The Freelance Life

There’s nothing like the life of a freelancer - one day you are snowed under with work, the next you have enough time on your hands to blog again.
Of course, things usually die down around Christmas, but this year the period leading up to Christmas has been particularly busy - not that there’s anything wrong with that! But I know that business will get quiet now until Christmas is over and everyone starts gearing up for the New Year.
A bit more downtime means I have more time for reading - oh joy! - and with Christmas so close, I have to knuckle down to some mserious decoration and present making, crafts being my other hobby.
I am currently reading The Archers - The True Story, by William Smethurst. It is fascinating and compulsive reading. Who knew there would be so much drama behind the comfy radio serial I used to listen to with my Mum? The ups and downs of the show over its amzingly long run on the BBC are faithfully recorded. I feel most sorry for Gwen Berryman, who played Doris Archer - in her advancing years she suffered terribly from arthritis and was forced to climb two flights of stairs to a stuffy little recording room. As arthritis attacked her hands, it was increasingly difficult for her to turn script pages quietly. I am now officially an osteoarthristis sufferer so I know how she felt.
The poor woman was kept in a constant state of fear over her job security, even though she often suffered so much pain that she felt she had to resign - but her resignations were never accepted, nor was her life made easier by the producers. If the actors were poorly treated and poorly paid, the writers were even more so, as they struggled to keep up audience interest.
But it was ever thus - in the world of entertainment, writers are the lowest on the totem pole.
Speaking of the BBC, I have discovered BBC Radio 7, a marvellous service replaying all my old radio favourites - The Navy Lark, The Goons, Round The Horne - as well as drama serials like The Forsyte Saga and Les Miserables, and documentaries like This Sceptered Isle. For a die hard radio fan like me it’s Heaven, and a wonderful escape from modern radio, which does nothing but play Britney Spears and rap songs ad nauseum.
Try out BBC 7, plug in your earphones and have fun!

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