STAND IN
Fresh from my holidays, Ed is off on his, and I'm in his chair for a fortnight. That means stepping with trepidation into his world, poking through all the things he keeps on his desk. You'll never guess....Anyway, I'm a blog virgin so treat me gently.
Returning from a fortnight away with no papers and no radio programmes, two characters are appearing in news that weren't there before. The postman suspended for advising his clients how to avoid junk mail and the CNN presenter who's trying to laugh off her bathroom break. I know which one I'd rather be.
Felt back in the groove when I heard my delightful Today colleague Jim Naughtie this morning saying it was "ten past nine" at ten past eight. The producers like to play about with the clocks, just to liven things up - backwards, forwards, stopping them completely sometimes, so we presenters just have to make the time up. It's not our fault. Honest.
On air in 5 hours' time. Must dash,
CQuinn.
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Is this a case of mistaken identity, or of stolen identity? PRippon equals CQuinn, or vice versa.
On a serious note, how can you have the effrontery to introduce news topics to this arena?!
Keep(ing) up with the medication
SB1 ?
P.S. On a scale of one to ten, just how delightful is Mr Naughtie? And just how naughty is Mr Delytful?
SB2 ?
Weird, the comment count is right.
Welcome to the wonderful world of Blogging!
Does Peter know that you are logged in as him to do this blog? What else are you planning on doing in his name?
Can I suggest an email to Eddie telling asking if he want's to keep his job - and tell him that he needs to reply before he's back from his holiday.
Oh, and while you're at Eddies desk, pour some cress seeds into his keyboard. It will look really pretty by the time he gets back!
Carolyn, I hope you're on the air in 4 hours, 15 minutes given the time of your blog, otherwise PM's going to be very quiet for the first three quarters of an hour.......!!!
(as well as blogging in the name of Peter Rippon)
Poor Lissa, what a mess she'll be coming back to...
well we will treat you gently for today, but you need to put up a strap line thingy.
Plus why does it say Peter Rippon at the top and C Quinn at the bottom. Maybe PR is the stand-in for Lissa with an a.
s/be 1 apparently but I bet it isn't.
welcome
Welcom indeed, sequin! Don't worry, we'll be gentle, honest:)
The cress idea's a good one... the other thing to do, just before he gets back, is to completely (and I do mean compleately) cover his desk, chair, computer, etc with post-it notes!
whoops! should have said sb5 for the last post, and sb6 for this. Plus sorry for the bad spelling, but that's what comes of trying to type while holding a sandwich!
ps. that's the last blog post, not the old bugle call, obviously
If you're standing in for a fortnight, couldn't we have a photo of you on this blog for the duration - it would make a nice change, liven things up a bit. Infact, why not take advantage and change all those little things that annoy us?
Strapline, photo, access rights ..., Looks like Lissa is going to be busy when she returns from her hols. Once she's sorted out all these blog-site complaints she must be due for a pay rise, and then will probably need another holiday.
PM
“This week’s answers to last week’s conundrumsâ€
I’m shocked to have got in first, and second, today - not to mention with accurate predictions. But all of the above leads me to believe that you’ll be standing in Eric’s chair for a fortnight, which I would advise against for the good of your posture. Presumably the microphones aren’t that high up...
SB11
Will Eddie be sending a postcard blog? He would if he really loves us.
Eddie doesn't really love. He's just using us, throwing us away when it suits him like the last week's Radio Times of fandom into the kerbside recyclates collection box of life.
Ever since Eddie's blog started it's been nothing but changes, disappearances, and now even a stand in! How do you want me to bond, for heaven's sake?!
A disoriented Dutchman
OK OK Its my fault. Carolyn's first entry has my name on it. We are still sorting out her access rights to the publishing software. It should be fixed soon. We're also having problems with the strapline software. I have no idea when that will be fixed. I have no idea where Lissa is. If you see her could you ask her to give me a call?
Peter Rippon, Editor
Lissa,
Run away. Peter is after you, and he want's to ruin your holiday.
There is space for you on Pluto, and we have no World Wide Web up there!
I'm glad to see that Mr Rippon is making every effort to keep this show on the road and we now have our strapline back. But I've just noticed - to my horror - that Eddie's picture shows he is not wearing a tie. Since when have radio presenters been allowed on air without a tie? I do hope Ms Quinn will be properly attired this evening if my sensibilities are not to be offended.
PS Thank you everyone and especially that nice bare-assed chap for your help on Friday. At last I got crap to work and also Satan.
Is Carolyn wearing the requisite shoes, though?
A portrait photo of Carolyn Quinn on this blog page is a nice idea. I think she's lovely.
Is it just me? Or does Eddie Mair's eyes follow you around the room?
Well, it still says 'Comments 0' on my screen.
Andycranl, what's all this about your website? It says:
This is a holding page that is installed on our Ultra range of web servers and there are a number of reasons why you see it.
1. The server is being maintained or being upgraded. Just sit back and relax, we are already working on solving the problem. If the problem is our fault we profusely apologise for the inconvenience it has caused you. In case of an upgrade we do try our best to schedule these events in the middle of the night and over weekends to maximise uptime and we only maintain them during business hours in case of an emergency.
2. Your domain could have been mis-configured and you might want to use our QuickFix function to restore default settings.
Yours sincerely
UK2 - UK's Biggest Host
Thank you for using a service from UK2
Sara: The picture at the top of Eddie not wearing a tie is obviously fake. I'm sure he would never do PM without wearing his dinner jacket.
The picture itself is clearly Eddie's head badly Photoshopped onto Brad Pitt's shoulders, in the manner of a certain non-Â鶹Éç news agency...
Yeeeek! That's never happened before! It seems to work for me (well, it would I suppose).
Try it now, or just sit back and relax abit more. And I , too, profusely apologise for the inconvenience it has caused you. That must be very inconvenient.
Let me know if/when it all comes back, I'd be interested!
Andy (no. 24) — your website works for me.
Thanks Nigel. I think everyone who comes here should test it, just in case ... :)
If CQuinn is running the show, shouldn't it be her picture be up there in lights rather than the itinerant Mr Muir's (sans tie, as already remarked!)... or alternatively holiday picture fragments of where Mr Muir is hiding (a guessing game perhaps)?
Oh I'm being just too daft and it's not even Friday!
Andy (26) - works for me too. And worth the visit (albeit a bit rushed as I have to work, maybe till 6 viz strapline)
Why is it that whenever Â鶹Éç folk add entries to the log they always have a harassed and faintly exasperated tone? I'm not talking about the Eddies and CQuinns of this world, but the people behind the microphone … er … no … I mean in front of the microphone … er no wait a minute ... have no microphone at all … yes that's it. Are we being unreasonable to expect this technology to actually work? I'm sure the Â鶹Éç Charter has a whole chapter on things actually working - at least a hefty paragraph with lots of clauses and impenetrable text and stuff. After all, the debate that goes on here is vital - several folks sanity hangs on it. So cheer up Â鶹Éç, we are only trying to help like the good citizens we are.
NURSE! The lights bleeping on my machine again! No …the lights flashing, and the buzzing thing is bleeping … or it would be bleeping if it didn't come out as more of a buzz … NURSE!
andycranium, pl repost the url and I'll try it.
Is this a ploy to get more people to visit it????
Your mention of the Today Programme gaffe at 8:10am reminded me of the other gaffe this morning regarding Lady Effingham where Naughtie asked for limericks - the only printable ones are here /radio4/today/haveyoursay/youremails.shtml
* At 05:02 PM on 04 Sep 2006,
* Frances O wrote:
andycranium, pl repost the url and I'll try it.
It's on his name on the top line of every post.
xx
ed
sb33
16. At 02:52 PM on 04 Sep 2006, Peter Rippon wrote: OK OK Its my fault. Carolyn's first entry has my name on it. We are still sorting out her access rights
So it is. Thanks, Ed.
btw, if Carolyn is 'sequin', perhaps Eddie should be Eddie Mai*L*, so he could be... oh, no, it's just too neat
sb33 (35 mins later sb34)
16. At 02:52 PM on 04 Sep 2006, Peter Rippon wrote: OK OK Its my fault. Carolyn's first entry has my name on it. We are still sorting out her access rights
Stephen (17), if you're offering Lissa refuge on pluto, as there's there's no www there, are you using the sww (solar wide web), or the all-embrascing gww (galactic wide web) to post the comment?
But I have a serious comment, something sequin has herself alluded to. She's on Today. She's on PM and Saturday PM. She's often the Westminster reporter on the World at One. And even on World Tonight. And the occasional other piece as well. When does she get a chance for forty winks?
Quote O Francis : Is this a ploy to get more people to visit it????
Um, er, yes.
I was going to suggest that everyone bought a painting as a real test of the site's up-ness, but you all would have seen through that too.
Still, thanks for looking and saying nice things, it does me a world of good, that.
(discounts for PM listeners? there's an idea)
Lucy Lastic, 13 - Distinctly remember Eric saying someone had been teaching him how to blog when on holiday - so will he?
Rufus, 33 & 35, your point is? Or is this another technical thingy whizzing over my (admittedly short) head?
andyc's website is well worth many visits : ) (post the cheque, fellow EMBRACE-er)
Frances O, 19 - quite! If she doesn't, I saw a pair of ours in a Sale last week, reduced to £5!! I nearly bought another pair! (remember my middle names - the ones, that is, not connected to royalty and a dead giveaway to ageists!)
SB36 btw who IS keeping score??
I like both Andy's and Steve's works as linked from this blog. PM blogger's discount is n%?. Steve's I particularly admire, since wood-turning was a hobby of my late father, and he taught me (my best was a bowl, turned aged 10, which I am still very proud of, almost forty years on). I'm currently rescuing his chisels after a leak in the roof.
As for some previous comments, I just have never blogged before, therefore had to learn the relivent codes.
SB39
Great article.
Just read the "Effingham" limericks... some not bad. Bit worried about the one from David Kelly though... which radio 4 executive will have to resign because of it? Please let it be the one who commissioned hte naffer "comic" shows.
Val, cheque in post secret EMBRACE sign>
secret EMBRACE sign>
John W : thankyou for saying that! I can get a peaceful smiley sleep tonight.
I liked the wood turning too, some pieces were odd and slightly disturbing, others were a joy to behold. All from turned wood.
Maybe you could take up wood-turning again yourself, and this blog might then have been some use to some one!
Producers mucking about..?
Reminds me of a news item this weekend on mental health issues and how it is viewed by employers.
As a slightly nervous though brave guy is starting to talk about his experiences with schizophrenia, a recorded ident blurted:
"..5 Live - getting the news to you whe.."
[....]
"hello..? hello is there anyone..?"
"Oh, so sorry about that. Please continue"
"oh [ha ha] yes. well. erm schizophrenia is a disturbing illness, but it can be overcome..."
poor sod - completely stiffed by someone's elbow slipping on the controls... though obviously not a Producer's (heaven forbid)
Eeeek andyc - now you are doing it too with the HTML italics thingy!
sb46 (Hours later)
(35 mins later sb34)
sb33 16. At 02:52 PM on 04 Sep 2006, Peter Rippon wrote: OK OK Its my fault. Carolyn's first entry has my name on it. We are still sorting out her access rights
Sorting out her access rights?
You mean the poor lass is stuck there all day without a key to the Executive Washroom and the cocktail cabinet?
I think we should be told.
Moral:
Before messing with html - put on spectacles, or activate "Preview", or (best of all) do BOTH!
Hoping that sequin and I both fare better tomorrow.
John (36) - surely the preferred method is the galatic sub-etha net.
A week in southern Croatia. Lots of work. Lots of thinking about a country recovering from war. Lots of not being able to reliably log on and get a worthwhile dose of the PM blog.
It's like coming home.
Oh, I have come home. You turn your back for a couple of days and, quite honestly, all hell breaks loose. What have you all done to this site? Even the Erwin-chubb has left in need of a holiday.
Quick comments: lovely story about the wood turning John W... Val P. - gosh, you've revealed your age, and I have to say that I am incredibly impressed with both your PC skills and your world view - all from a 3 year old. andycranium is clearly on the up. Figlover - isn't she 5-Live? I've obviously missed more than the last week. Satan - got that in Cavtat - I'm running Realv10 which probably helped. Yes, Rufus, what is your point - I'm sure you have one, please share.
Gosh, I'm exhausted. I need to go somewhere for a holiday.
Bugger. Forgot the SB 49. This one SB 50. Demob Happy, you know what it's like...
Just remembered, John H - it was you doing the keeping of the scores was it not?
Welcome home. Where are our postcards?
SB50
I'm on the up!
This isn't a good example of girlpower is it - Sequin's been in the job one day and has already stopped blogging (and where's today's newsletter?).. Perhaps I just need to get out more.
John W 36 & aggie 53 - if you want something done, ask a busy woman!
Now, now, aggie! Sequin's got to get used to the idea of blogging regularly, and that takes a little time. Of course, if this continues, there'll have to be a protest march...
SB55
Val P. your 54 - NB "your" is correct spelling.
(I'm not looking for a fight.)
"Ask a busy woman"
Isn't that the origin of the phrase "Do it yourself"?
Neither am I Rufus - but "your" isn't in my 54???
Oh, eck - fisticuffs.
Fight! Fight! Fight! ...
What do you think he means? I've wasted no end of time looking through old posts (yawn), and missing out on today's happenings now.
In case nobody has asked, is Peter Rippon related to Angela Rippon? More nepotism at the Â鶹Éç, or what?
SB61
I think Rufus A B (56) was pre-empting a potential suggestion from a fellow blogger that he might've meant "you're 54", which would be a whole different ball game. But then, what do I know?
SB61
btw, thanks to several people for explaining, and griping about, HTML tags - I now know what the helpful little message to the left of the comment box means. Usually I'm just careful not to wear brown shoes with black trousers for "style"...
I might give it a go. Expect some inexplicable posts from me soon..
Oh Aperitif, thank you, thank you (no irony intended) I see what you mean. Rufus, old friend, mea culpa, I took that completely the wrong way, as you've probably realised. Oh dear, best go back on the pills. Glass of water please Nurse?
Damn, that's another imaginary bus gone by.
Just thought I'd wish myself a belated Happy Birthday for last year; belated because this is the 4th and it was actually on the 3rd.