August 2008

Here’s the deal: It’s over £140 for a Hydro Connect weekend camping ticket, £20 for parking, an extra £75 if you want to bring a camper van. A programme’s an additional £8 and Tangerine Fields charge a whopping £470 for a six-man tent, already erected, with air beds and sleeping bags (but no pillows). Ostensibly…

This poor crippled pigeon was fluttering about the BBC’s Pacific Quay headquarters this afternoon, doubtless depositing guano on very expensive digital machinery. It may well be the reincarnation of Lord Reith, whose desk (preserved on the third floor)offers an excellent roosting possibility. then again, it probably isn’t. Let’s hope not, if it has to be…

So…here she is! A PROPER camper! Last night, under conditions of great secrecy, I took a train from Glasgow to Edinburgh, another from Edinburgh to Newcastle, and then finally one from Newcastle to Darlington, there to meet a man called Don, custodian of Violetta the VW camper (technically, a Caravelle minibus converted to camper status).…

I’m in Glasgow, so there I was crossing the Queen Margaret Drive bridge over the River Kelvin in Glasgow when I spotted…a man in the water. Well, not so much in as on. He had climbed out along the weir (site of an old mill, I think)and was apparently trying to free a large fallen…

I’m experimenting with the WordPress blogging system…see what you think. The entire Beatcroft blog, including archive, is now at http://tommorton.wordpress.com

And so a fine time was had by all at the Wizard Festival, Roy and Sam Thain’s visionary quest to bring rock’n’roll to the rural heartlands of northern Aberdeenshire. It’s held at New Deer, deep amid some of the finest arable land in Europe, inland from Peterhead. This was my first visit to the area…

Hell of a day yesterday, involving (due to the ISDN breakdown) a mad dash into Lerwick to do the programme, a mad dash back home (time to check the ISDN, which was working), a very ungainly trip into Lerwick with guitar, computer and all sorts of other gubbins on the bike, finally reaching the ferry…

It’s almost unbelievable, but just 48 hours after the new ISDN 2e line was installed, and one day after successfully broadcasting the show using it, it has failed completely. BT has reset the electronic ‘card’ in the exchange, but to no effect. All this on a day when I need to get the boat south,…

Back on the air at The Radiocroft, and the show today seemed to be fine (listen again at bbc.co.uk/iplayer). Maybe a couple of moments where the signal south became a bit ‘metallic’ (Engineer Ron’s word) and two instances of ‘return dropout’. The truth is that British Telecom HATE the now-obsolete ISDN (Integrated System Digital Network)…

…and despite going past this skip EVERY DAY, I have NEVER seen anyone putting anything in it. Note: the basketball hoop, obviously dumped by someone totally frustrated by over-exposure to Olympic athleticism (he said grumpily, having injured his foot while attempting to emulate Chris Hoy, only more slowly, and on a mountain bike. While carrying…