New genre

I've just discovered what a supercut is. Try out this quirky history of the line "What are you doing here?" in Dr Who. All sorts of possibilities come to mind. What about all the Doctor's excuses for the Tardis not working? Or all of Servalan's rather scary smiles from Blake's 7?

Coastal walk

Thought I'd post-blog this.

Last month, I went on a nice (though damp) coastal walk from Cockburnspath to Dunbar.

The main attraction near the start was Dunglass Collegiate church, looking enigmatic in the warm July drizzle. To us now, it seems an odd use of land and resources. Is praying for your soul worth that much? The middle ages thought so.

Later, we passed Torness power station. This is a lot more interesting than it sounds, as its builders have fallen over themselves in an effort to be cuddly and inoffensive and give you information boards to look at. The sea defenses use piles of specially cast "knucklebones", which give the whole thing a futuristic air. I could see it as part of an episode of Blake's 7.

My companions didn't seem interested when I mentioned this. Different generation, I suppose.

Perhaps some future walker will find this piece of land use as inexplicable as a collegiate church.

Blake's 7

I've been enjoying re-watching Blake's 7, recently made available in a nice DVD box set. One interesting discovery is how little I actually remember from this well-loved programme of my childhood. Other than generalities of plot and character, it seems that the memory is very fickle and arbitrary after 25 years. It often seems to be an image that stays. From Countdown, which I watched last night, the clearest memory was of the three pronged detonator thingy that Avon manages to disarm in the final seconds. A message for film-makers perhaps--that a simple arresting image can lodge in the mind? I also can't believe how little of Servalan there is. In memory, I had her stalking through every episode in slinky dresses, but there is much less slinking than you might think. Ah well, fine stuff all the same.