bullseye blackout

hello there


every now and then - not often, look you see, but all the same once in a while - i write a piece here that proves to be popular. maybe not phenomenally popular, but well liked all the same. of such instances, a recent one was when i investigated whether or not one could comfortably and suitably watch repeat screenings of Bullseye if for some reason they found themselves in Nottingham.

should you be of a mind to read that particular article, here is a link to it. kindly note, though, that the article was written and published whilst his greatness, his excellency Jim Bowen was still alive and with us.

due to the popularity of that article, and as a fitting tribute to the eternal memory of Jim Bowen, i thought it would be a jolly good idea to venture towards Nottingham again. ostensibly i did so for unrelated reasons, but whilst there it made a great deal of sense to investigate whether one can still watch such repeats.

the answer, alas, is no. i see no need to prolong the giving of this answer. as you can see in the above image, i trust, i tuned in the television provided to me by the hotel at the time Bullseye was bring broadcast and was greeted with no such broadcast.

i have no further information on why the people of Nottingham, or specifically why i when in Nottingham, came to be denied the lessons and sermons of Jim Bowen from days of future passed. no, it did not seem wise or appropriate to ask anyone, lest it be a legal issue behind it all and i ended up getting arrested by the Nottingham constabulary for breaching the subject, or if you like topic.

a guess - purely speculative, of course - would be that Nottingham has chosen to blackout the entire channel what screens Bullseye as a tribute to Jim Bowen. this would be a rather misguided tribute if so, for surely the best way to honour him would be to watch his work.

yes, that is indeed a selfie thing of moi, either on my way to or from Nottingham as i made my way to ascertain this rather upsetting development. there are a few more below. to my thinking it's been a while since i posted some selfies, and for some reason one or two of you like to see how i am progressing. quite well, really. although i must confess the beard has been trimmed since the above was taken.

aside from the important business of checking if one could or, as it turns out, could not witness broadcasts of Jim Bowen, did i do other things of interest in Nottingham? yes, but there are only so many of them which i can disclose. perhaps i shall do so in another post.

for now, though, this. i observed the below en route to Nottingham, at a service station somewhere near York but not actually in York.

that is indeed a sticker placed on a bin. yes, you are seeing it right, or if you will correct, it was placed by someone or other proclaiming that they were "Hartlepool United On Tour". i found this particularly fascinating as the only means of getting to there to place this sticker was by car, or bus or truck or similar. as highlighted here, and in several posts since, Hartlepool has taken a very stern anti-car stance of late. how very interesting that people from such an anti-car place would openly flaunt they are using that which their home would seek to eliminate.

oh, yes. i think until the end of time i shall mention that particular incident in Hartlepool. as awesome and excellent as their approach to things suspected of French may well be, i do consider myself quite hard done by.

which leads us to another selfie. one taken at another coastal place, but one which, unlike Hartlepool, values people visiting and does not make it at all impossible to park a car in a fair and reasonable way.

no, that image was not taken on the way to or from Nottingham in respect of this investigation. for some reason i had added it to the same folder of images, though. anyway, it is here now, and what a lovely day it was when i took that.

anyway, back to the issue of the Bullseye blackout, or as many of you may prefer to say it, the Bowen blackout. it is entirely possible that darker, more unpleasant motivations are at work. perhaps the good people of Nottingham always remained jealous that his excellency, the great Jim Bowen was not one of them, and have now blanked him out purely to be spiteful. if so, this would be a great shame.

yes, i suppose it could just be the hotel what i was in. maybe they were just cheap, or not technically gifted enough, to fit and connect an aerial powerful enough to receive the almighty transmissions of the Challenge channel. i am rather doubtful of this, as it was one of the poshest and finest hotels Nottingham has to offer that i stayed in.

as things stand, then, no, on the basis of my experiences of late, one can no longer watch Bullseye repeats in Nottingham. hopefully this is just temporary. for i would hate to think of a city denied the greatness of them. who knows, perhaps i shall make another trip that way and find that one can freely and easily see them again.

one last selfie, then. yes, this was heading to or from Nottingham. most likely at a service station, but not one where people off of Hartlepool and placed stickers on bins; or at least not that i recall.

it used to be that service stations were once the best part of road trips across the country. you could buy tapes and things, and have a Little Chef. however, it's all franchises and chain stores now. quite a pity.

well, that would be about that for this post, then.




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!