Hello again, I hope you’re all doing well. For me, July has been a relatively quiet month, thanks to the wet weather, my PIP review and preparations for my birthday month in August all interfering with my time.
Nevertheless, in this latest post and video roundup there are a few nice outings I can mention, a couple of comedy shows I’ve been bingeing on, and a bit of music as well, none of which is sponsored or gifted as usual. So I hope you enjoy!
Contents
Disability
PIP Review
An unwanted and unexpected distraction for me this month came with the arrival of my Personal Independence Payments (PIP) review form in the post. It’s been 4 years since my original claim, when I was successfully switched over from Disability Living Allowance (DLA), and I was later told it had been extended until next year because of their backlogs resulting from the pandemic. So I guess they must have caught up a bit.
Of course, it was proven beyond doubt in my original PIP claim, just as it had been for DLA prior to that, that my conditions (Aniridia and Nystagmus) are permanent and incurable, so there’s no way they can improve on their own or with medical treatments. So things can only remain the same or get worse, and thankfully it’s still the former at the moment. A lot of people are in a similar position to me, in terms of having lifelong conditions that won’t improve, and it would therefore save a lot of time, effort and stress for all concerned if we were just given a lifetime award and were trusted to come forward when anything changes. If we need more help, we’ll certainly ask for it!
However, as things stand, we still have to go through the rigmarole of filling out a lengthy and demoralising form all over again. Granted, the 26-page form is half the size of the original, as it’s only asking for changes. But that’s still a lot, and it still asks you to explain how you cope with the same aspects of life, providing detail about the aids and assistance that you use. So while you could just write “no change” to keep it simple, it’s still a lot more sensible to spell everything out in detail again, as you don’t know who will read it, how well they’ll understand your needs, or whether they’ll look back at the original documentation you sent before.
So I spent a considerable number of hours, spread out over more than a fortnight, going through my lengthy statements bit by bit that I’d wisely kept from last time, and rewriting them to fit the new structure of each question, including occasional new examples of things that have happened recently to bring it up to date. I then enclosed my statements and a bit of supporting evidence with the form, and sent it off so that it arrived before the deadline. They give you less than a month, which isn’t long at all really.
And now I just have to wait. I won’t be at all surprised if I have to have another in-person assessment, and there’s no guarantee that they’ll reach the same decision as last time, despite everything being the same. But we’ll just have to wait and see. I’m glad this first part of the procedure’s out of the way at least, so I can relax again for my birthday!
Ticket Offices
While I’m having a little rant about disability stuff, I’d also like to add my voice to the many others expressing concerns about the proposed closures of railway ticket offices.
Being visually impaired (like Sassy Wyatt in the Sky News video above), I find it nigh on impossible to use ticket machines. I’ve attempted to purchase tickets that way before, when undertaking journeys I haven’t had time to book online in advance, and it was so eye-straining and laborious that I quickly gave up on trying to do it that way. I’m virtually kissing the screen given how close I have to get to it, it takes me a long time to figure out how to complete each stage of the booking process (finding the stations I want, booking the right type of ticket, adding my railcard, making my payment, etc), plus I’m never sure if I’m getting the best price. So I have to go to a ticket office, where a member of staff can issue tickets speedily and cost-effectively. It’s far quicker and a lot less hassle. Ticket offices are also great for asking any other journey-related queries of course, which a ticket machine can’t deal with.
The proposals suggest that staff will be out and about on platforms and concourses instead to offer help. So that will mean, if I haven’t been able to get a ticket in advance and need to buy one on the day, I’ll have to spend time hunting around the station for someone to assist me, instead of going to a fixed office where I know a person will be. That’s not going to be at all easy given that I can’t see properly, especially in stations that are large and/or very crowded (some of the largest stations will keep their ticket offices, but not all of the big ones will). Even if staff wear something prominent like hi vis jackets, that still doesn’t guarantee I’ll be able to pick them out, depending on the environment around them, the light conditions, and how far away they are. Also, what if there are only one or two staff members and there are other people clamouring for their attention? I could have spent a long time finding them only to then have to wait longer still, and if there’s no queue like at a ticket office that could be quite confusing. And what happens when stations are completely unstaffed, as some already are at certain hours, from a safety perspective as well as ticket purchasing?
My aunt also travels on the railways regularly, because like me she enjoys visiting a variety of places, and she believes she won’t be able to do so any more if the plans come into effect. She’s not visually impaired, but she is elderly and not at all tech-savvy, so she can’t book things using the internet or a smartphone, and she can’t use ticket machines, so she always goes to the ticket office.
Then there’s the matter of disabled people getting assistance for navigating the stations, so they can find the platforms, trains, facilities, etc, as well as getting help with boarding and disembarking the trains. Tanni Grey-Thompson is among those who are worried that these ticket office closures could be the start of a slippery slope in the direction of staffing cuts, which in turn would make it more difficult or even impossible to get assistance (which is already a struggle for many disabled people as it is). Rail providers have pointed out that you can use an app or the telephone to book assistance 2 hours in advance, but disabled people need, and have the right to, Turn Up And Go (TUAG) assistance. You don’t always know when you’ll be travelling (e.g. if you’re going somewhere at short notice or on a whim, or if you’re coming back from a medical appointment, a business meeting, an event, a social get-together, etc), so it’s often not feasible to book 2 hours ahead.
All in all, there are a lot of valid concerns that need to be addressed, of which I’ve only scratched the surface given the many comments I’ve seen on social media. So I strongly suggest that you give your feedback by the newly-extended date of 1st September if you want your voice to be heard – either through London Travelwatch if you’re in the capital, or Transport Focus if you live elsewhere. You can also take part in the campaigns by the RNIB and Transport For All as well.
Out & About
Guildhall Art Gallery
When I explored the Morph statue trail last month, I had to go into the Guildhall Art Gallery to see 4 of the mini sculptures – and a fifth has been added there since then, called A Proud Message To You, showing Morph in a wheelchair.
But rather than just popping in to see those, I decided to spend a full afternoon looking around the whole gallery, having never been in there before. And it’s a really nice place. It’s not as huge as some of the other famous galleries in London, but it’s still pretty extensive and nicely organised.
I started off by looking around the Victorian gallery, which is the first thing you come to and has lots of beautiful paintings. And then I joined a group of people for one of the gallery’s free tours, which lasted 45 minutes. It was really interesting, as we got taken through all of the main exhibition spaces, looking at one or two highlights in each room.
The tour ended downstairs in their Roman Amphitheatre, an impressive space that was uncovered by archaeologists when the gallery was being built. It’s only a section of it, and there’s a huge circle on the paving outside in Guildhall Yard that indicates how big it was overall. But it still gives a great sense of how it looked, with some of the original stonework on show, along with lit-up representations of the stands and a few people to give it a sense of scale.
Once I had finished exploring the amphitheatre, I then worked my way back upstairs, looking at all the galleries as I went along, including lots of pictures relating to London and its history, and a room dedicated to Christopher Wren. My final stop was the Big City gallery, which has just closed at the end of July, but it contained absolutely massive artworks relating to the city. And at the back of that room is a permanent installation – John Singleton Copley’s Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar – which is so big (7.5 by 5.4 metres) that it occupies a wall spanning two floors! So you actually get the best view of it by looking over a railing in the Victorian Gallery upstairs.
In terms of accessibility, their extensive accessibility guide PDF says that “Large print guides for the permanent galleries and major exhibitions are available at the Welcome Desk”, but the lady at reception knew nothing about that, and she rang someone who didn’t know where they would be either. It wasn’t her fault that she hadn’t been given the information, and she was very friendly and helpful in general, answering other queries that I had without a problem. But it’s still very disappointing, as the large print guides would have been really helpful. I did tell her that it was stated on the website, and that I would be mentioning it when I write about my visit online, but I don’t know if that spurred them on to do something about it.
[Update: The day after publishing this post, the gallery tweeted me… or X’d me, or whatever we’re supposed to call it now… to say that they’ve reminded their volunteers where the large print guides are. So hopefully it’s been resolved now. Thank you to the gallery for responding so quickly.]
Still, as an alternative, I was able to use the Smartify app to tell me about several of the artworks. The idea is that you point your phone’s camera at an exhibit, and the app instantly recognises it and brings up the relevant information, which worked well a lot of the time. But it isn’t perfect, due to the layout of the gallery rather than the app itself. It was hard to give the camera a good view of paintings that were high up on the walls, particularly in the Victorian gallery, and the lighting reflected off some of the artworks too much for the app to recognise them. But on the whole it was pretty useful.
So, apart from the absence of the large print guides, I did enjoy my visit and can definitely recommend it. Going on a tour is a great way to get a feel for everything that they have on display, and then you can easily get absorbed in looking at everything more closely by yourself for a few hours.
Greenwich Park
In terms of the great outdoors, I went down to Greenwich Park a couple of times this month, exploring different sections of it on each occasion. I’ve been there before, but wanted to stroll through it fully to tick it off my London walking map that I’ve been steadily filling in for 3 years now. And it’s a beautiful place, with stunning views of London from Observatory Hill and One Tree Hill, lots of pretty flowers to look at, and other interesting things to find. You can see more photos on my Instagram here, here and here.
Brighton
I also popped down to Brighton with my aunt, following our previous visit last October. We started by exploring some of the shopping streets, which have a lovely bustling atmosphere, incredible wall paintings and other pleasant decor. It just looks and feels really nice around there, and it’s clear a big effort has been made to draw people in and bring the place to life. We then had a long walk along the seafront, which was pretty windy, but we were fine with that, as it was quite refreshing. And before making our way back we sat down to share a large portion of chips.
So we had a good afternoon together. And I’m planning to spend a proper weekend down there at some point, as I really want to explore more fully, check out a few things that my aunt and a friend have recommended to me, perhaps see a show, and just soak up the atmosphere in general.
TV
Apart from enjoying The Last Leg as usual, and the return of the fascinating Secrets Of The London Underground that I’ll review after the new series has finished, there are a couple of sitcoms that I’ve watched in their entirety this month.
Blackadder
I’ve been celebrating the 40th anniversary of the classic historical sitcom Blackadder this month, starring Rowan Atkinson and Tony Robinson as the various incarnations of Edmund Blackadder and his servant Baldrick, alongside a host of other great stars including Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Tim McInnerny, Miranda Richardson, Patsy Byrne, Rik Mayall, Robbie Coltrane and many others.
I started by watching the Ultimate Edition DVD box set that I’ve had since its release in 2009, featuring all 4 series and the specials, along with commentaries, interviews and documentaries. My favourite series is Blackadder II (because I love all of the characters in that, but especially Queenie and Flashheart as well as Blackadder), followed by Blackadder Goes Forth (with its beautifully poignant ending) and then Blackadder The Third (which has the classic Dictionary episode). The first series is by far the weakest and I sometimes skip that altogether when rewatching the show (though I did include it this time around). As for the specials, the Christmas Carol one is the best for me, followed by Back & Forth and then The Cavalier Years.
I then watched the celebratory programmes on Gold that were broadcast to mark the milestone. Being able to see the pilot in full for the first time was fascinating, particularly given the differences from the first series that followed, including the relationship between Blackadder and Baldrick, and a different actor playing the latter. The related interviews that Tony Robinson had with a few key people gave some great additional insight as well.
On the other hand, the Cunning Story documentary wasn’t so interesting for me, because there was nothing new in it, especially after having watched all the DVD extras. They simply reused old interview footage with people who were involved with the show, interspersed with lots of classic clips, and then they padded it out to 2 hours by asking modern comedians to say why they liked it. However, it was still a very good retrospective for people who haven’t got the DVD or aren’t as familiar with the series.
[December 2023 Update: A 40th anniversary Blu-ray, with remastered episodes and a ton of new extras, has now been released. I will therefore be posting a full review of the series and the bonus material, along with the additional programmes on Gold, once I’ve gone through this new set.]
Staged
I’ve also watched all 3 series of Staged this month, as the third series has just been released on DVD at last, following its long spell on Britbox before it was eventually shown on BBC One in June. I really enjoyed watching the first 2 series during the Covid pandemic, so I’ve been very keen to see the final one as well. And the wait was worth it.
The show, written and directed by Simon Evans, was born out of lockdown, and stars David Tennant and Michael Sheen as fictional versions of themselves. The two of them regularly chat and procrastinate with each other over video calls, talking about all sorts of random things, having a laugh, moaning about stuff or occasionally falling out, as close friends do. The majority of the show is conducted through video calls, and it all flows really well, with the great acting complemented nicely by the visual way it’s edited, the interspersed shots of streets and scenery, and the gentle underlying music score by Alex Baranowski (for which I have the far too short yet pleasant soundtrack album for the first series).
The episodes are just 22 minutes long – which, for the first 2 seasons, is an extension from the 15 minutes of their original broadcast, while the episodes in the third series were shown on TV at their full length. It’s a shame they never made full half hours, but they pack plenty in to the shorter length nonetheless.
In Series 1, David and Michael are stuck in a rut and desperate for work. So they accept an offer from Simon (who is playing a very feeble and incompetent version of himself) to rehearse a play over video conferencing, so that when lockdown is over they’ll be ready to go straight back into the theatre. But tensions arise as they quickly get irritated with him.
There are then more arguments in Series 2, when Simon is arranging an American adaptation of the first series of Staged without David and Michael. And if that isn’t self-referential enough, the show then goes even more meta in Series 3, when it collapses in on itself partway through and becomes a mock documentary about the filming of what should have been the third series. It sounds confusing, but it works very nicely and all the series are very funny. The final episode comes to a nice conclusion as well.
Throughout it all, David and Michael are joined by their long-suffering but loving partners Georgia Tennant (David’s wife) and Anna Lundberg (Michael’s girlfriend), while Simon is accompanied by his sister Lucy Eaton. These are all real-life relationships adapted for the show, because obviously during the first series they couldn’t have physical contact with anyone outside their households anyway, but it also has the advantage of the great existing chemistry between each pairing.
I particularly like Georgia out of those co-stars, in part because she was in an episode of Doctor Who alongside David, as the Timelord’s ‘daughter’ in a manner of speaking, and she’s been involved with that show in other ways too. But she’s also really good in Staged (and is one of its producers). Her exasperated reactions to David, Michael and Simon are always funny, and she gets a lot of amusing lines. It was nice to see David and Georgia’s adopted son Ty Tennant featuring in Series 3 as well.
And then there are a lot of big guest stars, most of whom play themselves (but a few play a separate character instead), including Judi Dench, Samuel L. Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, Romesh Ranganathan, Michael Palin, Nick Frost, Simon Pegg, Ewan McGregor, Hugh Bonneville, Jim Parsons, Josh Gad, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Cate Blanchett, Neil Gaiman, Jim Broadbent & Olivia Colman, among others. It’s always fun when someone pops up who I recognise.
So I’ve really enjoyed watching all 20 episodes. The Series 1 DVD also includes outtakes, while the other series don’t have any extras. There is an outtake included in the final credits of Series 2 though. And after the recent third series on TV there was a bonus episode of outtakes and behind the scenes clips, which even included short bloopers from the historical Comic Relief parody where David and Michael play William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe (with guest star Lenny Henry) and the Happy New Year video featuring the whole main cast that preceded the third series. Sadly that bonus episode and the sketches are all absent from the DVDs.
David & Michael are also back as the lead stars in the second series of Good Omens, which has just been released on Amazon. So at some point soon I’ll rewatch Series 1 and then see the new series as well.
Brian May: Star Fleet
To finish with a bit of music, Queen guitarist Brian May released a deluxe edition of his Star Fleet Project this month, the third in his Gold Series of reissues from his solo career after Back To The Light and Another World.
This particular one has been quite a rarity since its original recording and release in 1983, so I’ve never owned the EP, and I was still blissfully unaware of it when the tracks got reissued in the early 90s. However, once I became a big Queen fan and started delving into every band member’s solo material, I did then become aware of its existence and listened to it online once or twice. But that was a very long time ago and the tracks didn’t stick in my mind as I didn’t listen to them much. So while I’ve known about it for many years, it’s still very unfamiliar to me, and that makes it all the more fascinating.
The project came about from an idea Brian had for a rock theme tune to accompany the Japanese sci-fi puppet show Star Fleet (known as X-Bomber in its home country), which his son Jimmy was a huge fan of. So he got some friends together – guitarist Eddie Van Halen, drummer Alan Gratze from REO Speedwagon, bassist Phil Chen and keyboard player Fred Mandel (who has also played on some Queen tracks) – and they jammed together in a studio for two days, on 21st & 22nd April 1983.
As it was just a bit of fun, it wasn’t originally intended for public consumption. But, as he explains in his original liner notes, Brian was persuaded by friends to try and put something together from the recordings. Hence the 3-song EP that was issued back then, which peaked at Number 35 in the UK chart.
40 years on, and Brian has not only remastered and reissued that EP, but he’s also included every recording they made during those sessions, so you get every take, every note, every fluff, every laugh, every bit of chatter. And he’s filled out the album with a few live tracks and a couple of interviews as well.
So among the 32 tracks you get:
- Star Fleet – The 4-minute single edit and the complete 8-minute mix of this catchy, powerful song.
- Let Me Out – A really nice blues jam of an old song of Brian’s, lasting just over 7 minutes.
- Blues Breaker – A nearly 13-minute blues improvisation, in a similar tempo to the previous track, which is again great to listen to.
- 14 minutes of interviews with American presenters Cynthia Fox (on release day) and Bob Coburn (on Rockline).
- 12 minutes of live tracks from the Palace Theater, Los Angeles in 1993, with a performance of Let Me Out followed by the regular and fast versions of We Will Rock You.
- 1 hour 17 minutes of brilliant session material, with all the takes for Star Fleet and Let Me Out along with other jams.
Altogether it’s a great package, bringing together two of rock’s most legendary guitarists with their very capable friends to produce something very special and unique. I’m glad I’ve finally been able to get it for my collection.
Conclusion
And that’s it, I hope you enjoyed that as usual. Now July’s out of the way, I’m very much looking forward to celebrating my 40th birthday during August. I’ve already got a few shows and dining experiences booked, while one of my best friends is flying over for the occasion, another has arranged something as a surprise, and I’m hoping to meet a couple more if our schedules align.
I don’t normally make a big deal out of my birthdays, but given the milestone and my new job this year, and just wanting to thank people for being such good friends of mine, I feel like making a big deal out of this one for a change. And why not!
So I look forward to sharing a bumper post with you next month, and there may be other posts beforehand too. But in the meantime, I hope you all continue enjoying the summer as well!
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