Unexpected Visitors

A nice surprise this morning when my Aunt and Uncle decided to pay us a visit. I don't get to see them very often because they live near Cardiff but they were down for the night to see a concert at the Symphony Hall in Birmingham. I woke up to the sound of the phone ringing which was them asking for directions to the house so I had to spring out of bed sharpish which was a bit of a shock to the system.

It was nice to see them though, despite them being unable to stay for too long due to the adverse weather conditions. The rest of the day was wasted away in the hope that tomorrow being the start of a new week, I would have a fresh attempt at my assignment and possibly a new understanding of the gibberish written in the notes. One thing I did discover is that my premature pessimism from late last year as to the possible state of the television schedules this year was totally unfounded and the BBC have done me proud by releasing a whole load of new series upon us.

The first of these is a welcome return to Being Human, the supernatural series about a Vampire, a Ghost and a Werewolf living together in a house in Bristol. It is a bit of strange cross between a drama and a dark comedy because there are some bits that are really quite funny but without the traditional cheese of a sitcom. In this first episode, we find out that George (the werewolf) scratched his girlfriend Nina last time he changed and thus she is now also a werewolf. On top of this, George is being pursued by a vampire couple and ends up fornicating with the female vampire whilst another evil man is trying to rid the world of werewolves by killing them in a decompression chamber traditionally used in diving to cure the bends, luring them in under the pretence that they can be cured from their affliction. A particularly gory scene shows them increasing the pressure resulting in the victims veins popping.

A more light-hearted programme made its return to our screens this evening in the shape of Larkrise to Candleford. I've still got no Idea what prompted me to start watching this series as I am normally totally disinterested in costume dramas; but there is something charming about this series that has me hooked. It is set around two towns/villages - Larkrise, a poor area where the residents regularly struggle to pay for food and accommodation and work in the fields for very little money. Candleford on the other hand is a very posh area full of snobs with all the luxuries they could want. The post office is the centre of this town and seems to carry a great deal more importance than we ever could have thought in this day and age. The post mistress has a servant / maid and frequently dines on luxurious food and wears exuberant clothing as if she has a limitless pot of money. Surely a humble post office couldn't be that profitable?

Anyway, this weeks episode dealt with rags to riches and a journalist from Oxford came to inform one of the Larkrise 'folk' that she may have a claim to a large amount of money following the death of her sister. Excitement brews in the village but alas she cannot resist moving to the high life and is tempted into purchasing an expensive dress in advance of the money actually arriving. When they do eventually get the money, it is merely a fraction of what they had initially hoped for due to multiple claimants and the money will only go so far as to cover the dress and a couple of weeks rent. To make it worse, the journalist ridicules the way of life in this village, and twists the words of the inhabitants so as to make them look stupid and backwards for the pleasure of the readers.