Monthly Archives: December 2004

General, MobLog

Merry Christmas – Have a Ticket

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Merry Christmas Everybody!

We’re just back from having lunch with Mum and Dad, however on the way up, as is often the way over holiday weekends there were a couple of places on the trip where the motorway digital display signs had just been left for no apparent reason. Heading towards London on the M4, between Reading and Maidenhead the signs showed 60, then several 40’s, before an ‘End’ just before Maidenhead. Needless to say there was no problem at all. (It looked like the signs were still incorrectly set when we headed home.)

What was slightly more concerning was there was a repeat on the M25 between the M4 and M40. Firstly a 60, then a series of 40’s, again for no apparent reason. The big problem with the signs on that part of the M25 is that they are part of the variable speed limit system. For those who aren’t aware, the western part of the M25 has regular overhead gantries displaying the speed limit, which changes according to the prevailing traffic conditions (under the control of an operator – hence why they sometimes get left on). The key difference between these and the signs elsewhere on the motorway network is that the speed is enforced by speed cameras on the rear of some of the signs. It is actually possible to spot the live signs, as the system is entirely digital, and each live gantry has a short aerial on the end to transmit the snapshot of you driving past. It just so happened today that the last gantry showing 40 was live, and people could see the derestriction sign on the next gantry. I wonder how many people are going to get caught out?

It does highlight a pertinent point. The whole point of the signs is to allow the traffic flow to be managed, however because almost everybody has come across a situation where the signs have been left on, people tend to ignore them, so they quickly become ineffective. To address this, we now have speed cameras on the back, but we still get the signs being left on. The difference this time is that people end up slamming on their brakes when they realise that there is a camera!

General, Movies & TV

Eastenders Finds It’s Feet

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We got home at just before ten, in time to see the repeat run of that evenings Eastenders. Whilst in the past I have watched fairly avidly, over recent months it has decidedly lost it’s way, and this has been shown in the ratings. However last nights episode was one of the best episodes we’d seen for a long while. For the past few episodes, at the request of Marcus, their long serving solicitor, Sam has been rushing around selling all the assets, including the Queen Vic to Den, apparently because Phil needs the money to leave the country. The first big twist towards the end was that it transpired that loyal Marcus had in fact made the whole thing up, and had run off with the money. The double whammy was when Den met him at the airport to pay him off – Den had apparently got some information about what Marcus had been doing all these years and blackmailed him to get back the pub! In amongst all that Paul left the series for good, and as a result of Sam loosing all her money, Andy reveals that he only married her for her money.

Definitely shaping up to be a classic Walford Christmas!

Church, General, Pictures

Carol Singing

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Last night was the second of the traditional St James Choir Christmas events. The junior choir spent the afternoon making Christingles for the services today, and following that the adult choir joined them for carol singing, starting off at Warren Lodge, the old peoples home in the village, and then on to two of the three pubs – The Queens Oak and The Greyhound.

As in previous years the choir was augmented by the odd one or two additional people, and as always on arrival in the pub the first port of call for the tenor and bass lines was the bar, entirely to lubricate the vocal chords of course.

Anyway, below are a few pictures from carol singing.

General, Pictures

Finchampstead Christmas Concert 2004

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Last night we had the first of the traditional Finchampstead Christmas Events, the Christmas Concert in the Memorial Hall. More entertaining than the Royal Variety Performance, it showcased an unbelievable range of performers. (It should be noted that the word unbelievable has often been applied to performances from previous years!!!)

As always, the show opened with the Fledgelings Nativity, noteable this year for a Joseph who wasn’t keen on taking on the role of father… After bursting into tears had failed, and then trying to kick or pull anything in reach (including baby Jesus, who was dropped on his head), he discovered a new vocation with sheep, consisting of seeing how much straw he could put on it’s head…

This year, thanks to a lot of help from Chris Driver, the Youth Group contributed two items. The younger members did a serious item on the true meaning of Christmas, whilst the older members performed a somewhat less serious play where they get stuck in the Oracle centre on Christmas Eve.

The Working Party closed the first half with a song about their work around the Church, highlighting such important jobs as the frequent maintenance of the Ladies Loo, the painting, the drainage work in the car park, and of course the regular visits to the Queens Oak!

The other much anticipated number each year is the Baptism Visitors. This year they did a reworking of “I’m a Believer” by the Monkees. As the concert always closes with community carol singing, somebody has to follow them. Chris Driver put Richard, our new Rector on the bill after them, there is some suspicion that this was because as he was new he wouldn’t know what he was following!

Having said that Richard did a superb job of following their song with a great reworking of “A Policeman’s Lot” called “A Rector’s Lot”, detailing the endless worries with the conservation work at the Church. I guess we’ll be adding the Rector’s contribution to the list of anticipated items for next year.

Richard was followed by the reappearance of Mrs Beamish, still complaining about having to shake hands with people in Church services. We then finished with the traitional community carol singing.

Next on the schedule is tonights traditional carol singing/pub crawl around the village, before the Church services kick off with three Christingle services on Christmas Eve.

I’ve posted a few pictures from the forty or so we took last night. I’ll probably do a general Christmas set, with pictures from all the events for the pictures web site, once the festivities are finished.