Welcome to the undergrowth

Have you ever watched a tv programme online? I'm not talking about bbc iplayer. Oh no, iplayer is the king of online tv. The first class lounge of streaming. The Ferrari of the hour-long-documentary-watched-while-preparing-a-meal.

I mean have you ever watched something on ANOTHER online tv portal? ITV player? (shudder) 4od? (no thanks). Well until Friday night I hadn't ventured further than those three either.

But on that dark and stormy night in January, I ventured deep into the undergrowth. I burrowed down, past the prince of online tv (whatever that is), past the second class area, and the ford fiesta, to catch up on Suits, a new legal drama, on the Dave channel...

There I discovered tv watched in 15 second segments. One small snapshot of action followed by a much longer pause followed by another small snapshot of action...

'Hello, my name's Edmund, and I've come to' PAUSE... 'investigate you for' PAUSE...

Now as enjoyable as this drama was (and it was pretty enjoyable because otherwise I would have given up), it is impossible to dwell on 15 seconds of dialogue for very long!

You do however get to analyse the background of each shot, consider each line, muse upon the way every brow is furrowed.

It did also give me the chance to play one of my favourite games: the 'I think he's going to say this next' game! And I punched the air each time I got it right!

Have I learnt a lesson? Stick with the Ferrari, the first class, the king?

Well maybe, but if I'm not around at 9pm on Tuesday to catch Suits 'live' on Dave, I may venture into the undergrowth again...

[Just to say, and in case someone from Dave reads this, the problem may have been my internet connection, the laptop, the time of day... And not your tv service. And for the first 30 mins of the programme it wasn't so bad.]

Adios!

It's sunny, it's a Saturday, and this is Sam's blog about a stupendous day.

I've had a truly brilliant day.

Saturdays mean a whole lot more when you're working office hours the rest of the week. Today felt really long, which was nice.

The sun was shining and it was warm, which isn't that normal for up here, whatever the locals tell you...

I was with family friends and had a quiet morning watching Everybody loves Raymond (which i... love...) and enjoying not being at work really early!

And then I decided to discover the METRO CENTRE...

Now, if you have been doing some research, or reading these posts carefully, you will know that Newcastle is very fond of the word "Metro".

Its underground trains are called the Metro, there is the Metro music venue, the Metro Centre, and probably a dodgy pizza place called "Metropizza" as well.

But anyway, the Metro Centre is a large shopping centre (the biggest in the North East, England, Europe, the galaxy... take your pick) and is actually in GATESHEAD. So I made a mistake above.

People in Gateshead are understandably keen to point out that many of the newly built attractions - the Sage concert theatre, the Baltic (a modern art gallery) and the Metro Centre, are all in Gateshead, and not Newcastle.

This place is indeed massive - red zone, blue zone, green zone, yellow zone, central arcade. All on two levels - and loads of shops.

I bought a few small things - some nice pens and a holder to brighten my desk, and a very swish bedside light. It really is very nice. Very nice. I like it. :-)

And then I came out into more sunshine and warmth to watch football on the tele.

Newcastle were playing, live on BBC 1 - which was exciting. And as a new Newcastler, I was supporting them - they drew sadly, and were wearing a horrendous yellow striped shirt. It really is awful.

I also enjoyed a lovely piece of salmon, and homemade chips, and watched Total Wipeout.

Total Wipeout is a programme I don't think I'll find funny every time I watch it, but I do. Its just brilliant!

So, a lovely day, and now off to sleep. :-)