No Challenge.


How’s a man supposed to bitchily tweet about a group of affluent, well-read, highbrow yet style-bereft individuals if BBC2 decides not to broadcast this week’s University Challenge?

It’s like the goalposts have shifted. Until today this was my weekly ritual. However good or bad my Monday may have been, I could settle down in front of the television at around 7:30pm to 8ish to mock a handful of people who are more intelligent, yet more self-conscious than me. It’s not much to hold on to but it’s still something. It helps me keep a sense of perspective; however bad I feel about myself, there’s always somebody out there with a worse haircut; in the case of the contestants of this Paxman-fronted vehicle, at least eight of them on any given week. I’m also capable of choosing an appropriate jacket.

Tonight, my weekly mental leveller was removed, to make way for a Simply Nigella: Christmas Special. This simply (Nigella) isn’t good enough. It's not a Monday without Tilling’s overly enthusiastic voice-overs and Paxman's impatient grilling of the male contestants and subtle flirting with the women. I also don’t know where I am without the final gong, as I usually set my watch by it.

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