Homeward bound

A snapshot of my voyage home tonight. Listening to Norah Jones and going to pick up some calpol for tots who are under the weather with a high temperature. So this is what being a parent is all about.

"This is for Doctor Ben...." [SMACK]

There is only one story this week. Never mind the credit crunch, money munch or indeed the end of the world. For this week, one of the best children's TV shows was released on DVD and although in short supply, I have got my box set. That show is Star Fleet, and was one of the first shows we recorded on VHS tapes in our house that I kept for years until they basically wore out. I can still remember watching episode 5 having spent the day at my dad's surgery helping him insulate the piping with that polystyrene stuff. It was the first episode that I kept on tape, and being allowed to keep the tape and the rest of the episodes was a really big deal (to me, anyway). Managed to bore everyone in the house for ages watching it over and over again, but hey, I was a kid, and that was my job..

This show was adapted from a Japanese puppet show and frankly knocked Thunderbirds and Terrahawks into a cocked hat. And then stamped on it. A lot. It had plot, it had characters, it had some serious hardware and it wasn't afraid to kill off major characters in dubious circumstances: in this show, the good guys didn't always fight fair..

For those of us in our mid-thirties who had been bitten a few years earlier by the Star Wars bug, this show was required viewing on Saturday mornings circa 1982-3. There was simply nothing to touch it, and watching it now, restored and cleaned up, it's still seriously cool. Already bored the wife with it, but hey I'm a kid and that's my job. Oh no, hang on..

Play Your Cards Right

I'm getting old. I keep referring people to what I consider fairly classic quotes and lines and then get brought up short by the fact that most of the people I work with were born in the 1980s. A colleague and I were reminiscing about 'Bruce Forsyth's Play Your Cards Right' the other day (Nothing for a pair..not in this game), and then discovered that the person we were discussing it with was aged one in 1985. Ahem.

So this is what it is to get old then. And so today I find myself sat reading the Daily Telegraph (albeit online at least) while my children have just departed the lounge to eat some cream crackers and cheese. I am left listening to the soundtrack from 'High School Musical' and wondering if anyone remembers 'That's My Boy' with Mollie Sugden (edit: oh dear, yes they do..YouTube has an advert for all FIVE series on DVD..!).

Still, keeps me in business as charity pub quiz geriatric telly specialist..

The Omega Lawyer

Today I am Charlton Heston. In the next scene i shall be facing hordes of mindless zombies. But enough of the train network..

The end of civilisation as we know it.

Working from home today as no trains are running. Kids love it of course but how this much snow brings a network to its knees i dont know!