A Day To Cherish
Jul. 13th, 2004 11:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fiat_knoxFirstly, my report for the day.
After the disappointments of the last two or three months, today has turned out to be a great day for me so far.
I had been prepared for this day for about a week or so, ever since I saw the posters advertising it in the local library: a TV weather presenter, Derek Brockway, was appearing in the BBC Wales Community Centre of Wrexham Library to deliver speeches on how to present the weather as part of a huge promotion they were doing, to get people in the community to participate in the BBC, etc.
There is one thing the BBC really know how to do well, and that's deliver public service broadcasting that involves everyone in the community.
I dropped by, and to my delight I was recognised by the people who worked there. One of the staff, Lal, remembered me from the last time, and gave me a warm greeting as if I were a favourite regular visitor.
I got to meet the weatherman himself, Derek Brockway, and found him as affable and charming as his on - screen personality.
"You need maths and physics to understand the weather, but to present it you also have to have a working knowledge of drama," he told me, after giving me his signature.
And there was certainly drama to be found in the studio, where the public were being invited to turn up in front of a big board with a map of Wales, and present the weather for a few seconds before the cameras.
I was given the choice: to read from the autocue, or to make it up as I go along. I went for the autocue, and holding the little magnetic symbols in my hands.
8-0 I actually got to hold the little magnetic symbols in my hands! :D
To understand the thrill behind this, you have to go back a long way, to the dawn of the televised weather forecast, when all the maps were basically big metal boards with the maps stuck to the front of them, and the symbols for the weather were these magnetic rubber symbols, like fridge magnets.
Before the advent of CGI, these nifty little symbols were all the rage. Everyone wanted to know where they could lay their hands on them; that's how much of an appeal they held in the public consciousness.
For this day only, the little rubber symbols made a comeback. :) And I got to handle them.
One fewer unfulfilled childhood ambition. I feel so alive.
That simple joy just kept me glowing all the way home. Incidentally, the escapade resulted in a little video, which I'm now pleased to say now takes pride of place on my video shelf, alongside ... er ... the several dozen other little TV appearances I've made since 1992.
Face it. I'm an unabashed media whore. ;)
After the disappointments of the last two or three months, today has turned out to be a great day for me so far.
I had been prepared for this day for about a week or so, ever since I saw the posters advertising it in the local library: a TV weather presenter, Derek Brockway, was appearing in the BBC Wales Community Centre of Wrexham Library to deliver speeches on how to present the weather as part of a huge promotion they were doing, to get people in the community to participate in the BBC, etc.
There is one thing the BBC really know how to do well, and that's deliver public service broadcasting that involves everyone in the community.
I dropped by, and to my delight I was recognised by the people who worked there. One of the staff, Lal, remembered me from the last time, and gave me a warm greeting as if I were a favourite regular visitor.
I got to meet the weatherman himself, Derek Brockway, and found him as affable and charming as his on - screen personality.
"You need maths and physics to understand the weather, but to present it you also have to have a working knowledge of drama," he told me, after giving me his signature.
And there was certainly drama to be found in the studio, where the public were being invited to turn up in front of a big board with a map of Wales, and present the weather for a few seconds before the cameras.
I was given the choice: to read from the autocue, or to make it up as I go along. I went for the autocue, and holding the little magnetic symbols in my hands.
8-0 I actually got to hold the little magnetic symbols in my hands! :D
To understand the thrill behind this, you have to go back a long way, to the dawn of the televised weather forecast, when all the maps were basically big metal boards with the maps stuck to the front of them, and the symbols for the weather were these magnetic rubber symbols, like fridge magnets.
Before the advent of CGI, these nifty little symbols were all the rage. Everyone wanted to know where they could lay their hands on them; that's how much of an appeal they held in the public consciousness.
For this day only, the little rubber symbols made a comeback. :) And I got to handle them.
One fewer unfulfilled childhood ambition. I feel so alive.
That simple joy just kept me glowing all the way home. Incidentally, the escapade resulted in a little video, which I'm now pleased to say now takes pride of place on my video shelf, alongside ... er ... the several dozen other little TV appearances I've made since 1992.
Face it. I'm an unabashed media whore. ;)
