Saturday 6 February 2016

Enjoying the American Railroad

We always enjoy the Michael P's programmes on BBC 2 following his Bradshaw's round the UK and Europe and now he is going round America by rail.  We record these and treat ourselves on dull days to half an hour of history and social change.

We have just started recording the new SEA CITIES series of programmes too. Again a lot of social history and in this series some ports we are not so familiar with like Tyne side.

We have had a bit of rain today, first for some days, so we retired to the back room and ordered some seeds. We have promised ourselves a garden centre day out to choose some seed potatoes. We are going to plant twice as many as last year - 8 rows of about 25 ft which should keep us in supplies to December.  I prefer red potatoes like Desiree but I think we will need a few rows of heavy croppers.

Our sons have decided to drive us to distraction with worries - one's kitchen is ruined when the washing machine flooded; one's car has been written off when someone drove into the side of him; the other has taken up carpentry with sharp instruments and no natural abilities in practical things (loads in complex computering).  Our support by text and emails has been called on a lot this week - we seem to be the font of advice and guidance!

6 comments:

  1. We obviously enjoy the same progs, TrishWish! We also enjoy Portillo's railway/railroad journeys and the American ones are superb. He is so natural with people, he engages with them, and also finds the more obscure businesses, museums or industries to visit. The only thing we find annoying is the sound track (no pun intended!) How we'd love it if ambient sound was allowed to be the background rather than the repetitive music which I suppose is meant to represent the wheels thundering along the track.
    Sea Cities is also proving to be an excellent prog - husband was an apprentice in the Dockyard in Plymouth in the early 1950s - my goodness, how that area has been developed in recent years!
    Margaret P

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    1. Sound tracks drive us mad. Often the music overloads the speech levels. We brought a sound bar thing that is suppose to even it up but some programmes are so bad we wonder if the TV station ever actually view their own channels. Loved PLymouth area in the past but fear too busy for us now.

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  2. Isn't it always the way. Children always do things to worry us. My daughters seen to do things in unison too.

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    1. Do you think they have a symbiotic connection? Ours barely see one another but their disasters are together!

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  3. I love social history, are you watching back in time for the weekend, each week it is a different decade, this week 60's

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    1. Saw some of the food ones but felt so guilty about the rubbish we fed our children.

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