June 19th

Last night I suffered from another bout of insomnia but this time, as Sam was kipping on our living room floor, there was nowhere I could go to settle or even to go grab a cuppa. To add insult to injury I couldn’t find Beth’s bedside clock and even if I did I still wouldn’t have been able to see the time ‘cos it has no light. Dear God things were bad that night. It was like the World was against me. Beth woke up at one point to find me making some kind of nest at the foot of the bed out of pillows whilst flashing our torch around trying to find the page I was at in my book. Naturally she told me to stop being a plum and get back in bed. I did and promptly fell asleep.
Once up I actually had quite a productive day despite being absolutely knackered. Beth had taken the day off and went out and about with Sam to take some pictures of exciting things like a house with a hedge and a car park so I was free to chug on with my even more exciting work. I got quite a lot done as it goes. Once Beth & Sam got home we went round to Beth's gran's where I cooked up sossies and mash and we sat around having the same conversation over and over again ‘Groundhog Day’ style.
During this fun-packed day I downloaded and listened to the new Keane album ‘Under the Iron Sea’ and I must say I’m impressed. The last album was pretty good, though I’m not a huge fan of guitar-less rock, but a little on the dour side. Their new offering seems to be more powerful and vibrant though hardly upbeat. I’ll wait and see how it goes after a few more plays before I make my final judgement though.
I also started to compile a list of all the films I wanted to see but had missed (mostly so the next time I go to the video shop I’ll know what to grab on DVD). This, strangely, began to turn into a list of all the classic British sci-fi & horror TV shows that I wanted to get hold of. I love all that kind of stuff, the palpable air of tension that these shows used to generate, the thrilling and frightening moments they created with so little in the way of special effects. Nowadays of course most films rely on high budget effects to scare you but with these babies it was all about the story and the acting.
Most people will be familiar with Nigel Kneale’s incredible Quatermass series of programs. First shown in 1953 the ‘Quatermass Experiment’ was the first live television drama ever broadcast and was recently remade starring current Doctor WHO David Tennant and Jason Flemyng. The premise of the show was that the first manned rocket launch (carried out by Professor Quatermass’ British Experimental Rocket Group) goes awry and only one crewman survives when the rocket crashes in Wimbledon. The scares build as the survivor gradually mutates into a fusion of man and plant. Two sequels were made in the 50’s, ‘Quatermass 2’ in which zombies infiltrate Earth and ‘Quatermass and the Pit (my personal favourite and one that scared the shite out of me when I saw it as a kiddie) where an alien spacecraft is discovered buried under the streets of London. In 1979 a final chapter was added, simply called ‘Quatermass’ and starring John Mills. This time, after the destruction of a new space station, young people find themselves mysteriously drawn to an ancient stone circle in England where they believe they’ll be taken to a better place by a higher power. Quatermass discovers that they are actually being harvested by an alien race and must find a way to stop them. If you’ve not seen these programs then I urge you to see them now. If you want to know more about Professor Bernard Quatermass and his madcap adventures then here is a pretty good place to start.
Along with Quatermass I added the BBC version of ‘The Day of the Triffids’ (one of the finest moments in British science fiction literature) which itself is worlds apart from the rubbish Howard Keel Hollywood version and ‘Sapphire & Steel’, the craziest and most ‘trippy’ television show ever.
A full days work I think.

Tea drunk: 7
New albums listened to: 1
Lists made: 3 (UK sci-fi retro TV, things to do tomorrow and ice-cream recipes to try out)