The Funney Programme?

I’ve been saying for a long time that the 6.30 slot on radio 4 has lost its way, and here’s the proof.  These days apart from the two programmes which bookend the week – ‘Just a Minute’/’The Unbelievable Truth’/’I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue’ on Mondays, and ‘The Now Show’ or something similar on Fridays – there’s very little that is actually funny.  I guess Cabin Pressure is OK but I don’t find it hilarious; Issy Sutty is sort of all right but not very funny, and the rest is a sort of mish-mash that doesn’t quite know what or where it is.  The latest offering in this area is ‘Simon Evans goes to Marketland.’  I have no idea who Simon Evans is or what his qualifications are for either comedy or finance, but at 6.30 the very last thing I want to hear about is the stock market, house prices and the relationship between land prices and farm income.  This programme was just NOT FUNNY!  I will go so far as to say that it’s even less funny than Count Arthur Strong, and that is the nadir of radio comedy in my opinion.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0435p0k

I will admit that I didn’t hear the whole programme, but the bits I did hear sounded very much like the Money programme trying to be light-hearted.  Even the write-up makes it sound like a documentary rather than comedy.  I guess it had its moments – there were a couple of good gags in there – but on the whole I thought nah!  I will try to listen to the whole programme next week, but to be honest the news that next week’s programme is about ‘grain commodities’ does not inspire an expectation of hilarity.  I think ‘The Now Show’ does this sort of thing a whole lot better.

So there we are.

And no ‘Feedback’ on which to vent my spleen either.

*Sigh*

Kirk out

The Woman Who Read the Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year in Bed for an Hour

I’ll deconstruct that title in a mo – but first – OMG!!! two bits of brilliant news.  First, this morning I had an acceptance!  A story of mine called ‘Olympic Summer’ which I’d been waiting an AGE to hear about, has been accepted by Everyday Fiction:

http://www.everydayfiction.com

These people are well worth supporting and not only because they’ve published two of my stories: they deliver a short story to your inbox every morning, and it’s completely free of charge!  I’ll let you know when mine is due – meanwhile here are some comments their editors made:

‘This piece is highly accomplished, extremely well written and has a particularly original plot arc that achieves intense tension.’

‘…very evocative of the atmosphere surrounding London during the 2012 Olympics.’

‘The author does a fine job in this of conveying the artist’s thoughts — confusion and anxiety — in such a way that we also get a deep sense of the period and place.’

‘This is a beautifully written and unique piece. I just love the backdrop and meaning of the painting for this story.’

Yes, all in all I am pretty happy this morning, and particularly so in light of the events of last night.  Because the impossible – or highly improbable – happened and Tesco’s planning application for Queen’s Rd was REJECTED!!!  They put in six applications altogether and five out of six were rejected, most by a substantial majority.  The committee seemed really impressed by the objections they’d received, but what swung it I think were the points made regarding traffic.  They’d had submissions from two local primary schools whose pupils walk or cycle and use the junction twice daily, and points were well-made about cars stopping to use the proposed ATM machine as well as people being picked up with their weekly shopping by cars which would stop at unsafe places.  But the killer was the car-park.  Tesco’s proposed a car-park in an existing space at the back; but they also proposed a chiller unit and a condenser unit.  Objectors were able to prove that lorries delivering to the shop would not be able to turn round in that space but would have to back out onto the road.  This is obviously highly dangerous on a busy and well-used junction and I’m pretty sure that’s what swung it for us.

So congrats to all especially Mags and Ian who represented local views and did so much hard work.  Of course Tesco’s can and probably will appeal but I think they’ll have a hard job proving that the rejection was made without sufficient grounds.

So that’s all good.

Good?  It’s great!

And in other news, I have started reading Sue Townsend’s ‘The Woman Who Went to Bed For a Year’ which is utterly brilliant, so much so that I was in danger of staying in bed all day to read it…

Kirk out