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Happy Christmas everyone. Sorry for the late greetings. Been a mad scramble to get the house up to scratch and cook up a feast but now the rellies have all gone home, the boys have vanished upstairs and the SO is having a much needed snooze and I have time to relax at last, listen to bad Christmas music and catch up on the news.

the air con is still working overtime and the garden is wilting but will have to wait till the morning for a much needed watering, the cat looks as though he has melted and the dog is chilling under the air con. The joys of a South Australian Christmas.

We have to wait till tomorrow or Tuesday to watch the Christmas special. Boxing Day is traditionally cinema day here so tomorrow we go to see the Star Wars movie. I will not be so shy of spoilers though and am looking forward to reading the comments tomorrow morning. (especially as I am really unsure of this year’s special.)

We do have some good Who related news. (albeit trivial) We completed our set of mini fig’ doctors this morning. (Thanks Santa.) We got the last three that we were missing.

Cheers

Janette

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@whisht sorry to hear your news. I hope that the employment situation is soon rectified. 2016 has not been a good year. the world is a mess and on the personal front we too have lost a family member which is casting rather a cloud over our Christmas preparations. But the trees are up, the lights are on and my SO has but five days of work then a year off. (half pay which means we will be p0or but happy) and it is only a week until Doctor Who inhabits our screens once more. Have been watching old Christmas specials for the past week, a much needed distraction from the real world.

Have been unable to log in all day. @pedant thanks for that link.

Cheers

Janette

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@pedant thank you for the update. I have been concerned as there have been no posts from them recently. Glad all is as well as can be.

Cheers

Janette

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@blenkinsopthebrave I have become very wary of trailers of late. They always seem to highlight the aspects of the episode/series that I find least appealing and so I have concluded that they are aimed at a audience with very different viewing preferences to my own. (hardly surprising given that I am only interested in less than one percent of anything actually on Tv at any given time.)

I might wait until Christmas and skip the trailer. I am not overly excited at the prospect of this years special as I have never warmed to the superhero genre, but I do expect and enjoy a little silliness in Christmas specials.

Cheers

Janette

 

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I think we have had enough depressing news of late. Certainly don’t need to hear that P.C. is thinking of stepping out of the Tardis. I am hoping that he will do at least one series with Chibnall if not two or ten..

On a more cheerful note, @pedant has suggested elsewhere a re watch of Turn Left and I second that. Also  with the festive season approaching way to fast, and not particularly welcome either, what with world events, and personal reasons, I suggest we do a watch of all the Christmas Specials. (Something I routinely do at this time of year anyway, and needed more than ever this year.) Then we can do the Chibnall retrospective in January/February next year in the lead up to the new series.

Cheers

Janette

[janetteB @replies]

@pedant Excellent suggestion. I re watched this recently but it is one of those special episodes that I never tire.

Cheers

Janette

[janetteB @replies]

@miapatrick One of my favourite poets, William Butler Yeats. I find it strange that so many of the great poets were of a conservative frame of mind.

Yes politics in simple sound bites, quick quips because most people don’t have the time, energy or interest to think beyond that. What always saddens and frustrates me in equal measure is to see people on election days who are clearly heading in to vote for the party that will simply trample them. I usually hand out “how to votes” at elections a deeply depressing exercise which often leaves me despairing of democracy.

Cheers

Janette

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2016 the year democracy failed the planet.

@miapatrick and @thane15 One can only hope that Trump is as bad at being bad as the numpties attempting to “run” Oz at the moment.

Though written by a conservative these words have resonance,

The Best lack all conviction

While the worst are full of passionate intensity.

Janette

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@Thane15 I felt the same when I was your age. I see that feeling expressed on the face of my youngest now, who is your age. Somehow, and in spite of everything, we do keep hoping because me must. When I was fifteen it was the height, or depth of the Cold War and so many people really believed that the planet was about to be atomised. So many of my generation did not believe they had a future.  We just keep on battling, and speaking our minds even if no one ever listens. WE have to. It is what makes us human. So don’t despair, just hope, and whenever you hear people like Julie Bishop utter so utter nonsense, tell them they are wrong and keep on telling them.

And if we all keep on hoping and believing in the future then there might be one after all.

Janette

 

 

 

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This is just a nightmare isn’t it? I am going to wake up and everything will be alright. Obama will have been given a life term as President because no one could do it better, (Ok He wasn’t perfect but who could be given what he was up against?) and why have elections and get rid of someone when they are good? And the thought of Melanie following in the footsteps of Michelle makes me actually feel queasy.

Please Doctor, the plant needs you now, urgently, NOW.

No cheers not today,

Condolences

Janette

 

 

[janetteB @replies]

@mudlark In Australia conditions were possibly even worse. The large houses employed far less servants than their English counterparts. Although there were a remarkable number of single women who immigrated to Australia in the mid 19th century, particularly from Ireland, seeking work as domestics. MOst would have been employed as “slaveys”, working alone from dawn to well after dark, sleeping on the kitchen floor, often in isolated circumstances. Last night in a court report from 1869 a witness described herself and the servant as being up all night working while “hubby” was sleeping on the sofa in the parlour.

A few years ago I helped a friend (who had married “money”) research her husband’s family history. They were pastoralists with a large house and servants. (we used the former servants’ cottage as our office.) We talked to the daughter of one girl who was brought out from England because

“in this State at the present time servants are just about as rare as icebergs on the equator”. (written in 1924 to his sister in the U.K.)

Though she only worked for them for a year the master of the house took a paternalistic interest in her family. We think her husband may have also worked on the property. He gave them an interest free loan during the  depression and sent them packages of clothing etc. He wrote glowing references for the daughters when they were looking for work years later. I suspect that this was not usual.

I persuaded my friend that “Minnie” was far more interesting than her wealthy in law and so we wrote up her story instead for a local history project that we were involved in at the time. It was so nice to celebrate the life of an “ordinary” person rather than someone rich and famous.

@thane15 the more one delves into history the more interesting it gets.  School history lessons can only ever really give an overview, the broad sweeps but the interest is in the detail and the people. Bring people from the past to life is a fascinating thing when it can be done, though it can become very, very time consuming.

cheers

Janette

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I just typed out a really long post on various British TV series then remembered that this is the Dr Who news thread and so I copy/pasted it into the TV thread because it was veering way off topic. But as there is such a dearth of Dr Who news at the moment what else can we do??

There aren’t even any juicy spoilers, to keep the more curious and impatient of us going. Surely there will be a trailer for the Christmas special out soon.

Cheers

Janette

 

[janetteB @replies]

Response to comments made by @ichabod and @mudlark in the Dr Who news thread, because I thought this conversation was going too far off topic but was fun.

<div class=”bbp-reply-content”>

This happened for me somewhere relatively early in “Downton Abbey”.  I was bored, hardly really watching, and said to myself, “Why do I care what these rich twits and their servants are doing?  Oh.  I don’t.”  Turned it off and never went back.  I should have quit for good after the original “Upstairs, Downstairs” series, which I loved, because the revival was a let-down, and the Galsworthy series remake was awful, so what was I expecting?

On the other hand, I’ve been looking at a four part production of “A Dance to the Music of Time”, a series of books that my husband loved — but I just couldn’t get into it.  Judging by the TV series, it’s just what I suspected — people constantly running into each other at various parties and gossiping about each other, and they’re almost all upper middle class at least.  Yet somehow it’s really interesting to me, and I’m sorry I’m about to watch episode four and be at the end.

</div>

@icabod I watched three series of D.A. cringing all the time. What annoyed me even more than the noble toffs was the  sickeningly loyal servants. The token leftie and feminist were even worse. There to suggest that Uncle Julian was showing the other side but he so clearly understood neither “lefties” or “feminists”. A few years ago I researched into servants in Britain and Oz. I was concentrating on the 1880s but in essence the situation had not changed all that much by the 1920s so I am always interested in anything that claims to depict servant life. I have yet to see anything other than perhaps a long forgotten English adaptation of Esther Waters that gets close. (That must have been late 70s or early 80s because it was before I fled home.)

I watched Dance to the Music of Time. Thought it was more than four episodes though so maybe there is a new version? It was enjoyable though as with ninety percent of literature it is set exclusively within the toff class. It is the acting and script-writing that always gets me hooked. There are some series I watch mostly for the acting.

@pedant R.2 has been watching Black Mirror and urging me to watch it so I will follow his and your advice and give it a go. I have read reviews of it which sound promising.

We have just been rewatching Ultraviolet the 1998 Tv series. R.3 binge watched over the last two nights. (when he should have been doing homework of course.)

Cheers

Janette

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@ichabod and @mudlark I too avoid shows about royalty but this does look interesting. I was just browsing the images from the making of the series in the Guardian and the attention to detail is very impressive. I might have a look at it after all. Likewise I will probably watch Victoria, mostly because it stars Jenna Coleman. I would have given that a miss too otherwise.

Cheers

Janette

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@ichabod “That man is clever”, (not sure I am quoting that correctly) but the words echo in my mind when i read your comment and they are so apt. Yes Moffat, like the Doctor, is clever. I really enjoyed his answers. thank you for the link

Today really enjoyed shopping in our local supermarket, which is most unusual. I was not in the happiest of moods due to a poor school report so the all so familiar Dr Who theme tune was just what I needed to cheer me up. Wasn’t really expecting to hear it as I marched down the biscuit isle checking to see if there were any Jammy Dodgers in stock. They haven’t stocked them since the last series aired. I am now convinced that the manager is a Dr Who fan. Jammy dodgers when Dr Who is airing and Dr Who theme music in the music mix, makes grocery shopping almost bearable.

Cheers

Janette

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@juniperfish hear hear. well Said. I studied cinema at Uni for about three years and it was by far the most intellectually stimulating subject I did it covered so many fields of knowledge and thinking, politics, philosophy, history, psychology, literature, just to name a few. R.1.(our eldest recalcitrant) has just enrolled into the same course at my old Uni which I am really excited about. Was worth subscribing to Sight and Sound for all those years after all.

Oh and thank you for the list of names and their links to the series. I do wonder where the remainder of the names came from purely random or the Paisley phone directory? (But that has nothing to do with Dr Who or Class.)

I am afraid I can’t really say too much about Class. Have still not managed to watch episode two or rewatch one so I am still in the “wanting to like it” mode. There is as yet “no verdict” from other family members.

Sometimes it takes more than four episodes for a show to get into its stride. It can take an entire series. Still thus far the kids show potential to be interesting characters and Miss Quill seems a little too obviously alien but she had only been at the school a few weeks and I suspect that there will be a lot of character development there.

Cheers

Janette

 

 

[janetteB @replies]

@severusoswald You are certainly allowed your favourite companions and we don’t all agree. That makes life more interesting. I am sure even Adric has his fans not sure Adam would but then he wasn’t meant to be liked.

I think Martha was really let down by the writing. In some episodes she shone, but other times the character felt wasted. I think it was a shame she didn’t move over into Torchwood, where her character might have been able to grow a bit though Torchwood was well and truly on the downhill trajectory by then.

I would not disagree with your list of favourite companions from old Who but I would add Leela.

cheers

Janette

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@puroandson I had the opposite experience re’ teacher to you, rubbish science teacher, non existent maths teacher for most of one year but excellent English, history and art teachers so guess which direction I headed in, maybe helped by a father who believed that education should consist purely of the “three rs”. (Like the female lead I didn’t really talk to my Dad though we lived in the same house.)

Glad you came back and watched it and interesting to hear your perspective on it. Our teenager ran when he heard it was Y/A and hasn’t returned yet. I’ll let him know your opinion before we watch tomorrow night and maybe he will give it a chance.

Cheers

Janette

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@puroandson and @conchobarre It does indeed look like the same actor in the image above. (I still haven’t watch yet). I suspect he didn’t want to be locked into an ongoing series.

I think the Coal Hill gang need to turn their attention to the aliens currently destroying the English education system removing subjects such as Art from the A.Levels. (Can’t have human students learning those fanciful, “arty farty” subjects that make them think and ask questions.) Otherwise there will be nothing left to teach in the Barbara Wright Wing.

Cheers

Janette

[janetteB @replies]

Ow. I looked at that image of the honour roll and the first name I saw was the family name I am currently researching. Now that makes for an interesting twist on the family  history..

We will watch Class tonight over dinner so I have to reserve comment until then meanwhile back to the research/writing project.

Cheers

Janette

 

 

[janetteB @replies]

@tardigrade Only a few days to wait. I am looking forward to reading others’ thoughts on the series. It will be so nice to have something new to discuss.

cheers

Janette

[janetteB @replies]

@puroandson Meanwhile in the UK they are happily scrapping humanities subjects from the school syllabus. God forbid they might rear a thinking population. That would never do and it is only a matter of time before the poor deluded fools in Canberra follow suit but our kids will all know who the first U.S president was..

REgarding media blindness i came across an interesting item while doing family history research, written early last century redressing the media’s unbalanced reporting of an incident in the “territory” involving Aborigines and white miners. The person writing the letter had been in the “Territory” and witnessed some horrible stuff ie, abduction of women by drunken miners which of course the media had failed to mention. There were several letters written in response from the kind of troll that stalks the interwebs today, showing that little has changed.

And talking of research, I have work to do, writing, art work.. I have procrastinated enough for one day..

Cheers

Janette

 

[janetteB @replies]

We bought our boys matching suits for their Aunt’s wedding in Istanbul when they were 11, 9 and 5 years of age. We were in Sweden at the time and the Swedes being very sensible people. (@puroandson One of those rare places where it does seem as though people are getting smarter) don’t dress children in formal wear so had difficulty finding suits but were directed to a closing down English Department store. (Not “Marks and Sparks”.) they only got to wear formal school pants and nice shirts to her most recent wedding, the very same that they wore to a far less happy family event last week. both elder boys refused to attend the Prom do for which I was rather relieved given the expense.

I used to wear Marks and Sparks underwear. It lasted for ages. On the subject years ago I was working as a housemaid in Mayfair for people who bought all their food at Harrods or Selfridges and all the Servant’s food from Marks and Sparks. There was two of everything, bread, coffee, milk, cream, yoghurt, etc etc, and what was in the containers was almost certainly the same. It was all about the labelling.

@arbutus your fridge sounds rather like ours. It is covered in fridge magnets and photos. It became a “thing” with me to buy a fridge magnet everywhere we went, much to the annoyance of the family. There is the odd little bit of white showing still but that will be cured in time. (amongst the magnets are several of daleks and some very old Wallace and Gromit ones.)

@puroandson Going way back to the conversation on pg 1 re’ education I was not criticising the current curriculum which does cover a remarkable amount. I would still like to see more early Australian history on there but they can only cover so much. My eldest learnt about the Stolen Generation several times but not the frontier war of the previous century which adds context. However he finished before the national curriculum came into place which maybe explains some of the shortcomings in that area. I was talking about knowledge in general because learning does not finish when one leaves school. Most of what I know about the world has been through my own reading and interest. I knew so little about anything other than history when I finished school, even though I read voraciously.  (actually an aside but it really surprised me to find out that a lot of their secondary school teachers were taking subjects that they had not studied/specialised in. For instance R.3s maths teacher this year originally taught P.E. and something else but not Maths, however he is now the best maths teacher in the school so no complaints there)

cheers

Janette

 

 

 

 

[janetteB @replies]

@pedant I was only a child in 1966 so I can’t comment on news coverage in Australia at the time but I certainly never heard it mentioned as I was growing up. I first learned about the tragedy relatively recently through my own personal research and naturally read up on it. Everyone knows of the horrors of the Soviet gulags, (though generally not that they were instigated by the Tsars well before the revolution) but so few people know of the horrors committed by capitalism, likewise the incidents of genocide in Central and South American countries, (how many people have heard of El Mozote?) East Timor and more pertinently in Australia the “Frontier War” against the Aboriginal people. Another thing that really annoys me, (may not be such an issue in the UK) is that the younger generation know more about U.S. history than that of their own country or any other part of the world for that matter. I constantly battle with my boys over the use of “Americanisms”. It is a cultural encroachment that really concerns me.

Anyway getting off my soap box and packing it away for a while, Hi to all. I like the new Pub, interesting decor but with the weather warming up, finally,,, I hope they import some decent South Australian sparkling Shiraz. (S.A. summers are not favourable to the imbibing of red wine and so the chilled, sparkling version has become very popular for those lazy afternoons when the mercury is stuck well above 30c, maybe tipping 40c, or these days of planetary warming stretching up over the killer 45c, the air is heavy with red dust and the flies swarm over every surface.)

Cheers

Janette

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@ichabod

I agree with you entirely re’ zombies verses ghost stories. The original “I walked with a Zombie” was interesting with a novel story but “Day of the Dead” turned the zombie into slasher horror and there it has stayed. I love a good ghost story however. I really enjoyed “the Living and the Dead”, earlier this year.

I do like ghost stories where there is a rational explanation leaving the viewer to decide if supernatural events were afoot or not though I can’t think of any examples right now.

I was disappointed by the recent Del Toro Crimson Peak. I thought it veered to much into visual shock effects at the expense of story. I have not see The Devil’s Backbone.

Cheers

Janettte

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@toinfinityandbepond Indeed thanks for the news. Something to tide us over until next year.. Will be nice to return to Coal Hill, where it all began. I do hope we get to finally meet Ian again or at least to find out a little more about him.

Cheers

Janette

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@missy, @Puroandson and @ichabod

Yes Blakes 7 really has dated, those wonderful 70s costumes, wobbly sets and even wobblier acting, and beyond series 2 it was pretty much unwatchable even at the time. Those first two series however still have some strong points.

While talking of other shows I see that Red Dwarf is soon making  welcome return to our screens. Something to look forward to.

cheers

Janette

[janetteB @replies]

@pedant Thank you for that information re’ Michael O’Hare. I did not know but I guessed that there was no ill feeling on either side about his leaving, hence his guest appearance in season Three. Also thanks for explaining the five year arc. I did type out a long post on the subject a few days ago but my Laptop ate it and I never got round to re-typing.

JMS was inspired by shows like Blake’s Seven and really introduced the concept of a fixed arc to U.S. sci fi series. It was that which made B.5 stand out for me. (That and the politics, the wonderful characters, especially Londo and G’Kar and some pretty cool scripts,)

I believe he pulled the plug on Crusade because the network wanted to turn it into a cross between Baywatch and World Federation Wrestling. I was sorry because although it certainly had plenty of weaknesses I felt it was beginning to show some promise. (Incidentally we have two friends who met and married through a Crusade/technomage inspired website.)

Cheers

Janette

 

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@craig We have another one.

Cheers

Janette

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@blenkinsopthebrave.  I loved that production and it is in my collection along with the more recent version which has some merits too. I am currently re-watching The Pallisers, talking of “retro” TV viewing.

Cheers

Janette

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@thedentistofdavros

if I go back in time I could save all the missing Doctor Who episodes that were wiped!

What an excellent suggestion. I have often wished I could do that.

I would like to go back to Saxon England, just to see how people really lived then maybe check in on early Medieval france, take a peek at Dinosaurs from the safety of the Tardis door of course then head out to space just to take photos. Whatever the future holds it won’t be what we expect and  I am not sure how well any of us would cope with the shock of it. At least we have some kind of feel for the past. Also how would seeing the future affect us and what we do, how we approach life? So tempting as a peek into the future might be I think it would probably be best to stick to the slow path.

Cheers

Janette

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@arbutus The boys camping trip sounds truely wonderful despite the discomforts and some level of discomfort is essential in all adventures otherwise you would not know you were having an adventure. Good luck with training your rescue cat to be diurnal. Our cat has to be shut in the back of the house at night so he doesn’t disturb us as I got tired of getting up two or three times a night to let him in our out, (ot much fun in winter) and he doesn’t have the recscue cat excuse. It is worth it though. A cat for me, makes the difference between a house and a home.

@blenkinsopthebrave I am envious. Your new home sounds heavenly, except for the price of wine of course.

Cheers

Janette

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@arbutus I missed your post. Your beach holiday does indeed sound lovely. I haven’t been following the Olympics, sport being really really not “my thing” however there has been much talk around town about a local youth who has done very well.

We live a fair way from the nearest beach, about 40k but that involves urban driving which always in effect doubles the distance. Wine however is at hand or at least just up the road, though right now the weather is not conducive to venturing abroad. Our local pub though has an open fire and they have finally headed my request and started to do mulled wine. Just perfect for a Friday night in winter/early spring and we have to make the most of it because in a couple of weeks time it will be summer and blisteringly hot. We really only have two seasons here.

Cheers

Janette

 

[janetteB @replies]

@missy. I disagree. Far from the Madding Crowd has a happy ending. Ok after that he piles on the tragedy but I find his works sad not depressing. I do think he tends to overdo it with Jude but I am fond of the novel if only because I scored an A for a third year history essay on it. (Subject was Victorian culture.) I also really love the first half of “Jude”. Hardy’s anarchic thinking certainly influenced me as a teenager when I first discovered and fell in love with his writing. I think the landscape also has something to do with it, as well as his evocation of the pre industrial way of life. Also, and this is a big also, he is one of the very few English authors who writes about “ordinary” people, ie working people. If you can look for a British TV version of Far From the Madding Crowd made in 1998. I watch it when I feel in need of cheering up. I’m not sure about the recent film. Have read very mixed reviews of it.

Cheers

Janette

[janetteB @replies]

@stitchintime Indeed and what is so bad about screaming anyway? It is after all an instinctive human response to danger and I am certain we might all be guilty of screaming if we were confronted with some of those Who monsters. After all bubble wrap the size of a house, who wouldn’t make a bit of noise on confronting that. 🙂

Have just watched episode three of the Living and the Dead and really enjoying it. My s/o is not convinced as yet, partly I suspect because it sets the scientist up as wrong but that has to be a basic premise of ghosts stories and I dispute that he is wrong but doing just what a good scientist should do in the circumstances, observing and analysing the evidence before him. I suspect I also feel “at home” in the world depicted being a fan of Thomas Hardy. It is essentially “Far From the Madding Crowd” with ghosts, (not a bad thing.).

Cheers

Janette

[janetteB @replies]

@blenkinsopthebrave Congrats on the move. Your new home sounds wonderful, a far cry from hot, dusty Australia I’m guessing. Good to hear from you again.

Cheers

Janette

 

 

[janetteB @replies]

@jimthefish Just what I was going to say. We knew that the Doctor would not be able to cope with peace anyway. He would implode within a day judging by his antics while staying at the medieval monastery.

cheers

Janette

[janetteB @replies]

@stitchintime oppression of women has ebbed and flowed. It has always been there but it has certainly not been a case of steady progress and the further back you go the worse it gets as many assume. It also varies greatly between societies. Scandinavian cultures for instance seem to have always been more equal. Back in Viking days the women were left in charge while the men went off “viking”. The Icelandic Sagas show that women managed properties etc. Also oft forgotten but there were women rulers, (albeit rare) in Saxon England. Women had higher legal status in Saxon Britain than in Norman Britain. I am afraid that it is not a simple matter of natural progression.

There is far too much complacency as well at present and tying this back to Who, it annoys me whenever  I read remarks claiming that AG companions are feisty and independent but BG companions were all screaming and pathetic. I still think one of the strongest companions that has ever taken up residence in the Tardis was Barbara, series one 1963. Her grimace every time she was expected to do the cooking said it all.

which reminds me, really must start watching some BG Who, starting with a story with Barbara and Ian, just to prove my point. Oh and Susan screamed a lot too. (In reference to the discussion on the Companions thread.)

Cheers

Janette

[janetteB @replies]

Ah Screaming companions. @stitchintime I recall TEgan (Janet Fielding) screaming a lot but perhaps that is just because the character and her absurd accent annoyed me. (Janet had been living in London for some time when cast in Dr Who  and lost her accent so they sent her to voice coaching to re learn what they thought of was an Aussie accent. Urgh)

Cheers

Janette

 

[janetteB @replies]

@Puroandson. I hope I did not say the wrong thing. I am worried now. I was tired when I posted the other night and maybe did not express myself well. BTW you never come across as “snippy”.

I think we are all in need of some Dr Who to discuss. Too much real life, and on the wrong threads too. Maybe we should do some re-watches of BG Who to keep the conversation on track.

Whatever please don’t go too far away. You and son are both greatly appreciated here.

Cheers

Janette

 

[janetteB @replies]

@puroandson Last election R.2 spent an hour at a poling booth alongside a Family First supporter and was subjected to her diatribe. Their view of family is wrong in so many many ways. For instance, traditionally women did work, until the mid nineteenth century women worked. It was a mark of wealth for a married woman not to work and even then she worked, managing a house with servants and usually doing voluntary work too. The value of a person’s “work” should not be measured by how much they earn but what they achieve. (That was actually a male thing. “I earn the bread so I am boss. No mate you might bring in the money but you don’t manage anything else…) I wrote an interesting story (short bio) a few years back about a local woman, poor, really poor, who gave up paid employment when she married but continued to work in the community until her death and had a very enriching life. The topic of what gives value to a person’s life is a complex one. (and as you might have just deduced one I am rather interested in/passionate about. In part because I come from a family where earning a income and doing something of worth are not necessarily the same thing.) Unfortunately I feel that feminism has been somewhat subverted by capitalism and the work ethic/cult. I know of far too many women who become career slaves, think that gives them equality all the while being made use of at work and still going home to do the housework and be prime parental carer and take their husband’s names. That is not feminism in my thinking. Of course this is perhaps largely, an Australian problem. Certainly in Sweden there is much greater gender equality. Men do housework too!! And they take on parental duties. They also get parental leave. Often saw groups of hip cool young men hanging out together at cafes, each one with a latte in one hand while pushing the pram back and forwards with the other. Always made me smile and think, “if only in Australia”. It is possible. It happens, just not here, yet.

I could tell a funny story about that but this post is already long enough.

Sorry for the rant. It is Friday night and I am relaxing. for me relaxing and ranting seem to go hand in hand..

But it is the sofa and we should be discussing Dr Who where there is no housework to be done. Who does dust the Tardis?? Maybe it dusts itself. Back in the early days they had food dispensing machines. Now they just seem to go out for takeaway.

Cheers

Janette

[janetteB @replies]

@puroandson. I understand absolutely. Interesting to hear son’s thoughts on the matter and as always he expressed himself well. I still object to the notion of “settling down”. It is to my thinking a very fifties concept. Men in the past were expected to “settle down” to, get a “steady” job, marry and have a family. There is no longer any such thing as a “steady” job, and having family should never be just a bind or burden. I think modern feminist thought does tend to depict “family” as the great evil. It is an aspect of feminism that I disagree with. (maybe I should say Feminism as opposed to feminism which really just means equality for men and women without dogma attached) Family has enriched my life greatly and, being rather addicted to travel, I was determined from the start that the children would not be an anchor. Travelling with children was enormously rewarding even though they now remember very little of those adventures, especially the youngest. He was watching Longitude recently and when I informed him that he had been to Greenwich and seen Harrison’s clocks he was disappointed because he has no recollection of it. At the time he probably just wanted to know when we were going back to the pie shop or when he could escape and run about on the grass having sword fights with his brothers.

Hope you are feeling well and keeping out of hospital as much as possible.

Cheers

Janette

[janetteB @replies]

@puroandson Son, I presume, one should never ever “settle down”. Being in a relationship, having children, etc does not mean an end to fun and adventures. It just means that you have more people to share those adventures with and someone nice to return to and recover and plan for the next adventure. And the moments between the adventures can be wonderful too, it is all what you make of it. (actually the most “settled” time in my life was probably when I was working and at Uni and single.)

Cheers

Janette

[janetteB @replies]

@mersey that is an interesting observation. Perhaps companions, like children in literature, need to be sans parents, or at least one parent. Parents and family in general anchor us to the here and now. AG Who has played with the issue of parents, rarely considered in BG Who. RTD really brought something new to the story when he introduced Jackie and Micky, giving Rose earth roots. Also the deceased father added interest and drama elements. He tried to do something very different with Martha’s family and failed. I think in part because they were not sympathetic but also perhaps because they were too “ordinary”. They were a very average family. Donna’s family might well have been the same had the actor playing her father not died necessitating the introduction of Wilf who was brilliant, wonderful, etc. Amy is sans parents when we first meet her and that obvious and unexplained lack contributes to the mystery surrounding the character. Why is this child in the house alone? When we finally do meet her parents they take something away from the character. She is just the girl next door again. But then in a stroke of brilliance we get Ron’s Rory’s Dad. Clara is delightfully parent free for most of the story which works well for her character. She has no one to “ground her” to earth and that enables the introduction of Danny to set up that conflict.

@ichabod I have the impression that P.C and Jenna were good friends off screen too. Seeing them together on their travels it appeared that there was a really good rapport there and I think that helped generate that warm screen “chemistry”.

Cheers

Janette

[janetteB @replies]

@thedentistofdavros Diagon Alley  (I was too lazy to check the spelling before hence my omitting the name. 🙂

Cheers

Janette

[janetteB @replies]

I was in our local bookshop today picking up a copy of a local history that is hard to find when two women came in asking about the new “Potter” script. Apparently it is sold out entirely. The bookshop owner explained that she had to wait until there is a reprint and the two women then went wandering around expressing great surp0rise about there being books,, in the bookshop. “Oooh there are books in here!!” Remarkable.

I had to run into another room to avoid laughing in their presence. J,K.Rowling definitely has won over plenty of non-readers. I wonder when she will be arm twisted into writing a script for Dr Who. Trap Street had a distinct Potterish feel to it.

Cheers

Janette

 

[janetteB @replies]

@puroandson  Yes.  Teachers at the boys school have been hauled over the coals for showing M rated films to the kids. What you are describing is far worse. R.1 did Legal Studies in yr 12. Unfortunately what should have been an engaging intro to law was so boring it must have been designed to put kids off. Given that he was only doing the subject because the school had dropped Drama which he had his heart set on the result was not good. Still three years later and it no longer matters as he has to do adult entry anyway to get into Uni anyway.

@trillianwho, @missrory and @thedentistofdavros I would like to see more development of Gallifreyan society, especially the non-time lord elements but at the same time I appreciate the mystery element. I suspect that when the concept of regeneration was first floated as a way of changing actor while preserving the character the science behind it was not really a consideration. Given also that our current understanding of DNA is greatly advanced since that time I think there are even more unanswered questions revolving around the matter. I liked the suggested explanation above. (I just scrolled up to check who suggested it and I have already forgotten. Urgh I need a weekend sleep in desperately). It seems to now be established the the time vortex can affect DNA to give regeneration ability. (River Song)

Cheers

Janette

 

 

[janetteB @replies]

Ah wine and cheese. That’s just what I need now after and exhausting weekend. I have been involved in running a local writer’s festival. Into it’s second year now. We have over fifty people at the launch of an anthology we put out on Friday night, (which is a lot of people for such a small event as ours). Attendance yesterday and today was modest but not embarrassing and we are already busting with ideas for next year’s event. But right now I just want to relax with a glass of wine, some nice cheese and Dr Who; not until I have caught up on my daily coffee intake however.

@puroandson Glad you are home again and you do indeed have a son to be proud of. I used to love those lolly bananasctoo when I was a kid. Hate to think what they would do to my skin if I ate one now.

@whisht It is nice to hear from you. I have been “lurking” a lot myself too. Really enjoying everyone else s posts but often feeling either that I have nothing of value to add or simply to tired to add something of value.

cheers

Janette

 

 

 

[janetteB @replies]

@trillianwho Welcome. You have settled in to the sofa already.  I like the name too. (Of course as far as I am concerned there in only one version of Hitchhikers and that is the one with the Doctor and the Doctor’s Daughter’s Mum.

@puroandson Please pass on my regards to your Mum. Wish her a happy birthday and a speedy recovery.

@ichabod I hope you are fully recovered soon. Your scar sounds rather like mine. (I have lots of others but they don’t show.) I used to be a bit embarrassed about it but have long since forgotten it is there. For a while it did provide an excuse to buy lots of necklaces and fancy scarves for winter so that isn’t too bad.

Cheers

Janette

[janetteB @replies]

@missy To be fair to Danny the Doctor immediately assumes that because he was a soldier he must teach P.E. He couldn’t possibly be intelligent enough to teach Maths. I think they misjudge each other and yes, at the heart of that misunderstanding is good old fashioned jealousy over Clara. The Doctor is being quite possessive too.

I always like episodes better on second watch.  I didn’t warm to Heist at all on first watch but after several re watches it became one of my favourite episodes. Even with those episodes that I don’t think work as a whole there are good moments.

Cheers

Janette

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