The Pryordurkins

Posts Tagged ‘radio’

It’s been a pretty fast paced week that ended with me picking Paul up from York Railway station last night at 10.00pm.  Paul had been into London on some science people type meet up.  Earlier in the week, I had been into London for a couple of meetings and a couple of Jollys.  We’ve also welcomed a new review to the Pryordurkin website from my fellow diner and friend Sticky T (read it here).   We’re still waiting for our Australian correspondent to submit her first review!

Before Paul got back last night I took the opportunity while he was away to put up some tacky flashing Christmas lights outside the house.  A nice blue LED lit doorway awaited his return.  Those who know him well can only imagine the look on his face.  It was priceless and worth every penny I spent at Barnitts buying them.

Having a fairly leisurely start to the day this morning, while Paul was ignoring me by playing with Lara Croft downstairs (the game – for those who don’t know Paul!), I found myself stumbling across some good music on BBC Radio Three and enjoying it for the next hour or so.  I remembered while listening that the general rule of thumb when it comes to getting old in England is that you start life by listening to Radio One, move onto Radio Two when you hit your thirties.  This is then followed when you reach middle age by becoming an avid BBC Radio Four listener telling your friends and colleagues it’s for the news and comedy only.  The final stage before you order the box that will take you into the ground is listening to BBC Radio Three and being intolerant of noise, children, the general public and basically anyone who gets in your way when walking on a pavement, into a post office or queueing at Marks and Spencer for a little treat.

Those who know me, will realise that this brief encounter with BBC Radio Three is just that because I have never displayed any of the other aforementioned symptons.

As I travelled back from Ross on Wye today having spent a tutor day at the Leadership Trust, I found myself listening to Danny Baker and Zoe Ball on Radio 2, who are temporarily covering the slot vacated by Jonathan Ross since his suspension.   I was delighted to find, that I was actually enjoying listening to Radio 2 on a Saturday morning, where normally I instantly turn off when I hear Jonathan Ross and his inane dribble that usually pours out.  Danny and Zoe, were intelligent, articulate, entertaining and good fun. I enjoyed the interactions with the listeners, the good clean intelligent humour behind those interactions and best of all, I enjoyed the selection of music they played.  What a brilliant piece of radio broadcasting this was.  I just pray that they become a permanent feature on a Saturday morning, because I for one really enjoyed their show.  Pryordurkin rating. 5 Stars.

I thought there was something different when I stumbled across the Chris Moyles shows on BBC Radio 1 this morning.  I could here music as I stepped into the shower.  Even stranger 10 minutes later, when I stepped out, I could hear yet more music. Was he sick?  Had he been taken off air?  Neither.  When he did pipe up, he was uttering some commentary about having lost half a million listeners.  At last I thought, people are finally getting bored rigid with his talk talk format and leaving for other stations playing music. 

It seems the end is nigh for Chris.  Perhaps he could move to Radio 5 and let Scott Mills who plays more music, take over the morning slot.

Staying at the Copthorne Hotel in Slough for the last two nights gives me the opportunity to put down my thoughts and experiences of this hotel. Arriving late Sunday evening, I was greated by a friendly receptionist who was efficient and knowledgeable. I was pleased to discover that they had also upgraded me to a club floor room, which was large, comfortable, modern and had all the mod cons I might need. The queen size bed was firm and over the two nights I had no problem in getting off to sleep. The Retrouve Cafe provided comfortable surroundings and a reasonable choice of goodies for breakfast but there was a surprising lack of good cheeses to accompany the other continental breakfast offerings. (I don’t count bar bar baby bell as a cheese given it seems to be covered in and made of plastic). The staff were ok, but I did have to remind them to serve me coffee which on a morning is not a good thing for me. Finishing quickly I headed of for my days work returning to the hotel later that evening. We dined in the Royal Suite and the bar man who served me was very knoweledgeable and honest about his wines. A good few pinot grigio glasses later, I was off to bed.

I would warn anyone who gets a room on the 6th floor (where all the nice suites are) to get fit beforehand as the lift doesn’t quite like to go that far up. If you are coming down from the 6th floor, you will find it quicker to pop down the stairs to the 5th floor and call the lift there. The only other thing I will add about the lifts is that they are full of character and you feel every stop, start and bump along the your way.

Back to the rooms; the TV seem to have all the usual channels you might need along with those, you ought not to need. The only problem was the sound and vision were not quite syncronised. This might have been a one off as we got the same problem at home on Sky sometimes. One odd thing about the TV though is that you could not get local or national radio stations, so my usual morning stint of either Chris Moyles or Terry Wogan (depending on mood) was not an option.

Anyway I would use the hotel again and next time I hope to have more time so get round to trying out the swimming pool and gym. (yea right)

Score: 3 Stars. Visited June 2007.