Sometimes I write the blogs direct to Facebook and sometimes I write them on the notepad on my mobile which I'm doing at the moment.
When I do the latter I have to copy and paste onto Facebook and that's where something went wrong yesterday, although I could just say I was checking that you were alert on a Sunday morning.
*. *. *
Casualty was on television on Saturday night as it always is. It usually comes after those terrible celebrity quiz games where so called celebrities like those who have taken part in Big Brother or Love Island or equally mind numbingly moronic shows prove just how much they don't know.
On Saturday somebody with a very strange first name Ekin Sue which sounds more like a swear word than a name told us that the public viewed her as somebody in a bikini whereas she was actually intelligent. She then proceeded to prove how wrong that statement was.
But she was ever so slightly more intelligent than the contestant who may have been a comedian or may have been an actor who was asked: How many days are there in a leap year and replied 40,000.
Quick bit of maths establishes that 40,000 days is over 109 years. Where do they get these people from?
I cannot abide by Casualty. I even have to face the other way. The storylines are plain ridiculous and Charlie Fairhead is still there despite being 97 in real life. Editor's note - he is actually 76 in April. Don't these people ever retire?
The unbelievable thing about Casualty is the way the staff positions change. There was a porter who suddenly became a paramedic. Then there was the head of department who became a paramedic and then the bloke off of Strictly Come Dancing who walked into the department and became head consultant without a job application or an interview. Now he's got liver or is it kidney failure? I don't know which because I'm too busy staring at the wall.
Actually I have been listening to footage on You Tube from Harry Chapin concerts. Many years ago I wrote a lengthy piece about the themes in Chapin songs. Sadly this got lost, but I'm thinking seriously about writing it again. If I do I will put it on as a separate blog so those who don't want to read it can simply ignore it.
Chapin, for me, was unique. His concerts weren't just about his songs but about the relationship he had with his audience. He spent the night talking to them and involving them in his songs. He explained what the lyrics meant and so many people could relate to them.
I have never found an artist that has had a similar effect on me and I will bring all this out in the article. Bet you can't wait.
A few days ago when the news came over that DJ and Radio Two presenter Steve Wright had died, there was a fine tribute from Jeremy Vine. Afterwards somebody and I forget who it was remembered comments from Terry Wogan when he was asked about how many new listeners he had. It went something like:
"Terry, you have attracted thousands of new listeners. How many do you now have?
"Only one."
The same thing was said about Steve Wright. Everyone listening to his shows felt that he was broadcasting directly to them.
Same thing with Harry Chapin. When he played a concert he was playing to just one person.
I like to adopt this idea with my blogs. I have 700 signed on but I hope you think that I'm writing for an audience of one.
*. *. *
Was very sad to hear that journalist Lyndsey Hewison has died. I worked with Lindsay for a few months way back when on the Eastern Evening News, now the Norwich Evening News.
We worked in what was known as the Evening News box. It was a boxed off section of the main reporters' room.
I tried to remember who worked there. At one end was Meg Sherman who I believe wrote under her full name of Margarette Sherman. She was woman's page editor. Myself and Neville Miller wrote what was known as the Whiffler column which I have mentioned before. It was a nice easy to write chatty column. Before working on Whiffler I spent a short while writing features and seem to remember that Mike Burton-Pye was writing Whiffler. Then there was Geoff Parkinson. Not sure what he did although he may have written the editorial comment columns. I later worked with Geoff on the Norwich Mercury series of newspapers.
Lindsey sat at a desk up the corner and I believe also wrote features. She went off to Cromer but returned to Norwich after a short while thus doing me a favour as I was picked to replace her on North Norfolk.
Working on the Evening News at that time was fun and we had lots of laughs. The thing I remember most about Lindsey was her laugh, sense of fun and west country accent, oh and she was tall.
There have been lots of tributes to Lindsey on Facebook, many describing her as a pioneer journalist at a time when female journalists struggled on a male dominated environment. I never thought about that before. I never saw anyone I worked with as exactly pioneers, they were just colleagues. I doubt anyone would refer to me as a pioneer of anything.
Lindsey was also very good at golf and was very involved with the Norfolk set up both, I believe, as a player and an administrator.