November 8-10, 1999 – Is That Your Final Answer?

The weather is still nice here—like autumn at home and, just like at home, it is a bit unpredictable; Monday is quite windy and chilly. Tuesday is so warm I had to open the window in my room to cool things down.

My schedule feels a bit overwhelming just now. Between finishing my presentation, packing for Scotland, and making other travel arrangements, I don’t seem able to finish one thing, before I jump to something else, and none of them gets done. Dean says I really should be making reservations now if I am planning to go to Paris in December, so that adds one more thing to the list. Is anyone feeling sorry for me as I go winging off to try and find the Loch Ness monster?

Tony says if I pack up my things, he will store them. If he can rent my room while I am away, he will deduct that from my rent. If not, no harm done. It might save me a few nights rent. This is really awfully good of him.

I have been watching a fun game show called, “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” It is a good format. There are 14 questions; each escalating in value from £100, to £500, up to a million. If you answer a question right, you can go on to the next one. If you get a question wrong you lose everything. Although there are two stages where you can decide to walk away and keep what you have―at £1,000 and £32,000. The questions are multiple choice and you have three “lifelines.” You can: 1) ask the audience for help, 2) call a friend, or 3) take a 50-50 meaning the game show eliminates two of the answers leaving you just two to choose from.

Caroline watches it regularly and during the commercials runs into the guest TV room to ask me excitedly whether I knew this or that answer. She thinks I should call the number to become a contestant on the show.

• A word about British TV programming: The BBC’s programming schedule is weird. The Millionaire game show is on at different times on different nights. Last night, it was on at 8:00 PM. Tonight, it is 7:30 PM. It seems the BBC just shows whatever they want whenever they feel like showing it. For several weeks, I watched Ballykissangel at 8:00 PM on Sunday night. One Sunday, for no apparent reason, it was on at 7:00 PM instead, and I missed it.

• In today’s news: The Queen is traveling on a State Visit to Ghana and South Africa. She was warmly received in Ghana, which left the Commonwealth in 1969. Since then, they have formed a Republic and have implemented some democratic systems. However, they all love the Queen and see her as a symbol of stability. It is also reported that Prince Charles will lay the wreath at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday since the Queen will be in South Africa. The mayoral race for London’s first elected mayor is beset with politics. Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Treasury, is preparing a new budget with lots of tax breaks, he says. And London is prospering without adopting the euro, thank you very much.

• A word about British news: The print media appears to hold sway over other forms of news. The TV and radio news reporters have the curious habit of featuring as one of their news stories that day’s print headlines, actually reading or holding up the papers to show the headlines. Instead of deciding for themselves what warrants important news, they just tell us what the newspaper moguls think is important.