Friendly chat

Helen, There's a very timely article in today's 'i' newspaper by Lucy Mangan on all aspects of the ways noise intrudes into our lives, well worth reading. She often comes up with thought-provoking stuff, recently she wrote about the way the English language has changed (not for the better) and the lack/misuse of grammar and punctuation. Like me, she is a proud pedant. Geoff

A very timely article rocksolid. Thankfully I don't have to be a slave to a mobile phone like she does, because that really would drive me mad. The music event is only annual so it's a minor irritant, especially as the loudest music only goes on from 2pm-11pm. It used to go on till 2am in the morning! My real sympathy lies with those who live closer.

I am sure all the loud music from the 60's/70's has a lot to do with the loss of ones hearing according to my daughter (she is the one who knows everything.) A most common phrase - You wot ?

You're right, I believe there are quite a few rock musicians from that time (and since, no doubt) who have gone deaf. I don't suppose they would have worn ear defenders though with hindsight maybe they should have, and their audiences too. I do remember going to noisy discos 'back in the day' and finding my ears ringing for hours afterwards, luckily not so many times that I suffered permanent loss of hearing.

Oh don't get me started on mobile phones, there was another excellent article in Saturday's 'i' - this one by Marianna Spring, on the dangers of being addicted to social media and telling all and sundry almost every little detail of one's life. No wonder people are being scammed with text messages and calls from cyber-criminals. I have the slightest of presences with no personal detail on Facebook at all. I can't understand why folk would 'share' personal things with just anybody. Madness!

Grumpy Old Man warning! I was surprised to see that the headline news on BBC and Sky this morning was the reunion of Oasis, taking precedence over the war in Ukraine and the PM's speech. Maybe I shouldn't have been THAT surprised as we are still in the 'silly season' (just) but it does show how trivialised news coverage has become regarding priorities. I admit I was never a fan of Oasis and realise they were huge a few years ago but I could never see the appeal of their whingey whiney vocals and the Gallagher brothers off-stage behaviour really put me off. OK end of rant!

I stopped using TV news as a source about 20 years ago. I found that they picked a handful of issues and repeated them over and over. There was a lot going on in the World that wasn't being reported. One of the reasons subjects are chosen by the BBC etc is because they have footage to pad the stories out. Old or new clips can be dug out to make stories more visually interesting and (because they'd already paid for the footage) cheap. I'm not a fan of celebrity news (especially the royals) but at least online I can scroll on by.

I'm sure you're right, I guess the main TV channels are in competition with the internet/social media as regards grabbing the public's attention and I imagine all the usual platforms there are this morning awash with tweets and likes etc. I suppose the Oasis story is newsworthy but I just don't feel it's that important in the scheme of things. Unfortunately the quality of TV in all respects has declined, one thing that bugs me is that documentaries, instead of just presenting facts now have to have musical accompaniment and if it's a 'sad/tragic' tale it's always some awful 2/3 note piano phrase repeated to tug at the heartstrings. The same thing happens in news reports as well, it's so unnecessary.

That gets my grumpy old agreement. Documentaries have been seriously dumbed down. Lots of scientists staring into the distance to represent deep thought. Although I watched a couple of episodes of a BBC series on ancient furniture from 1978 and that was even worse, so maybe memories are coloured by nostalgia. There is increasing competition from amateurs on YouTube. I've been sampling some work by a geology professor. Mainly I watch the live stuff about Iceland's volcanic eruptions but he has a series on road cuttings. He pulls off the road and shows how the geology made visible by the man made cut was formed. Surprisingly effective, even with scribbled graphics.

Time was it wasn't a good concert if you could still hear afterwards. I read the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal every day to try and get a balanced view of what's going on in the world and I also watch the PBS news but on a 30 min. delay so that I can move through items I feel I don't need to watch. As to the program about the early Ikea furniture we've just had an interesting experience in that area. When we lived in the Netherlands - late '70's- early '80's we bought our kids a cheapish desk for their homework. Maybe 50 pounds. It wasn't chipboard and I don't remember assembling it. Move on 40 years and we gave it to our daughter so that our grandson could use it for his homework. Earlier this year she decided to put it on one of those local pay nothing sites and the desk moved to a new home and child. Daughter decide to look online for info. about the desk and found that the exact same desk, complete with maker's mark, is now worth between $1,500 - $2,000. If only she'd checked before!

I stopped using TV altogether about 3 years ago. I refuse to pay a licence to watch what in the main I can only describe as rubbish. It was bad enough when sport was the most important thing on TV, but over the years, cooking took over. On a Saturday morning, flicking channels, 4 out of 5 had cooking programs on, as if it were some sort of competitive sport, or some scientific subject. Boring. It's very basic. If you need to cook food, you just throw the ingredients into the pan, turn the gas on and fry them up. Or boil, as the case may be. Food is nothing to get excited about. One eats when one's body tells one that one needs to refuel. That is all eating is, in essence. Refuelling. Just like taking yer car to the petrol station to gas the car up. Hardly something to get excited about. But it's cheap television, even cheaper than televising outdoor, moving sports events. Yes, TV has gone the same way as education - dumbed down over the years. I recently stayed at a house which had a TV. Out of interest, I flicked through. There seems to be somewhere between 50 and 100 channels of utter drivel. The other thing that irks me is the TV licensing mob. If you don't have a TV licence, they harass you with all manner of threatening letters. Guilty until proven innocent, which of course is not how the law operates in this country. If one has no TV licence, they as good as accuse one of watching TV illegally and breaking the law. I had always assumed that the TV licensing lot were yet another incompetent, not-fit-for-purpose government department; but when I looked it up, it turns out they are part of the BBC!

I can't agree with you on that Slim. Food is a wonderful gift that provides nourishment and well being and it's benefits are scientifically proven. The simple gesture of preparing a meal with love and integrity and sharing it with those around us is pure joy.

I'm a food fan but I agree with Slim that the many food programmes are OTT. Lots of food that I don't like and wouldn't cook but make me hungry all the same I can't see why society thinks that fast food advertising is bad but that food programmes are fine. Even the breakfast news and morning talk shows have food segments.

Hello, I was treated to a full breaky at the Belgrade this morning. It was beautiful, washed down with a cuppa. Our day out continued with a trip on the No20 to Bedworth, where a Mr. Whippy, went down very nicely as we sat in the Armshouse Square. Almost the centre of my Pam's* early years, not just shopping with her mum, but attending George St. infants & juniors school. I was reflecting on that in the late summer sunshine. She's not my* Pam anymore, as I remember to thank God for having her. Anyway, a very simple but very enjoyable time. Any scenario that I'm hearing or looking at, I still boil it down to the economics of how & why. I can't help it! For most folks of my age, I think cottage industries concepts in Coventry were very limited, most folk part of the 9 till 5 routines, or manufacturing shifts & so on. I imagine that when we see huge housing estates going up, we beg the question, "Where are they all going to work?" I learnt today that most of the ice cream wholesale supplies to vendors in & around Coventry, comes from a cottage industry in Holbrooks. Accountancy has changed altogether now from when huge accountancy firms employed strings of employees. IT, has taken the drudge out of basic book keeping, so most accountants are self-employed, but in groups. I've done a few jobs this year, mostly auditing & so on, with nothing but my formal qualifications, no group membership, more forensic accounting kind of thing, where I could make a very good living, all from my home. I occasionally meet up with a civil servant tax expert, much younger than me, fully employed but mostly working from home. This working at home was brought home to me when I was travelling by train to Dorridge recently. We pass through a station, Acocks Green, where before Covid, cars were parked almost up the embankment. Now there's loads of car park spaces. This is almost stockbroker belt. Folks are still working Jeeves, but from home. Proof of the pudding, I was on my way to see one of them. Oh, we did pop to the Forest for an awfully nice luncheon, I was only telling Sir Hugh, recently. Skipping the poor humour, this is the way it's going it appears. What do you think?

Hi Philip. My daughter is an accountant but many of the other accounts staff for the company are based some distance away. She works 2 or 3 days from home and sometimes comes to work from here. What I notice most is, not a piece of paper in sight, all done on the computer, often with 2 screens attached. I was an accounts clerk and bookkeeper and always had invoices etc. on my desk but I believe now all that is done without paper. I am glad I am not at work now.