After returning home and talking about Borough Market, we headed off to meet some colleagues for the fireworks at Battersea Park, where the bonfire lighting led into fireworks set to music (I think my bonfire picture looks a little sinister somehow). Yet again, there was a huge crowd, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Before the actual fireworks began, there was a display of aerial acrobatics with trapeze artists performing some kind of mid-air ballet set to music. The performers were suspended from a huge crane, allowing the audience on the fields below to watch the spectacle. They also used dancing kites set to music and illuminated from below to add to the effect. Sadly, many of the crowd were only there for the explosions and started jeering. I was not impressed by those who started booing – I thought the show was a great attempt to try to do something a little more than just have a series of spectacular fireworks, and the council and the performers deserved much credit. The fireworks themselves were, as the Battersea show always is, spectacular. I was trying to explain the origins of Bonfire Night to one of our group who comes from Italy and was not aware of the traditions. Sadly, I was unable to remember much of what I learnt last year:

Responding to papal denunciations and pressure from radical Protestants, Queen Elizabeth’s government severely penalised practising Catholics. Catholics hoped for greater toleration from James, whose Queen was herself a Catholic. Instead, James reconfirmed Elizabeth’s anti-Catholic legislation; he also ended England’s war with Spain, removing any hope of imposing Catholicism by force. source

On this day…

As almost the rest of the world wants to talk about the US Election (what on earth have you done to the world now?) I want to talk about trains. Yesterday I mentioned my trip to Edinburgh, and I noted that I travelled by train. I didn’t tell you of the sheer pleasure of travelling on a high-speed GNER train, and I won’t have all those naysayers who want to moan about the service stop me. Clean, comfortable and (except for one brief 15-minute slowdown as we criss-crossed track works) very high speed. An at-seat buffet trolley with things you’d like to eat and a well-stocked buffet car (I skipped the sit-down lunch in the restaurant car despite the fact it looked good). Apparently, there was a wireless network (although I couldn’t find it) but, sensibly, there were power points near my standard class seating to charge my laptop and mobile phone. All that and no waiting around at airports and ‘please turn off all electrical items’ until we are quite high. The last time I went to Scotland, the journey was turbulent, to say the least, but that’s another story.

On the way back yesterday afternoon, the train was older and more crowded (as we hadn’t booked seats, there was a little more of a scramble). Still, two comfortable seats, coffee served at your seat, and a newspaper seemed like a good way to travel home (no roadworks or turbulence). We were in the Quiet Carriage which, in principle, is a nice idea. However, the quiet was lost on:

• a Japanese student with an annoying high-pitched ringtone and a line of friends who wanted to hear the details of his journey home
• The larger lady who turned off the ring on her phone only to talk all the way from Newcastle (or was it York) to colleagues about how she’d turned her ringer off and – while she was heading back to the office to tell them about the meeting – it went very well, darling, sweetie.
• Two women on a shopping trip from Newcastle, who were so excited about their purchases they unpacked each one and cooed at each other all the way to London
• a man whose iPod was so loud I know he was listening to Keane
• a woman who (I think) was doing very badly at whatever game she was playing on her portable game-thing, as it made lots of those baritone beeps that I associate with people failing to answer questions on Family Fortunes

All such activity made it almost impossible for anybody to hear the announcements from our train’s Customer Service Leader (whatever happened to The Guard?) that it was a quiet carriage and you should turn off all equipment that makes annoying sounds and hold mobile telephone conversations in the vestibules (which used to be the cold bits between carriages but seem to have been given a new lease of life).

On this day…

TV News always looks exciting and glamorous: being a TV news anchor carries authority and power and doesn’t have to come with all the trappings of fame; a TV journalist has travel, a sense of excitement, and sometimes even risk. The cameras and the lights: a heady mix of worthiness, weight and touch of showbiz! However, right now I am watching the talented people of Sky News trying to fill the hours covering the American elections with nothing much to say. It must be a horrible task – hours and hours to fill and nothing at all to say. Hopefully, tomorrow there will be some facts to report. Right now, 74 votes for Bush and 78 for Kerry. The future of our world could easily be in the hands of one of them.

On this day…

Ah, so I am back and exhausted from my little holiday. You will see some pictures on the Flickr sidebar or on my Flickr pages. Of course, while I have been enjoying some sunshine, I see London hasn’t been that dry. [Wet London 20 by Timo Arnall]

Time now to tackle some of the 200 or so comment spam messages that have arrived in my inbox.

In the meantime, has it really been two years since I saw Taboo?

On this day…

According to The Independent [Source: BBC’s digital channels are ‘poor value’], BBC4 makes too many programmes which “virtually no one watches”. I would say that’s a shame, but I have hardly ever watched it. The only reason it is relevant is that last night I dreamt about all the BBC channel identities – those boxes with ‘BBC One’ etc. written in them. I have no idea why, but in my dream they were all yellow, and none of them had that annoying BBC Three character.

In a tenuous link, the BBC will, of course, report the run-up and outcome of the American elections next month. It may seem that we are somewhat powerless to do anything about it, but The Guardian is giving everybody a chance to say something. The idea is that Guardian readers are matched with an American voter, giving them the chance to communicate on a personal basis and tell a real-life voter what the rest of the world thinks. I think it’s quite an interesting idea. What the voters of Clark County, Ohio may think when they get letters from us Brits is another thing altogether. More at The Guardian.

Looking at my Flickr photo collection, I see that the first picture is of the water cooler in the office. This takes me back to the warm, balmy days of summer when it was so hot we thought we would melt in the office. Today, I am sitting here thinking I may have to buy a T-shirt during my lunch break to wear under my shirt, because I am cold and it’s pouring rain. Last week (and on Tuesday) I wrote about autumn. I am beginning to think we skipped straight to winter.

Speaking of photos (and linked to the BBC – so it makes sense to write it here), memories of children’s television and this date seem to be linked. This day in 2002 I was talking about the show Rainbow, and today Tom has posted a picture of Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble, Grub. Sometimes, it would be nice to be eight years old again!

Finally, for now, today’s phone lust: Orange SPV C500. Come on, Palm – get your act together – I want a more compact phone than the Treo by the time I am allowed to upgrade again.

On this day…

Every year I talk about how nice autumn is (see, I did it here in 2003) and how much I like the season. If you have any doubts as to why I like the season, then just go look at Flick’s autumn tag – it’s stunningly beautiful. Every autumn is the same, with lots of work and me craving a holiday (see, I did that in 2002). This year is no different. But I have to admit – it was very cold this morning.

On this day…