The one in which Neil loves his work in the heartland… Halcyon days. The world was a very different place in 2018 (or 2BC as I have come to think of it: i.e., two years Before Covid). Because no one, except for those who accept the fanciful theory that a handful of malevolent and scheming…
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The one in which Neil returns to the UK and finds he has a lot on his plate; and then even more on his mind… Distance versus Closeness. This visit back to the UK always was going to be an emotional journey; how for instance would my elderly parents be after me being away for…
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The one in which Neil gets ready for a return to the UK… More cost, less speed. Incredibly, it’s been 5 months since my last ‘Notes’ update to this haphazard canon, but in my defence, it’s not been down to laziness on my part; instead, it’s simply coincided with a rather busy period for Heather…
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The one in which Neil ticks an item off his bucket list… More than a game? As you might imagine, given the conditioning that goes on here from the generally poor standard of broadcast journalism on offer (for the most part, it’s the regurgitation of political bumph and Covid statistics that Australian television viewers are…
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The one in which Neil gets a reality check… Great news. When an event or situation gets ‘great’ attached to the front of it, you can generally assume that what follows is a description of something with significant importance to society: in the past for instance, we’ve had historically monumental things like ‘the great war’,…
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The one in which neighbours take pity on us… Our house is a very, very, very fine house. At last, we’re in our new home; and as you might imagine, the relief of finally securing a place and moving in was immense. It was left solely in Heather’s hands to find us a suitable property…
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The one in which Neil thinks he’s turning Japanese… Faster, Longer, Higher, Stronger. Tokyo. It’s 25 years to the month since I first visited Japan as a young location sound recordist for the BBC, covering several stories for that long-gone popular science programme, Tomorrow’s World: a broadcasting institution that came out of the wonderful Science…
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The one in which Neil ends up in a Japanese hospital… ‘You only get one chance to make a first impression.’ It’s pretty well acknowledged that cyclists are the fittest of all athletes; they require stamina and endurance, but also explosive power on demand. They have a wide range of disciplines to cover, too; professional…
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The one in which Neil qualifies for the Olympics… Dope testing. As a film and television sound professional who has been fortunate to achieve a certain longevity in this most capricious of businesses, it would be difficult for me to single out any one job that has been either the most amazing, the most exciting…
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The one in which Heather and Neil play Bonnie and Clyde… ‘We’ve not had that spirit here since 1869…’ The Sydney InterContinental Hotel might only have been a couple of blocks away from our quarantine hotel of the previous two weeks, but the five-star service, surroundings and sensation were a world away from the institutional…
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