Enduring the Lockdown

There could be better spots to sit in a deck chair and complete the crossword but they would be hard to find, I think.  The only thing missing from the photograph is the exquisite perfume from the Wisteria.

Media in Crisis

The relentless negativity of the TV news has finally got to me and I have now weaned myself from the scheduling priority in my evening viewing.  Likewise, I took great personal delight in cancelling my subscription the Times.  The nice lady who tempted me to “stay with them,” with an offer of 3 months for half-price made the mistake of asking if I had any particular reasons for wanting to leave.  I had prepared my pitch earlier and she was treated to a couple of sides of A4 listing my accumulated editorial grievances and quoting plenty of specific examples to back them up.  I reserved my finale for the observation that it had been brought to my attention that the new broom editorial team were intent on making the Times just like the New York Times and, wait for it, the newspaper that modern progressives would want to be seen with.

So I have gone back to the Telegraph and, despite an inauspicious start in which I was given the wrong link to the tablet application and persuaded to take out a separate subscription to the puzzles section (subsequently refunded promptly), £200 for the year seemed a reasonable deal.  Well, it seemed a reasonable deal until yesterday when, after skimming though the first half of the paper which was almost exclusively devoted to Dominic Cummings, I arrived at the leading article which, with breath-taking irony, exhorted, “Let’s move on from Mr Cummings.”  Quite!

Back to the TV and I don’t find myself missing the big budget live outputs or even the sport, for that matter.  Watching the German league play to empty stadiums with only the endless drivel from the commentary team to interrupt the visual spectacle reminded me of the overwhelming emphasis on production over sporting spectacle to which we have become used.  On the plus side, there seems to be plenty of repeat content available through various on-line facilities which I find sustaining, particularly our recent rewind of Last Tango in Halifax – what a gem!

Meantime, I am told that “television has excelled itself in recent weeks.  The BBC has effortlessly glided its way back into untouchable National Treasure status.”  Keep talking Nick Samwell-Smith, the “Big Brother” producer, whilst most of the rest of us ponder which planet you and your tribe are on?

Reasons to be Cheerful

Charles Moore in the Telegraph today

Clarity

I wanted certainty: would the C number remain above one overnight?  In the end, contrary to the grim forecasts of Paul Hudson’s Bay temperatures by early morning, the C number appears not have caused the widespread damage to my garden that many predicted.  The lack of clarity from other meteorology advisors was disgraceful.  Tomasz Schafernaker, thought that the overnight breeze or intermittent cloud cover might keep the overnight number up but only in some areas, not properly defined, so how could I be sure that my garden would be one of the lucky ones to escape the cold?  There was nothing for it but to make defensive preparations for the worst case.  This morning, however, I was outraged that my frantic preparations, spraying the fruit with water mist, covering tender plants with a protective coat, and turning up the thermostat in the greenhouse, were all, in retrospect, unnecessary.  It is now quite clear that inconsistent and ambiguous weather forecasts are all part of a gigantic conspiracy by the supermarkets to prevent garden growers, like me, becoming self -sufficient in vegetables. We really need some clarity from the government: should I take the same precautions tonight or take the risk that the C number will not dip in the Vale of York?  I certainly don’t feel comfortable with uncovering the newly planted antirrhinums until it is absolutely safe!  And all this, just as I was beginning to see light at the end of my poly tunnel!