Robert Hampton

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August 2008

3rd August 2008

The Perfect Alibi
Posted by at 10.46am | In the News | 1 response

Barry George, 48, told the News of the World he could not have killed Miss Dando because he was following another woman at the time. [BBC]

4th August 2008

Blogs, trains and no automobiles
Posted by at 1.13pm | Trains | No responses

Apologies for not being around recently. You could be forgiven for thinking, after recent posts, that I have given up on the blog. That’s not the case. In fact, I think I’ve finally got my blog redesign to a point where I can put it online. I’ve been working on it for over a year and have not been satisfied, but on Saturday afternoon I made a few changes to the colour scheme and it all clicked. There’s a few other things to sort out, and then I’ll put it up. Are you excited yet? No? Oh.

On Wednesday I debuted my manbag in public. I had to go to York with various items in tow, and it made sense to put everything in a bag rather than try and stuff it all into my sweaty trouser pockets. Unfortunately my paranoia kicked in. I placed said bag on the floor beneath my train seat, but was afraid to let go of it completely for fear that I would forget it when leaving the train. I also felt the need to constantly check it to make sure my mobile phone, railcard and sundry items were all present and correct. How do women manage all the time?

The journey was, regrettably, not hassle-free. Thanks to TransPennine Express’s refusal to call at Liverpool South Parkway, I had to change from Merseyrail onto a local stopping train to Warrington and pick up the express there. I queried TPE about LSP (I love TLAs) a while back and was told in no uncertain terms that they had no plans to “operate to, from or via” this station. Bloody daft, considering the trains have to slow to a crawl through LSP to take the junction towards Hunts Cross and therefore actually stopping would make little difference, but there you go.

Read the rest of this post »

5th August 2008

Five Oh Two
Posted by at 1.20pm | Trains | No responses

Apropos of nothing, this is my new favourite train picture — look, it’s so shiny! Unfortunately, that preserved unit is not quite so shiny these days, but hopefully that can be fixed.

6th August 2008

Hampo says Relax
Posted by at 10.51pm | Liverpool, Music | No responses

I’ve not been happy with Liverpool Museum (or World Museum Liverpool as they’re called now), ever since they got rid of the Land Transport Gallery and put most of the collection, including a Liverpool Overhead Railway carriage and original Mersey Railway steam loco, into storage.

However, I can forgive them all that, thanks to their latest exhibition, The Beat Goes On, which aims to showcase the history of the Liverpool music scene from the 1940s up to the present day — everything from Ken Dodd to Cream. No-one could ever accuse me of being on the cutting edge of music (I once tuned into BBC 6Music by mistake and had to lie down for several hours), but even I was favourably impressed by the sheer amount of Liverpool talent (and Atomic Kitten) on show.

Hurray for Liverpool Museum, and hurray for my sister who dragged me along with her on Sunday afternoon.

The leaf cutter ants in the Bug House are seriously cool, too. This is completely separate to the music exhibition – Leaf Cutter Ants is not the name of a new band. Although it could be.

10th August 2008

Vignette
Posted by at 5.44pm | It's My Life | No responses

Shopping for clothes today, with my sister on hand to protect me against fashion faux pas:-

ME: (holding up garment) This looks interesting; I’ve never seen anything like this before. What’s this called?
HER: (patiently) It’s a scarf.

12th August 2008

Ooo-kay
Posted by at 1.21pm | In the News | No responses

This is one of those times when any comment seems superfluous.

\"Giant turd wreaks museum havoc - Inflatable dog mess art work blown from moorings and brings down power line in Switzerland\"

13th August 2008

This will go down well

A think-tank has published a slightly bizarre report claiming that Liverpool and other Northern cities will never “catch up” with London and the government should stop putting regeneration cash in.

Instead he said Liverpool residents should move south to London, claiming the decline of the docks had taken away the city’s reason to exist.

Yes, that’s a great idea, because the thing London needs more than anything else is more people.

In a way the report does make a valid point about the London-centric nature of the country. However the solution is surely to encourage people and businesses to move away from the stupidly overpopulated London area and into the North, rather than the other way round.

Economic and social arguments aside, let me put it like this: I’ll take Merseyrail, the Super Lamb Banana and the Beatles over the Tube, the Fourth Plinth and Chas’n’Dave any day.

The Echo have helpfully published the e-mail address of the report’s author. I’m sure he will receive lots of constructive criticism amidst the hate mail.

14th August 2008

Tim Leunig has it in his Sky+ planner already!
Posted by at 11.04pm | Liverpool, Television | No responses

Next week is Liverpool on the Box week on BBC Four, a week-long season of programmes showcasing Liverpool’s contribution to British television.

The highlight of Liverpool on the Box week surely comes on Tuesday, with a programme called… er, Liverpool on the Box which promises some 1985-vintage footage of Russell Harty sitting in with Billy Butler on Hold Your Plums. Carla Lane is also featured, but don’t let that put you off.

There’s also some Z Cars; a 1959-made documentary (Morning on the Streets) about post-war Liverpool; a 2008-made documentary (Tales of Twelve Cities) by Alan Bleasdale; a repeat of Trouble at the Top about the problem-plagued attempts to open a Beatles themed hotel; and much more archive-raiding goodness.

All in all, this looks quite special and well worth sellotaping over the record-protect hole of an E240 for. And it all culminates — hurrah! — with Our Day Out next Friday!

23rd August 2008

eCheques and Balances
Posted by at 2.02pm | Web | No responses

Stupid, stupid PayPal. I used it to pay for some stuff online earlier this week, not realising that it had defaulted to “eCheque” as a payment method. I subsequently found out that eCheques take approximately five hundred years to clear into the seller’s account, delaying the goods and generally being annoying.

All because I forgot to update my expired credit card details and missed the tiny print on the payment screen. A quick Google search confirms I’m not the only one to be caught out.

25th August 2008

Clue do you think you are?
Posted by at 5.23pm | Radio | No responses

Some very good news: I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue will continue.

Whether the show will succeed without Humphrey Lyttelton depends very much on who they get to take over. I can’t think of anyone who could match his deadpan delivery.

27th August 2008

Rum, Sodomy and the Lash… well, one out of three
Posted by at 7.40pm | Fun | 3 responses

I don’t normally do “unintentionally funny advertisements”, but this was too good to pass up:-

It's History So Close... You'll Think You're There

(hat tip: The Register)