OK, this post is a bit against my interest seeing that the bulk of my traffic comes from fans of Michael Portillo’s Great British Railway Journeys who come here for where to download a PDF of the guidebook used by Mr. Portillo (Michael?).
Anyway, I was looking at the Series DVD and debating whether to spring for Series 2 at 27 quid (ouch!). While my first thought is to spring for it given that I get loads of traffic from fans of the show. That price is still a bit of a bite with the state of the economy–maybe when I feel much more flush. I will admit to putting it into my basket.
Anyway, it turns out that my other question:
Why doesn’t someone come out with a good facsimile of the Guide used in the show?
After all, the guide is next to impossible to find.
In fact, I have been tempted to say that I completely trust Michael Portillo given that he is walking around with an incredibly rare book. In fact, the rarity of the book makes me think that Michael Portillo has the bravery of an SAS (SBS?) trooper since I’d hate to think what length a crazed anorak would go to for a copy of that guide!
Seriously, walking around with something which is rarer than a first folio Shakespeare takes serious bottle.
But, Bradshaw and railway fans rejoice, for there is a really good facsimile out there for you to own. The nice bit is that the price is only £5 at Amazon!
I can see these going like hotcakes
Actually, there are a couple of copies of this out there. The one I mention and another which sells for £21.94. Since I’ve downloaded the PDF version, the more expensive one seems out of my league.
And I’m not going to debate the merits of both versions since there are enough reviews on Amazon which get into that.
So much for originals. Now for the good news : not one but two reprints of the Portillo set have been produced and both are on offer in our New Books section. You can use the Search Box to find them quickly by entering the reference codes.
Reference : A2855 . Title : Bradshaw’s Guide. Hand Book 1. 2. 3. 4. A complete year set of the four regional parts for 1866. Paperback, with an enlarged page size for easier reading. £24.95
Reference : A2893 . Cover title : Bradshaw’s Hand Book 1. 2. 3. 4. (from title page : Bradshaw’s Descriptive Railway Hand-Book Of Great Britain And Ireland.) A reprint of the actual volume used on the TV programmes. £9.99
This poem came up during last night’s celebration. There was discussion about Scotland’s part in the slave trade and that Burns almost worked in a plantation. Burns probably have supported the occupation movement since he was for the underdog and downtrodden. Doggone mentioned the the Selkirk grace in her comment to the previous post, which was our opening grace:
Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it;
But we hae meat, and we can eat,
And sae let the Lord be thankit.
Anyway, this poem came up and I thought I would add it to my commonplace book and put it out there for others to appreciate:
The Slave’s Lament
1792
It was in sweet Senegal that my foes did me enthral,
For the lands of Virginia,-ginia, O:
Torn from that lovely shore, and must never see it more;
And alas! I am weary, weary O:
Torn from that lovely shore, and must never see it more;
And alas! I am weary, weary O.
All on that charming coast is no bitter snow and frost,
Like the lands of Virginia,-ginia, O:
There streams for ever flow, and there flowers for ever blow,
And alas! I am weary, weary O:
There streams for ever flow, and there flowers for ever blow,
And alas! I am weary, weary O:
The burden I must bear, while the cruel scourge I fear,
In the lands of Virginia,-ginia, O;
And I think on friends most dear, with the bitter, bitter tear,
And alas! I am weary, weary O:
And I think on friends most dear, with the bitter, bitter tear,
And alas! I am weary, weary O:
He’s hosting a Burns’ Night celebration on the radio. They are piping in the Haggis, and I have yet to finish the tatties ‘n neeps and boil the cabbage.
But they started at 18.10, and our guests have just arrived!
OK, what is a better way to commemorate Burns’ Night than mentioning haggis?
In this case, Gardeners Sauce for Haggis which was made by Edinburgh Preserves who decided to stop making the stuff for some odd reason. I’m not sure why since it was really good.
And Edinburgh Preserves is still in business, which I found out whilst walking in my local market. I believe they still use the name Gardeners as well.
For all of those who want to buy this sauce and have been trying to buy this sauce, you may want to contact Edinburgh Preserves to say that it was a mistake to take this product off the market.
While you are at it, you may want to sample some of Edinburgh Preserves other products.
I wasn’t sure what to call this post–”the sun never sets…”, but since this seems more appropriate since this is more about hard to find flags.
For example, the British Antarctic Territory flag is next to impossible to find even though the buggers exist.
Another one which is hard to find is the old British Indian Colonial Flag, aka the Star of India Flag.There are no cheapies on the market. The real deal is hard as heck to find since the Indians deBritishised the country after the Raj, which means a full sized one is prohibitive if you can find it in the first place.
Flagsonline (Italy) carries quite a few interesting flags. They have the Indian Viceroy’s flag and the flags of all the Sienna Contrade, who are the folk who run the Palio. Although, Flagsonline isn’t very good about listing that option. You can write them for info on that one.
I guess any post on this topic wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the Flag Guys who are a customer oriented flag dealer with a pretty good selection.
Short of going to a custom flag maker the three flag dealers above are pretty good sources for hard to find flags.
I’m still looking for a post 1801 British East India Company flag. Wish me luck!
It seems that a Mattawan, Michigan High School Teacher was suspended and then reinstated after the School Christmas Gift Exchange went a little XXX!
It seems that students brought sex toys to school wrapped as presents for the Christmas gift exchange. The teacher didn’t know about the X-rated toys ahead of the exchange. It wasn’t until the toys were unwrapped that the gifts were realised to be less than innocent. Mattawan Superintendent Patrick Bird says the teacher was suspended because she didn’t take immediate action after the wrappings were removed.
The unidentified teacher is now back on the job at Mattawan High School. The superintendent says she’s a “great teacher” who’s made a “positive difference for kids over the years.” The students were not disciplined.
I thought about adding this to my previous post, but it is more of a comment made in jest than one with any serious value–the BBC could adopt the same model as US Public broadcasting–with fundraisers and “underwriting”. Of course, that wouldn’t go over very well since people already pay TV licence fees. Additionally, I am not sure of the compliance with UK TV Licence fees, but I would hazard a guess that it is much better than that of people who pay for US public broadcasting. Toss in that “underwriting” is basically a euphemism for commericals and it would be cause for revolt amongst the licence holders.
Likewise, US commercial broadcasting mostly runs along cable or other providers such that most of the programming is commercials of some sort. That is tremendously annoying if one is paying for cable or satellite to have to sit through what is mostly commercials.
So, I have no problem with the TV licence fee or paying for the services if my contribution will keep the programming non-commercial.
This is a longer version of the comment I left at the BBC website. Unfortunately, they only allow 350 characters, which is almost two whole tweets! That is not enough to leave a proper comment on this subject.
OK, I’ve said that the Beeb should begin charging for BBC iPlayer, not totally in jest. The major problem is that people are already paying for this service by their Television Licence fees–in theory. Perhaps, the BBC should require that one’s iPlayer profile also include the TV licence information.
Although, I have also pointed out that a loophole exists if one time shifts BBC programming via iPlayer downloads, as the licence fee only covers live broadcast reception. We come into carious other policy problems with this. The major one is that the BBC tries to have as large an audience for its programmes as it can. That said, charging for this material begins to run against ths policy. Additionally, this is a regressive charge which will hit the poor. The BBC could charge a lower fee for an “iPlayer” specific licence.
Also, if the BBC is going to start charging for this material, then they need to make more of it accessible. The big case in point to me is News (e.e., News at Six and News at Ten). I would be willing to pay for access to news programmes if they are downloadable via iPlayer.
Another problem, many of the iPlayer downloaders can access this material from outside the UK. I’m not going to get into this, but this also has some ramifications for the debate. If the BBC is going to start charging for this material, are they going to turn a blind eye to where the view is accessing the material? One can buy the DVDs and watch them in another region using a region free DVD player. I know that the BBC’s response is that there are other digital rights holders, but if someone is waving money at them.
Of course, I have this vision of people applying for TV licences from Effing Sodbury and Chipping Wedgewood if the only criteria is a TV licence! How many people would get TV licences with the address 10 Downing Street, London SW1A 2AA? Some addresses could have more TV licences leading one to conclude that more people lived there than a Calcutta tenement!
Then, this gets to another issue I have with the BBC. They have a revenue stream which they do not expolit, which is some of their unissued material. The big case in point would be issuing DVDs of the Goodies TV show. That is a tremedenously popular series, yet the BBC has not issued any of the shows in a serious manner. I think we can blame a couple of things here, which is the old archival policy which has trashed as signifant amount of British Television history (e.g., Take Three Girls, The Borderers, etcetera).
The final problem is that popular British TV programmes end up in the download community, which I doubt will be something that will stop if the BBC begins to charge for iPlayer material. In fact, I think that would become more of a problem for the BBC if iplayer material is subject to a fee. So, unless the BBC is going to begin to put more of its material out on DVD, I don’t think they will come up with a fool proof way of making money from the iPlayer downloads.
As I said, I think the best way would be to introduce a reduced iPlayer fee and not loot at where the person is accessing the material from which would allow for better access to the BBC material. But, I don’t think the BBC chiefs are going jump at this. That means they are left with people using iPlayer on the honour system.
A couple of things hint to me that there is a new series of shows on the BBC: My stats count rises as hits start coming from Michael Portillo’s site (Great British Railway Journeys is now on Series 3) and they repeat old shows. In this case, Being Human series three is being repeated.
I’m not sure how or why the Beeb is coming out with series 4 of Being Human since Mitchell (Aidan Turner) was killed off in series 3. Unless he did a Herrick, I’m not sure he will be replaced–or wanted to be revived. Of course, I ignored that the Beeb announced this back in March of last year. Maybe I should say I didn’t care about a remake after Series 3′s ending. Not to mention it sounds as if Russell Tovey won’t be in the new series, which means most of the interesting characters are gone.
I’m still undecided as to whether Lenora Crichlow is hot or not. Although, I do tend toward hot. I’d watch it for her. There was someone who used to work in my local gorcers who reminded me of Sinead Keenan. I always wanted to ask her if she was a werewolf!
OK, the why question could be answered with this was a popular series, which included the inevitable US attempt at remaking it.
The other issue is that there was a pilot to the Series, which featured Andrea Riseborough as Annie. The other important thing about the Pilot is that is supposedly explained what exactly is going on in the series. According to the Being Human affeciandos, and the series creator, the Pilot was pretty important, yet the Beeb has only broadcast it six times as of the time this was written. All the broadcasts were made in 2008 as well.
I should add that the Pilot actually sounds quite interesting since it not only explains what is going on, but also had some interesting cast changes (e.g. Andrea Riseborough as Annie and Adrian Lester as Herrick). I have to admit an interest in seeing Adrian Lester playing the Herrick character since I think he would put a different spin on it from Jason Watkins. Would Lester be as affable as Herrick as he was as Micky Bricks in Hustle?
Not only that, the Series one DVD didn’t contain the pilot. That wasn’t the only omission in the Series one DVD since the fans say that the original music was changed due to licensing BS. The music might be an affront to fans, but the Pilot would be useful to those of us who are wondering what is going on here.
That said, I would have preferred that the Beeb rerun the Pilot than rebroadcast Series 3. They could always have come up with a short recap of the previous 3 series for those of us who would want that. I don’t think my curiousity is that piqued by a fourth series to want to catch it. Although, I do know that the fans will want another fix.
She's taken off the Gloves. Now, someone needs to photoshop some brass knucks on her.
I was lucky enough to catch a preview of the Weinstein Brother’s Film “Iron Lady” about Margaret Thatcher. One thing I can say about Margaret Thatcher is that I do admire the woman even if I disagree with her politics and the way she ran the country. That said, the film was a bit of a let down.
Lady Thatcher is well portrayed by Meryl Streep as a senile and demented old dear. She is haunted by the ghost of Dennis, portrayed by Jim Broadbent. I’m not sure if that is an accurate depiction of Lady Thatcher. If it is, it is a sad statement. But, I still feel that between Reagan and Thatcher–Thatcher is far more the person who is the one to be admired and remembered as a real leader. I say real leader, because, like her or hate her, Thatcher was indeed a leader. It’s where she took Britain that is up to debate.
They didn’t get into the dissent which Thatcher caused other than a quick squiz at Michael Heseltine’s (Richard E. Grant) bid for the Tory Leadership. But, the events were presented in more of a demented stream of consciousness than any chronological order. But, that was the way the whole film went.
The one thing that really stuck in my mind was Nicholas Farrell’s Airey Neave. I knew of Airey Neave as one of the people who escaped from Colditz and then as Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. One Colditz site describes Neave well:
This man needs more than a page, he needs a site. Please click here for our sister site www.aireyneave.com – please be patient while it is under construction.
Even though he was a cameo in this film, his importance seemed to be signified in his contribution to Thatcher’s rise. What would the Thatcher regime have been had Neave not been assassinated by the INLA? CIA? It has been hinted that Neave would have shaken up the UK’s security services and that the INLA was not really behind his assassination, but that the CIA was the real culprit. One can only guess how history would have shaken out if there had been a Neave-Thatcher tory regime!
That might even make me a tory!
Anyway, I think there are a lot better films about Margaret Thatcher’s life such as The Long Walk to Finchley and Margaret. Maybe a real Thatcher fan might want to see this, but I think they would be even more upset by this portrayal of her.
It would be a better idea if the Weinsteins scrapped this film and made something about Airey Neave using Farrell. The only good thing about this film was Meryl Streep’s imitation of Margaret Thatcher, but there have been a lot of those. How much money does one want to put that Streep stands a good chance of an Academy Award when they could just as well give the award to the person who portrayed Thatcher in Spitting Image.
Give this film a pass to go learn about Airey Neave if you don’t know about him already.
This book came to my attention a while back, but it is my latest read. The title is a bit deceiving since the Lancaster County in question is now known as Lancashire most of the time. Although, some people do call it the County of Lancaster: those people are few and far between. As I said, these days it’s called Lancashire most of the time.
Of course, this is about Witch hunts from the 1600′s. That’s more of a puritan thing. That means that in the US the witch hunts were more of a New England thing since they pretty much kept to themselves in the New World. On the other hand. Puritans (the puritan mentality) were all over the place in 16th and 17th Century Britain–sticking around way too long in Scotland.
The Quakers in Pennsylvania probably wouldn’t have gone around on witch hunts, preferring to see the godlike quality in the witches. That would make the title even more interesting if it were about Pennsylvania Witches. Although the cover would then be a bit incongruous! Love our witch friends, not hang them!
The basic gist of this post is that there is quite a difference here between the two places. What the hell has happened in Pennsylvania that gun freaks are running around instead of Quakers and other fringy religious types.
OK, my vie sans frontiers prefers to not have my information blocked by geographic and other details. I was a real short wave fan when I was a teen. Short Wave in those days was really entertaining since it was during the Cold War. Radio Tirana in Albania was my fav back then for what I describe as news from a stereotypical authoritarian regime. Now, Short Wave is just the dominion of the total crazies. To some extent, so is the Internet, but there is also a lot of gems out there. One of them being internet radio.
Internet radio features several thousand stations and can be accessed by web browsers. But there are some units out there that allow one to receive internet radio directly via your wi-fi connection. Unlike satellite radio, internet radio is free and comes through your internet connection. That in and of itself is the benefit of internet radio since for the most part reception is crap where I live. I have had to ditch my NAD Tuner since it couldn’t get anything worth listening to. That means I listen to regular transistor radio receivers.
On the other hand, I can get anything I am truly interested in on the internet. That means there are all classical music stations, or news stations, or…The list is pretty much limited by your imagination. I could get NPR material, but realised that it is mostly crap. Anyway, why listen to NPR when trusted news sources such as the BBC World Service or Radio Nederland Wereldomroep are available on the internet?
The real problem is the stand alone receivers for internet radio since they haven’t really come down in price since they were introduced. Additionally, there are no wireless internet radio alarm clocks worth mentioning. Most of them are not really alarm clocks, or they are not of proper quality: not to mention far more expensive than a regular alarm clock! That means the radio needs to come from a PC connected to a stereo. Some boffin needs to create an internet radio component that is both PC and AV unit at a decent price and then publicise the thing.
Then we can add in services such as BBC’s iPlayer and 4oD to the mix which makes it sound as if what is needed is some form of small computer that can be browser and AV unit in one. The ultimate problem is how does one make this material playable throughout a home network? I just added UPnP to this post. Personally, I tend to be a user who listens to internet radio and TV as well as my music files on my home system. I’ve tried various methods to broadcast the material (e.g., home radio transmitter units) with minimal success.
Anyway, the big part of this piece is that internet radio could be far more accessible if someone could come up with a better way to access this material. Although, I do have to admit to wanting something which is a cheap stand alone internet radio unit to listen to that material throughout my house.
Although this is somewhat of a nonevent since the The Pet Travel Scheme (PETS AKA Pet Passport) has been in place since 1 October 2001. The one real advantage seems to be that the hassles of PETS appear to be a thing of the past.
If you brought your pet into the UK from the EU or another listed country or territory prior to 31 December 2011, The UK required that preparations (rabies vaccination (including boosters), blood sampling, and issuing the PETS documentation) must have been done either in the UK (before you take your pet out of the UK) or in one of those listed countries or territories. The tick and tapeworm treatment must be done 24-48 hours before your pet enters the UK. Your pet can be fitted with a microchip in any country or territory.
Animals which did not meet these rules when they arrive in the UK must enter quarantine for six months prior to 31 December 2011. They may be able to be released early (before the full six month quarantine period has finished) if they can be shown to comply with the necessary PETS rules whilst in quarantine.
Add in that you had to fly approved airlines from certain airports (and this): or fly into the EU and then continue to the UK. Additionally, if you chose the UK routes, the pet had to go as cargo. It appears that there will be no change in how the new scheme works. as DEFRA point out:
Pets travelling to the UK by air will travel as cargo, unless they are a registered assistance dog entering with an approved airline, on a route that permits them to travel in the cabin.
People coming from non-PETS approved countries had to place their pets in quarantine for six months, which was a barbaric system that had been in place since 1895.
Although, looking at DEFRA’s travelling with pets page, it doesn’t seem as if things have changed too much. That means that all this isn’t really news to those of us who have been taking pets in and out of the UK since PETS came into existence on 1 October 2001. I was hoping that there would be an opening of carriers and how the pet is transported to the UK. At this point, it doesn’t seem as if there is too much to be happy about as far as pets travelling to and from the UK since they are still required to be cargo if they fly from some countries (e.g. the US).
From what I have read, it seems that the PETS scheme was not very consistent. The “new” regime just makes the PETS Scheme more “sensible”. But, as I said, this has been around since 2001. It isn’t really news for most people who have been travelling with their pets since that time.
