Modern Media

 

Hello all. I hope that you are ok. It is still hot, isn't it? Every year, I think to myself that I need to remember this - that I don't feel very well in this weather, like a swooning Victorian maiden, it really makes me a bit wobbly. Also, I find that the hot weather makes people around here behave like raving lunatics - especially when the heat is combined with the football. You may like somewhere altogether more genteel than us, but I shall be glad when the rain forces them all back indoors. Apparently, there will be thunder and lightning and torrential rain by Wednesday. So there you are. 

On Monday, we went to Bristol to meet up with our son and to see Ruby Wax. (see above - I have actually appeared in a photo for a change). Those of us of a certain age will remember her interviewing people like Imelda Marcos, Donald Trump (they didn't get on) and OJ Simpson. She seemed like a really nice person, and if she got a bit of an edge in her voice when the film broke down, I think that is only to be expected. I don't think that I would cross her, though. The next day, we received an apology email from the Old Vic. I was hoping for a few bob back, but apparently not. Anyway, we had a lovely time and came home the next day. 

Anyway, that was my outing for the week. (Apart from work, obviously). At my time of life, I certainly don't have the wherewithal to do something like that again within seven days. 

Once again, I have to plead guilty to watching a lot of football. HOH is being very patient, but, in exchange, for instance, this evening I am letting him watch a David Attenborough documentary in which a wolf eats a horse or something. I think that is very good of me. 

This week, I received the final print edition of Woman Alive. Woman Alive is a magazine for Christian Women. I think it is about 40 years old. I have been subscribing to it for many years. (Not 40 years before you think - how can that be? She looks so young?) It's a difficult balance, I think, to produce a good quality magazine that walks a line between articles that will interest all kinds of women, which is a broad church as it were. I think Woman's Hour has the same problem. In the last few years, it has made what I see as a concerted effort to appeal to younger women by being a bit more groovy and multicultural. That is probably way overdue, but it doesn't seem like it has attracted enough younger, hip women buying it, and now it is closing - which is a shame. Actually, it isn't technically closing - it is "moving online" to combat print costs. I don't think many people, including me, will be paying to subscribe to an online magazine. It's not the same. I hope I'm wrong. The magazine has really high production. values and when I have finished with it, HOH takes a few to the Foodbank, where it goes down quite well, I think.  And, if one of the columnists really irritates me ( as if she cares), it's not just about me, and it is a shame to lose a print publication. 

Also, this month, Plymouth has lost another print publication. The Plymouth Chronicle is a free paper that is posted through letterboxes. Owned by Christians, it likes to concentrate on Good News stories and letting people know about events, etc. It's really popular with our older constituency at work, although I believe that a lot of younger people don't love it as much. I do know the people who work there a bit. Many years ago, they offered me a job, saying that they wanted someone of integrity to run the office. I think it must have been a low bar, but I do remember thinking that, if you were that keen on someone of "top" integrity levels in management, you might think about paying them a little bit more. Anyway, that's by the by. They have gone to the wall with large debts, it seems. It's a shame. I hope everyone there is ok. 

On a more positive note, I found a new (ish) book by one of my favourite authors - Pen Wilcox. For some reason, I thought that she had packed it in. The writing that is. I don't know why. As my mother used to say - "Explain yourself! You can't, can you?" and indeed I have no idea what I thought this. Anyway, the books are set in a fictional monastery - St Alcuins in 14th-century Yorkshire. They are gentle, wise books  - good stories too, and I am always surprised by how caught up I am in the lives of these monks. Anyway, I enjoyed St Luke's Little Summer very much. If you are interested in them, I would recommend starting at the beginning of the series. Even though each book stands alone, it makes more sense that way. 

Finally, can I just share how upset I am by Penelope Keith's death? She appeared in two of my favourite programmes - The Good Life and To the Manor Born, and, of course, there was the terrific dance with Morecambe and Wise. I know she had a good innings, but I'm still not happy. I don't think that they make programmes like that anymore. The times, they are a-changing. Anyway, speaking of programmes, it sounds like HOH's Attenborough programme has finished because those tiny little mice who have been crushed alive by Asian Cats have stopped squealing now, so I'm off back to the Living Room. Have a good week.