So, here we are week six is it? The time goes by, there is a sameness to every day, comforting in a way. I seem to have slipped back into the routine that was familiar in my childhood. We all know how it goes. Monday washing, Tuesday Ironing and so on and so on, the week getting used up with tasks that have assumed an importance that we had long ago left behind. In the background the suppressed fear for my daughter, my son, my niece, my nephew, and all who work front-line. The hope that I never see the sadness of loss on the face of anyone I know. Mercifully I have been spared so far, but my heart goes out to anyone whose relatives are taken from them by this silent and terrible virus that has stolen our lives.
Over the week there has been some great television. Thanks to the many added channels that have been added to the service. On Sunday evening Van I.T.V. gave us Van Der Valk, a mini-series based initially on the novels of Nicholas Freeling, rose again like a phoenix from the ashes of the nineteen seventies. The main character Piet Van Der Valk, a grumpy, world weary homicide detective, familiar to some of us of a certain age, formally played by Barry Foster, is played this time round by Marc Warren, a wonderful actor, familiar to us in tele land from his many characterisations in the past. However, there seems to be something slightly off in this enterprise. The characters that little bit too slick, the story slightly too convoluted, an almost cobbling together of various differing plot scenarios that were found hanging around the writing room cupboards. The star of the show was undoubtebly the photography of Amsterdam, the show was worth watching for that, and the echoes of Eye Level, the number one original theme tune that could be heard. Really about the only thing that connected us to the original. I think that possibly this bandwagon has unfortunately already passed the get on and go stop.
Sticking to the detective theme, this week I’ve been reading the Iona Khan Series by Manchester writer Chris Simms. Not a new crime writer by any means, having the successful Jon Spicer series of novels under his belt. Well crafted, good plot line, well worth the effort of getting hold of it.