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Paul ‘you may as well just call me Avon’ Darrow has finally secured the rights to Blake’s 7, and he’s making big noises about a new mini-series. The BBC story covers most of the useful bits, without your having to navigate the pretty but horribly slow Flash site. Sadly, they’ve taken down Darrow’s earlier, semi-maniacal ravings, that covered the preceeding two years of the project.

But good luck to them. I’d love to see B7 back. Ambiguous heroes are in short supply.

On Friday morning, I rang the office to admit sheepishly that I was 400 miles away:

“Hi, it’s Jonathan. I’m going to be late in today, even for me. I’m… er… still in London.”
“Ooh, did you get lucky?”

Somehow, this rather took the edge off the feeling of insubordination. And sadly, the answer was ‘no.’

Tom Coates has similar problems with Windows. It’s surprising how much one’s desktop influences the thoughts one has. At least he can seek inspiration from stairs (great photo!).

One of the joys of ploughing back through old scripts is rediscovering lines one had forgotten. Like, for example, the sketch where renowned gastronaut William Buckland is served roast crocodile with the line ‘Your croc, monsieur.’

I have today:

1. Made extensive and careful enquiries with the Inland Revenue to ensure that yes, I really am up-to-date, that there are no nasty surprises around the corner, and that they really do owe me several thousand pounds; I subsequently wrote a brief letter to said government agency, requesting said refund.
2. Ordered a stupidly expensive but unbelievably slick road/commuting bike.

Try as I might, I just can’t see any connection between these two events. Ahem.

The bike in question:

Yes John, I’m aware that it appears to have rather fewer spokes than seems reasonable. And yes, this does worry me, traditionalist that I am. But it’s unbelievably fast and – shock – there’s one in the country in my size, which is more than can be said for any other model. Seriously.

I’m not sure what this says about the leisure pursuits of the UK population, but I noted with interest the following movements on the M6/M74 this afternoon:

• North-bound: Horse-boxes.
• South-bound: Rowing eights.

Any explanations gratefully received.

There’s an advert on for – I believe – Sony home cinema systems. Couple watching TV; knock on the door; woman opens it to find a crowd of guys who thank her for appreciating their work. They’re sound recordists.

It’s somewhat amusing, but there’s a slight flaw: real sound recordists would have said simply ‘I’m not ready yet.’