WEDNESDAY 27 FEBRUARY

A little late, maybe, but hey - what’s a day between friends?

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
Right. Sit up straight and pay attention, class. Maureen, Hildie - stop looking out of the window. Gilly - stop scribbling. And you boys - stop swapping notes under the desk (if that IS what you’re doing).

George.....don’t do that.

(At this point, I was going to say ‘Sid, this is, after all, all YOUR FAULT so come here and bend over!’ - but I realised it could easily be misinterpreted, especially by Sid himself.)

Any way.....The Gaffer has something to say.

As you can imagine - indeed, as you all know perfectly well - I’ve spent the last couple of days reading and re-reading your comments on the Seventieth Posting AND those you’ve made on yesterday’s. I have spent the last three hours printing them all out so I can carry them around with me and make notes in the margins. No, really! 30 pages of close-lined 10-point A4. The most obvious conclusion is....that it’s going to be utterly impossible to shut you up from now on. In fact, I sincerely hope that you will NEVER shut up from now on. Is that clear?

For what they’re worth, here are the thought processes that have been going on in what passes for my brain.

As I’ve already said - it seemed to me that, with the many meanderings and investigations and explanations and self-revelations you’ve all been making, you’ve kind of left my trivial witterings way behind. You’ve raised the bar by several captivating notches and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed trying to catch up. (So, incidentally, have several of my BBC colleagues - including Alfie Joey, who sings your praises loudly and often; if you’re awake during the day, get in touch with him - he’d like that very much.)

I will try to respond to as many of the points you’ve raised as I can but it will take time. To start with, though, I am genuinely sorry I didn’t mention the AV Festival. I’m one of its biggest fans but it simply fell by the wayside imposed by time constraints. In any case, I would heartily recommend that you go along to any event/display that you can get to. But do you see what I mean? There’s LOADS of stuff I want to respond to!!!

(George.....don’t do that.)

From some of the comments you’ve made, I know that many of you must be aware of my predicament; indeed, you’ve already suggested ways we can take this ‘palace revolution’ forward - by keeping things the way they are, by adding a new Mag 7 element to the blog, by trying to mix contributions in some way, by setting up several different blogs or by setting up a brand new shop as a Yahoo Group. Each of these has its attractions and I’m grateful for the obvious thought you’ve given the matter. But, after much serious loss of sleep, I have a different suggestion....

YOU will write the blog.

STOP chattering!

I don’t mean you will write it every day. What I’m proposing is that, say, once a week or so, one of you will compose the blog on any subject that takes your fancy - from collecting teapots via tuning pianos, living in Alton/New Zealand/Illinois, mending cars and re-living schoolday memories to board games, feeling ill, allotments and Highland cattle - with all points in between (including puzzle-setting!).

I can almost hear the shrieks of horror from here but you only have yourselves to blame. You’ve already shown that you can interact, expound, investigate and otherwise expand on ANY subject AT ALL. Its your senses of curiosity, wonder and humour - and your collective experiences of Life, the Universe and Everything - that sustained the chain of comments that follow the Seventieth Posting (and, I notice, the Seventy-First!)

All you need to do is draft your posting and send it to me at the BBC or here at home - or both. I will then post it for you. I promise that I won’t edit your draft (unless it's illegal in some way) - knock me down with a feather if I do.

And you needn’t worry about spelling or grammar. I’ll correct any errors I notice ( - not that MY postings are exactly models of the English language). So you can relax on that score.

As Grosvenor’s manservant, Lawrence should go first.

Be quiet Lawrence! I won’t take No for an answer.

So let’s give it a try, should we, class? Lawrence.....send me a draft of the posting due next Thursday, 6 March. (I’m trying to make this sound like an instruction rather than an invitation!) We’ll take it from there.

I hope that, even if you don’t fully agree with this method of taking the truckshunter family forward, you’ll join in the fun anyway. If we don’t try it, we’ll never know, will we?

In the meantime - and if it doesn’t work - we will still have Pickler’s idea of a new Yahoo Group to think about.

One final thought....

Remember how I once remarked that I missed the face-to-face contact I became accustomed to on the Big Blue Bus? Well, reading your comments has made me desperately curious to meet you, if only to put faces to names. So I’m now going to dream up a rough schedule of visits - either you to me here in Spital Tongues or me to you wherever you may be (except Alton).

You have been warned. And again, remember - you only have yourselves to blame.

George.......

RYAN
I echo my fellow truckshunters' good wishes, Ryan. I hope all goes exactly as you would wish. A friend of mine used to live in Alton ('farmstead by the alders') and recommends it. Why not tell us how the move goes - and what your first impressions of the town and its people are - here on the blog?

CONTACT ME
Post comments on this blog or contact me in any one (or more) of these ways....
ian.robinson@bbc.co.uk
ianstuartrobinson@googlemail.com
text 07786 200954 (while the programme is on-air)
call (between about 0545 and 0630 Monday to Friday) 0191 232 6565
Ian Robinson, The Nightshift, BBC Radio Newcastle, Spital Tongues, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE99 1RN

NOTE
Please bear in mind that the views expressed in this blog are my own and NOT the views of the BBC.