Week of  24th January 2000

Last Week

Monday, 24th January

Early shifts start today. And it was a bit of a shock as I walked in to work to see that all the old robot cart machines had been stripped out over the weekend. I hadn't realised how much space there actually was in the area until I saw it empty. The old analogue transmission kit, including the desks, is being stripped out as I type this. I feel a degree of sadness to see the gear that has been the centre of my professional life for the last nine-and-a-half years being unceremoniously scrapped.

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Tuesday, 25th January

The floor space recovered by scrapping the analogue transmission equipment is being recycled as extra videotape library - shelving is being installed temporarily (I think, but who knows? Rumour would have it that management has been looking at the space as a future office area). Further gossip has it that once the VT area and Master Control (the area that coordinates all incoming and outgoing circuits) are moved, the builders will be in to create another open-plan office area, by knocking out all the (semi-soundproofed) partition walls. They can't have all the area for desks though - some of the technical equipment cannot be moved without taking us off-air for an undefined period.

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Wednesday, 26th January

Freelance work tonight, the archive remastering job.

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Thursday, 27th January

I managed to get about 75 minutes of material recorded last night. This isn't bad going when you consider that most of the clips are about 30 seconds long, and not infrequently less.


Drove down to Hindhead on the A3 this afternoon for the pickup. An easy trip, both ways, but as usual I severely underestimated the outbound journey time, to the tune of arriving an hour early. The rendezvous is a roadside restaurant, part of a chain, so I spent the time with a computer comic I'd brought, drinking coffee by the (small) pot. My back teeth were floating by the time I got home.


I'm having a minor battle with Katy at the moment. She seems to think that she can watch TV whenever she wants, and whatever she wants, and she throws noisy tantrums and crying fits when told "No". This comes to a head every Thursday evening, when she wants to watch "Friends" on Sky, Jane wants to watch a history programme on BBC2, and Sarah is recording "Friends" and "ER" from Sky for a friend, who does not have satellite. The emotional storms are quite severe, especially when I want to record "Horizon" from BBC2 immediately afterwards.

I will admit that Sarah is being a bit dog-in-the-mangerish here, because she won't let Katy watch the taped copy afterwards, since "it isn't her tape". This is partly sheer bloodymindedness (which I share), and partly sibling rivalry (it's fun to wind your sister up).

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Friday, 28th January

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Saturday, 28th January

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Sunday, 29th January

I've been so busy at work these last three days that all I've wanted to do  on getting home has been to fall into a chair with a glass of something mildly alcoholic in one hand. That said, I've been bullied into doing some typing for Katy - her suffragette project. It seems that the typing course and word processor notwithstanding, she still wants me to type up her text - it seems that she 'doesn't like the printouts from the word processor'. This is the machine I was told to buy after picking up a second-hand laptop at Pickett's Lock a couple of years ago. It seems that an all-in-one device (of poorer quality printout, but improved portability) was required. Since the machine has only rarely left the house I think the improved portability point is rather moot, but never mind. That laptop (an AST 486, running Windows 3.1, and named Astra) now languishes in store. She requires a new CMOS battery, but is otherwise functional. I really must dig her out and sort her (this year, next year, sometime, never)

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