I’ve been away a long time …
Advert
Quite often I get asked questions about life back in Britain. Sometimes it is easy to give an answer, but sometimes I find myself having to say “You know, it’s a long time since I was back home … things may have changed but, back then, it was like this … “.
My last visit home was eight years ago; in November 2005 – and before that it was in November 2000. I noticed on my last visit that, although most things were still very familiar, there were many things that seemed very strange.
Take the Oyster Card, for example … a form of electronic ticketing used on public transport in the Greater London area, (on the Tube – the London Underground, on the buses, the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), London Overground, some river boat services and most National Rail services within the London fare zones). Apparently they can also be used on London trams … and that news took me aback … I didn’t know that London had any trams.
For the record: they didn’t have trams for the seventeen years I lived there – indeed, for most of my life. Trams were introduced in London in 1860, (between Victoria Street and Westminster – literally using horse power – steam power, then compressed air and electric trams were to follow), but their use was discontinued in 1952 – before I was born. Although there had been some consideration of reintroducing them back in the late 1970s, the new Tramlink system was introduced only in 2000, some years after I had left Britain, and London in particular. The, so far, limited network operates in South London – between Wimbledon and Beckenham and Addington, passing through Croydon.
In theory, I knew the background to the Oyster card as Hong Kong had been experimenting with such a system and it was a classic case study example for my Computer Studies/Science classes … and I had come across similar, simpler, systems on public transport elsewhere in Europe. (The Hong Kong system, however, seemed to be much more versatile as it was planned as a Payment Card which could be used to buy goods and services from a variety of outlets and the system would deduct the money from your account which you had to keep topping up.) All the same, I found it a little disconcerting to be faced with it for the first time … it was a distinct sign that things were moving on and leaving me behind.
I came across a similar reminder last week. I was quickly scanning my Facebook feed when I saw a post from the BBC about the Archers.
For the Record, and for the uninitiated … The Archers is a long-running radio soap opera broadcast on the BBC’s Radio 4. It was first broadcast in 1950 and was intended to be a “Farming Dick Barton” – aiming to cash in on the popularity of Radio Soap Operas in the post war period whilst also being used by the Ministry of Agriculture as a propaganda and educative tool to get across information that might otherwise be passed over by busy farmers – with, for example, one actor reading an official announcement almost verbatim to another.
Since the first episode was broadcast on May 29th, 1950 – so we are coming up to yet another anniversary – there have been over 17,000 episodes, making it both the world’s longest-running radio soap opera and the world’s longest-running soap opera in any format.
It was originally billed as “an everyday story of country folk”, but they now describe it as “contemporary drama in a rural setting”. It’s obvious, therefore, that the aim has changed – it is no longer intended to educate and inform, (although it still dopes that), but to entertain through drama – raising a variety of issues that are encountered in everyday life, (social, economic, political, moral, … ), and exploring how the characters handle the situations in which they find themselves.
As well as tackling The program has addressed issues relating to crime and adultery, drug abuse, rape, and civil partnerships, illnesses (such as dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and autism), teenage rebels and racism, the fate of the village post office, the village shop and village pub … and so on.
It has also had its fair share of bankruptcies and families trying to cope with the hardships of living through an economic downturn. At the moment, one of the farms, (Bridge Farm, run by Tony and Pat Archer and their children Tom and Helen), is having to sell the cows from their Dairy Herd which means that they are going to have to lay off some of their staff – including young Pip Archer, who lives with parents (David and Ruth Archer) but also acts as a “relief milker” to supplement her income whilst she is a student at University.
As a result – Pip is looking for job.
The post showed an advert that she might well have put up around the village and district …
Relief Milker
Competitive Rates
Very Reliable
Highly Experienced
Within walking distance of Brookfield
Farm preferred (Long story – so unfair)
Underneath were a series of slips with her name and telephone number … they are printed vertically and are cut along line separating them so that they can be torn off easily.
Personally, I’m not sure how successful the advert would be in the real world … (The “Long story – so unfair” comment might be a nice touch of humour and add a little “colour” to attract attention, but I am not sure that it is likely to encourage someone to offer her employment … and, anyway, I guess everyone in the neighbourhood would know her and the situation), but, then, it’s really an advert for the programme … not for a job.
This took me by surprise because, although this type of advert is common here … I have never seen an adverts like back in Britain … but then, I’ve been away a long time.
Back then, you might see adverts in the local papers … some shops would have notice boards or display panels and people could write their adverts on the back of a postcard and, for a fee, it would be pinned up on the board. There are quite a few of those notice boards here in Bishkek – mostly in places frequented by ex-pats, with notices advertising apartments for rent, translation services, and that sort of thing – often, (but not always), in English.
When I first came here I saw lots of these photocopied sheets, A4 or A5, pasted up on fences and lampposts. “Looking for an apartment in this area”, Work offered”, “Work wanted”, “Disco Club”, “Car for sale”, “Taxi Service”, “Hair Dresser”, “Pizza Delivery” and so on …
To be honest, I didn’t know what they were … as I didn’t understand the Russian, they passed me by. It was only later when I saw some with the “comb’s teeth” with the phone numbers missing, that someone explained the system to me.
The city authorities often run campaigns against the “fly posting”, tearing down the adverts that posted – and, at the moment, there are far fewer of them around.
Maybe these DIY adverts are becoming common back in Britain … and, if so, it’s interesting to see how the idea has transferred from East to West – most of the time it seems as if the transfer is the other way.
Bishkek