Where I am at the moment

Well I had a rather nice surprise a little earlier when I collected my marked essay that I talked about in my last blog post. I scored 85%, which is far better than I thought I would do and my tutor thought I made an excellent and sustained argument. There were a few little points that I was picked up on, mainly stupid mistakes, which if I'd taken a little more time over the writing would have been sorted out before I submitted. Still, this is a good boost and it bumps up my average score for the course, which makes me happy :-)

I had another day at Bletchley Park (BP) on Saturday and I am enjoying my role there as a steward. In fact, I find it more satisfying than I do my day job. Although the days at BP are relatively long with few breaks I do get to meet and chat with some interesting people and I am learning new stuff all the time. The most common question I get asked is 'where are the toilets?' but I don't mind, I am enjoying myself and hopefully making a visitor's day there just that little more pleasant. I hope to find a free day one weekend to go there as a visitor and do some of the guided tours to learn more about the Park and its history as my knowledge at the moment is patchy at best. Everyone I've met so far has been nice and welcoming and I look forward to doing my next duty later this month.

Over the weekend I had an e-mail from a journalist who says he is writing a book about sub-cultures and would like to feature some 'trainspotters' for a piece he is writing. I do detest the term 'trainspotter' because it has such negative connotations and is so often used as a term of derision. I am always a little wary of these sort of requests as I wonder what the agenda is and I don't fancy putting myself forward for something that is going to be used to mock either me or what I do. Will see what happens...

I've started ploughing my way through watching all five seasons of Six Feet Under. I've seen them all before of course on TV but now I have all the seasons on DVD, I am re-watching it from start to finish, much the same as I did with The West Wing. Watching these early episodes of Six Feet Under I am struck by how great this show is and how inventive and fresh it remains. The acting is universally excellent particularly the main leads - Peter Krause, Frances Conroy and Michael C Hall. There is not a step wrong; the writing is superb, the production, design, just the whole feel and look of the show is dead on (excuse the pun!). Few programmes can make me laugh, cry and feel so despondent and happy in the same episode.