33. Amidst the repeats

TIME FOR A READ.

There has been the customary ragbag of repeats on the box - especially on the digi stations - so I have taken the opportunity to do a little light reading and catching up on gossip.

Cannot be absolutely sure but did I glean the news that TrippingOnWords Claire and Lara are parting company, albeit temporarily, one for France and the other for Bali? [Avoid the intentions of most men in France, Claire. Avoid any unattended parcels in Bali, Lara.]
Did I gather, too, that they have been receiving rather more male mail than female mail and would welcome a bit of a reversal in that department?
[Sorry, can't help there. I'm sure they have long ago perfected a technique for sifting the genuine article - both sexes - from the avoid-at-any-costs crank. Or should I be so naive as to believe there will be none of the latter creeping around Blogland?]
Anyway, I wish them an elderly Englishman's very best wishes and look forward to reading more of their adventures when they reunite.

Over the past couple of days I have been reading 'Red Carpets and other banana skins,' by the actor Rupert Everett.
In a world where many celebrities rely on the services of a 'ghost writer' in order to feign a vestige of literacy it is good to find an actor who appears to have personally written his autobiography. He comes across as outspoken, mostly genial and unafraid of authority in any form. He writes well.
He is also a damned good actor.

THE OUTSIDERS.

The new detectives this week were The Outsiders. Trouble is, it did not come across as all that new. Blink and you could have been watching Callan or Harry Palmer or James Bond or almost any other anti-hero of recent years.
Considering I was warned of this, by Radio Times tele writer Jane Rackham no less, I probably should have avoided it. I didn't and of course I quite enjoyed it. Well, I am used to repeats after all.

WIRE IN THE BLOOD.

Good ol' Robson Green versus the scriptwriters again. The scriptwriters put up a pretty good showing in this 3rd of a 4 part series.
But I now make it 3 - 0 to Robson.
Oh, the 'other one' mentioned a couple of times recently was Jerome Flynn. He and Robson surfaced in the early nineteen nineties in a television series called 'Soldier, Soldier.' Last seen he was doing a one-man show playing the part of Tommy Cooper and doing it brilliantly.
What talent these young blokes have.