, (S1, ep 17, 07/09/21).  “The Nick Abbot Habit”, (07/09/21).  “The Old Doctor Who Show”, (ep 117, 08/09/21).  “The Space Above Us”, (137, 08/07/21)(138, 22/07/21)(139, 05/08/21)(140, 19/08/21).  “This Week In Time Travel”, (The Incomparable)(23/11/18).  “Toby Hadoke’s – Happy Times And Places”, (22.1, “The Cave Of Skulls”, 10/09/21).  “WTB”, (S1, ep 18, 20/11/20)(ep 19, 27/11/20)(ep 20, 04/12/20)(ep 21, 11/12/20)(S3, ep 4 (ep 47) 10/09/21). “What’s Your Problem With Nick Abbot And Carol Mcgiffin”, (06/09/21).  “Wolf And Owl”, (ep 40, 08/09/21).  

Songs I enjoyed this week, were by:

“Morrissey”,  “Biffy Clyro”,  “Blondie”,  “Blur”,  “Divinyls”,  “Elton John”,  “James”, “Kirsty McColl”,  “Lana Del Rey”,  “M.I.A”,  “Natalie Imbruglia”,  “Nena”,  “Sixpence None The Richer”,  “Sugababes”,  “The Charlatans”,  “The Clash”,  “The Coral”,  “The Rolling Stones”,  “The Teardrop Explodes”,  “The Vaccines”,  “The Waitresses”,  “T-Rex”, “Ultravox”.