The Spirit of the Stairwell

“I think I can make the noise of a door creaking open with my hair…”

Bit of a weird one for you this week as The Ood Cast go back to basics. Four people, four microphones, in a room, talking. Yes, this is the Oods unplugged and unhinged without the aid of a script or a safety net.

(And because we recorded it three weeks ago we’re also woefully out of date when it comes to details of Season 6 so definitely no spoilers)

There’s even less cohesion than usual as Andy, Laura, Alpha and Sigma jump from one topic to the next with the linguistic grace of a herd of buffalos with big feet dancing swan lake on a minefield. Comments that have no immediate relevance, a review of Space & Time, hysteria, memoirs, podcest and a very special birthday wish all make an appearance.

And, okay, there are a few short sketches about the Brigadier and a cover of a song by the lovely folk at Radio Rassilon too.

But mostly it’s tales told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing…

We wouldn’t have it any other way.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 40:23 — 37.3MB)

The Tories are going to get into power. It’ll be like the 80s all over again. We’re in a fix.

But until then there’s this …

To see more (and to make your own), go here - http://mydavidcameron.com.

Let’s make the most of it while we can. The guy is going to be our leader soon.

Our leader.

It’s like a horrible dystopian nightmare.

Chris Fosten writes:

It’s here. The Ood Cast: Episood 1. (That’s right, we’re busting out puns right from the get go – that’s just how we roll.)

The most important thing we want everyone to know before we start (and we say it on the podcast too) is that we love the show. Utterly. Even when we are disappointed by what we see, we love it.

Even, it seems, when we have quite large, uber-geeky reasons for never wanting to see that hour of TV again, we still do. And we still go and buy the DVDs.

Because, to us, Doctor Who isn’t something we can take or leave. It’s almost the thing that has been with us since we were wee bairns in the highlands. Or small children from the south of England (delete according to the way you wish to think of us).

In the words of countless Mitchell characters in Eastenders (so I’m told), “It’s family”. And it is.

Chris has said on this very blog that the Doctor has had a massive effect on the way he chose to do things (I’m still a little unsure about the blazer and the celery in the lapel, although I’m sure we’ll all get used to it), but for the three of us who make up the male contingent of the podcast, it’s something that rings a – cloister – bell. (Ha! See what I did there?! Oh, never mind)

Laura brings a fresh and sharp view to proceedings to prove that we are just old school idiots sometimes. And that sometimes we do have a point. But not all the time.

We would readily admit that we are sometimes critical. But it’s simply, and only, because we love the show and like to sit around daydreaming about what we’d like to see happen next, or how something should be done.

That could be just me.

And sometimes, life really doesn’t come to any harm if you ask a few questions about things.

Join us for our little journeys through (limited) Time and (cramped) Space. We’d all love you to.

This song is ending, but the story never ends … I’m kidding, that was a terrible line.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 37:29 — 34.4MB)

Walmart owned cheapo supermarket Asda is rubbish. Watch this film to find out why.

The last time I did a sponsored event I was still at school and it was a sponsored silence.

That was a long time ago. We didn’t even have the internet then. We had to go around with a clipboard and collect sponsorship manually. That’s really hard when you can’t speak. I guess I should have planned in advance.

Anyway, I’m now going to cycle to Copengahen for the December climate change talks. Talks that could very well impact on the continued existence of humanity so, you know, I thought I’d check them out. We’re cycling 140 miles in three days in weather conditions that could charitably be described as ‘unpleasant’. Quite a challenge when, to quote Friends, you have a body shape ‘like a potato with arm and legs … and a head’.

My target is to raise £2000 for Christian Aid. Quite a large sum of money, especially in these lean times, but believe me when I say that anything you could spare would be a great help, particularly if you GiftAid it.

Why Christian Aid? Easy, it’s the best development agency out there, fighting poverty in partnership with local agencies in 50 countries worldwide. Christian Aid works with people of all faiths and none, its mission is nothing less than the total eradication of extreme poverty from the face of the Earth by identifying and dismantling the mechanisms that keep people poor. I believe its work is invaluable.

I also work for them.

Which is nice.

Anyway, I hope some of my readers will choose to sponsor me. For my part, I’ll attempt to be witty and entertaining as I recount the two month training period and the ride itself on this blog. If that doesn’t do it for you, I’ll post pictures of me looking red faced and sweaty like a lumpy radish in lycra.

My sponsorship page is at www.justgiving.com/spiritofthestairwell.

Okay, watch this video …

Now if, at any point, you found yourself nodding in agreement with that (if, in fact, your response was anything other than a nauseous, hollow void opening up in the pit of your stomach accompanied by a deep all-consuming sadness that people feel the need to treat each other in that way) then I don’t think we’re ever going to be friends. It’s probably best we part company at this early stage before we become too attached to each other. Freedom of speech sounds like such a noble concept until people use it to spout self-righteous, unsubstantiated poison.

For the rest of us there’s this to reassure ourselves we’re not alone: