Ballater

Friday 26th February

The forecast snow had certainly fallen but we were pleased to see that although there was an additional coating on the cars there was not enough to stop us getting out on the A93 and along the short distance to Ballater.

Ian had left the STV North satellite truck in the centre of the town because there was no way that he would have been able to get it up to the hotel.

The STV North Truck.

The little town which is very close to Balmoral was a real picture postcard scene with a thick covering of snow.

We decided that the best technical option for us was to use the digi link that was on the truck.

However, the mount for the link was not compatible with my camera. The truck also carries a camera which meant I would need to use that instead of mine.

Ian rigged the link, Bob the sound recordist got his gear ready and I prepared the STV camera putting on a wide angle adaptor and the transmitting part of the link.

Ian with the Link Antennae.

The Camera all Wrapped up against the Snow with the Digi Link on the back.

Richard kept us informed of the the time to go before our first transmission. I was also listening to the PA count down to the programme going on air.

We were almost ready. There was only a minute or so until the titles rolled and we were on a couple of short minutes after that.

The pictures were getting to the truck and we were receiving the programme sound.

There was only one problem. I did not have time to swap over the camera light from my camera to the STV one.

We started to make our was to an area that was as brightly lit as possible.

There were now on a few seconds until we were on air.

I pointed the unfamiliar camera at Richard and framed him under some street lights.

It looked pretty, perhaps a little too pretty because the points of light from the lamps made lovely four point stars.

The link from the studio was being read. I was not sure which of the filter wheels to turn or which way to turn them to take out the star filter.

I’d just have to go with it.

Richard started to talk and walk around a huge pile of snow. He ended up infront of the bus station as a bus was being eased out over the snow for it’s first journey of the day.

I was not happy with that first broadcast. Richard was not lit enough for my liking and the street lights were just a bit OTT with the star treatment.

As the daylight came up the rest of the broadcasts went off without a hitch.

Business as Usual Even in the Snow.

The Post has to get Through.

It was a good morning’s work. Each of our broadcasts were from a different location with lots of movement to show the snowy conditions in all their white disruptive glory.

The annoying thing was that it was not possible to take the direct route back to Edinburgh because the roads were blocked.

There were at least some beautiful views on the way home, including one of my favourite sights an old black and yellow AA box.

The Cambus O'May AA Box.

I wonder if any AA member still has a key for the box?

Snow Joke

Thursday 25th February (Afternoon)

I was thrashing my way up to Aberdeen expecting to be confronted by the dreadful snow that had been forecast.

Schools were closed, roads were closed and thousands of homes were without power.

It never came. Instead heavy rain lashed down and blinding spray was kicked up by big trucks as I overtook them.

Where's the Snow?

I arrived at a dreich Aberdeen airport at around the same time as Richard's flight from Heathrow landed.

The snow appeared to be a little bit further west so we set off to find it.

Rather than taking the direct route to where we were confident the white stuff was making it’s presence felt I lead us on the less used roads in the hope that we might come across some interesting sights.

The rain continued falling heavily but as we drove it slowly changed into grey mushy sleet. A few miles on and up it carried on its metamorphosis into big white flakes gently wafting down thickening the layers that had already overstayed their welcome since December.

Ah! Here it is!

The narrow roads began to get a bit more difficult to drive on. We were on the verge of having to turn back as neither of our vehicles were four wheel drive when the shots I was hoping for appeared.

A house cocooned in snow with almost a tunnel leading to the door, a big round thermometer hanging on a bracket beside it and kids gazing out of icy windows.

We slid our cars to a halt. I got some pretty shots. Richard did an interview with the chap from the house.

At Least it Looks Pretty.

I was putting the gear back into the car when I saw two chaps with big wooden things on their shoulders.

“They look like feeding troughs.”, I thought.

I pulled the camera back out of the case.

The guys were kind enough to let me film them as they fed a flock of sheep that hurried down a ploughed lane made in the snow to devour the pellets of food poured into the troughs.

We had the basis for a nice short little report showing how the snow could cause disruption but could also be very pretty.

We managed to negotiate our two wheel drive cars to Ballater, the village nearest to Balmoral.

It looked like the perfect Christmas card image.

The houses and church were covered in thick snow looking more like perfectly iced cakes than real buildings.

Life was pretty much going on as normal because the roads and streets had been well cleared by the large and small snow ploughs that patrolled up and down.

I got the camera out to do a few more pretty shots when Richard got very excited.

A car had pulled up and two people were getting out in full highland dress.

They were obviously part of a pipe band.

Their heavy kilts and large dangling sporrans looked fantastic against the white snow.

Richard was rather taken by the whole thing of folk wandering the streets in kilts. So we did a quick interview with them as well as a few shots.

Pity one of them had to admit to not wearing it in the traditional manner. He was wearing a pair ot cycling shorts.

The report was getting better.

Richard got the final shot using his camera as I drove my car up the drive of the hotel.

The drive of the Craigendarroch hotel was only just a car width with the sides walls of snow almost the height of the car.

There was a layer of snow still on the ground which made it a bit of a difficult drive.

The wheels of my Ford Galaxy fighting to get traction as I slowly slithered up the sloping drive gave Richard the opening shot of the report.

Job done, well almost.

The top car park of the hotel was now virtually inaccessible. there was one car, a red Alfa Romeo that had its roof just visible through the snow.

I did a shot of that and we did a little interview with the hotel manager as the light faded.

Now, job done.

The Matrix causes chaos.

Thursday 25th February (Morning)

Marcella Whitingdale and I were set up on the dark foggy roof of STV's Edinburgh studio.

The Castle Shrouded in Fog.

The rain, cold and wet dripped off my hood on to my nose and ran down it forming a big cold blob before it joined the other big droplets splashing on the already soaked paving.

It assaulted Marcella's face looking like tears rolling down her cheeks.

"This GMTV clean feed six for Edinburgh. Poooooo"

"This GMTV clean feed six for Edinburgh. Poooooo"

The Technical Director's voice and tone repeated loud in our ears.

It was the ident loop that played before the programme started.

I could also hear the PA in my other ear, "on air in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1".

Then in that ear I heard the sound of the title music come from the speakers in the gallery but suddenly the other ear was silent.

Marcella looked at me slightly puzzled. She was expecting to hear the programme when the loop disappeared.

Over the speakers in the gallery I heard one of the other correspondents say that she could

not hear the programme.

I spoke to Doug the technical director to let him know that we could not hear the programme either but that I could hear Erron the Director.

They were due to come to us in less than a minute.

I told Marcella that I would give her the cue and her count out of the report that she was Linking into.

News reader Helen was reading the lead words introducing Marcella.

When she finished and Erron said, "Cue Marcella!".

I waved my hand and Marcella started to talk about the death of two climbers, their lives claimed by an avalanche.

She linked into a report about the dreadful weather that Scotland was having.

Erron and Jo, the PA gave me the timing of the report which I relayed to Marcella.

When the piece of tape finished I cued her and she finished of the live broadcast talking about the road conditions.

There had been a major problem with the programme sound going out to all the many outside broadcasts.

The sound matrix had failed.

Doug got on the case and came up with a solution which got the programme sound back but neither he nor Erron could talk to the various reporters and guests out and about.

We were prepared to do another couple of broadcasts but a combination of the talkback, the darkness and more important stories meant we were not used until our final one at eight o'clock.

I said goodbye to Marcella and no sooner had I done that than the call came for me to head north to Aberdeen to meet chief correspondent Richard Gaisford to continue with the story of the weather.

Fuel Poverty and Bye Bye Tyne Tees

Thursday 11th February

I had a great night’s sleep and with the sun still shining I was looking forward to a nice pleasant drive up the M6.

That was all I had to do. There were no plans apart from me getting home.

That was until I heard Carol’s voice. I knew then that there was something for me to do that would delay my homecoming.

I had to shlep from Manchester up and across to Newcastle Upon Tyne to do a story about fuel poverty.

This was going to be a real one man band job. There would be no reporter or producer there. It would be down to me.

At single mum Michelle's house in an estate in Walker, one of Newcastle’s well know areas I did a little interview with her about the amount of money she must spend on her gas each week.

Out of a weekly benefit income of a bit more that £200 she has to spend £40-£45 just on gas for heating and cooking.

I set the camera up so that I could see the little monitor that is on the left hand side of the camera and stuck an earpiece in my right ear to monitor the sound.

I got it all focused and framed and off we went.

I was glad that she was not the kind of person that moved about during the chat because if she had been it would have been a nightmare with the camera locked off.

Half way through the interview two of Michelle’s girls arrived home from school in the characteristic fashion, all noisy excitement.

After the interview I did a few shots of Michelle cooking the kid’s meal and her playing with them.

Michelle set up for her Interview.

Once that was done I made arrangements to get the tape fed to GMTV from Tyne Tees over the river in Gateshead.

On my way there I had a poignant moment when, in the fading light I passed the old Tyne Tees building in City Road. I should say what is left of it.

What was many years ago the shiny metal exterior of the new part of the studio complex was partially demolished.

The only thing that still stands is the tall circular tower that was used to house dishes that received pictures from outside broadcasts from the race courses and football grounds in the region.

On my journey in on the train from Edinburgh it was my marker and always brought a smile to my face.

The Transmission Tower now Minus the Tyne Tees Logo.

The largest of the studios was ripped wide open revealing the large space that was once the home to programmes that in the 1980s I fondly remember working on.

“Friday Live”, the lively local discussion programme hosted by Chris Kelly and Gillian Reynolds that welcomed the weekend after “News at Ten”, “Razzmatazz” the children's pop programme that had all the pop stars of the day performing for an audience of hyped up kids, and of course the first television programme to combine live television with live music and was Channel 4’s first flagship show, “The Tube”, amongst others came to mind.

A Final Look at Studio 5, the Lighting Grid still there High Above the Studio Floor.

Even without the benefit of rose tinted specs or a candy coated memory those were great days.

The people that I worked with at City Road did it all with pride and passion. There was a tangible sense of commitment to the various skills and arts that go into making good television.

From the board room members down to the guys that manned the car park barrier there were characters and personalities that are hard to find in these much more market driven corporate entities.

The Tyne Tees name Hidden and soon to be Gone Completely.

Although the Tyne Tees operation moved away to the modern call centre like building, in an industrial estate near the Metro Centre a few years ago, the sight of part of the old building being torn apart and the rest shrouded in netting ready to have its heart ripped out had my eyes moist and brought a lump to my throat.

I felt a real sadness for the times past, the good ones and the bad. Memories of the many highly skilled and motivated friends and colleagues that were forced out of the industry over the past years flooded my mind.

I was struck at how it affected me. I left Tyne Tees almost twenty years ago. I had only been there for nine, albeit formative years.

It is only now that I have an inkling what, in my days at City Road the miners felt when the pits started to close one after the other.

No wonder they fought to keep them open. I felt the way I felt with a gap of nearing two decades and a time there of a mere nine years.

The miners had generations down the pit and were facing an immediate uncertain future.

A Boring Bit then Brainteasers.

Wednesday 10th February

I got my kit out the boot of the Peugeot Estate hire car in the Granada TV car park.

The bitter wind was making the snow swirl around me stinging my cheeks and hands.

It was one of those strange days when the sky was mainly blue with a bright winter sun yet their were a few maverick clouds chucking out needles of ice.

I was keen to get inside the building as soon as I could.

The warmth of the welcome from the Irish lady on reception helped me shake off the effects of the cold.

Elaine Wilcox was doing a background report on the horrific story of a woman who was on trial for allegedly starving her daughter to death.

We were doing an interview with a chap from the British Association of Social Workers.

Granada had allowed us to use a room just off their newsroom for the interview.

I was pleased to see that it had enough daylight coming in nice and softly that I would not need to put up any lights.

I got set up as our interviewee gave Elaine some background information.

One of the issues that might be at the heart of the case was that the little girl and her siblings had been taken out of school for home schooling and there were questions to be asked about the checks made on children in these circumstances.

In a nut shell what Elaine had asked in a telephone conversation with this chap and his boss was if the powers that currently existed were enough to allow Education Welfare Officers be able to call on and see home tutored children at any time.

On the phone she had been told no they were not.

However, no matter how she tried to illicit this answer from our man he would not come up with the goods.

I have seldom heard anyone use so many words and take so long to say virtually nothing.

I felt Elaine’s frustration as she struggled in vain to get any kind of usable sound bite let alone the one that she had been lead to believe she would get.

When the interview came to an unsatisfactory end I am sure it was a wry smile that played over his face when he said to Elaine,”you didn’t get the sound bite you wanted”.

In sensitive cases there is a great reluctance for people to say things in case they up set some one or some organisation or other. That’s just understandable.

However, when a reporter asks and get told that they will get a certain thing in an interview and then it is not forthcoming it can be rather annoying.

During the interview one of the Granada news reporters stuck his nose against the little widow in the door of the room.

This was a room that is often used for interviews for the Granada nightly local news programme, because we were doing our one there he, the Granada cameraman and their interviewee were unable to come in.

They had to brave the sunny chill on a balcony outside to do their interview.

The Granada Crew Out in the Cold Thanks to us.

I packed my kit up and Elaine left for a trip to Birmingham to do an interview with the father of the little girl in question.

I went off to see Steven Kay in Bolton and get the postponed Brain Teasers done.

He came out into the school car park to meet me.

The last couple of days with his brother Vernon featuring on the front pages of at least one of the red tops had definitely taken there toll on him.

He looked a little drawn and his slightly unkempt designer stubble was not a fashion statement.

When we went into the classroom to shoot the Brain Teasers Steven said that it was very strange having some one so close to you make unpleasant headlines, particularly when all that Vernon had done was have text conversations with friends who happen to be very sexy girls.

Oh, and the texts were a bit on the hot side.

However, he had not been caught doing anything particularly bad, like having an affair with a mate’s girlfriend.

As Steven had said to his mum, probably the only person to be pleased with the headlines would be John Terry.

We did the Brain Teasers as quickly and simply as possible.

Steven was, not surprisingly less focused than he normally is but did come up with the goods.

Also it did not help when he was having to deal with various text messages a lot of the time.

When we were done I made a trip back to Granada where I left the tape containing the rushes to be sent down to GMTV from the Granada TV news traffic area.

It had been a longish day but not too long so after some food I got to my hotel with the prospect of a long night’s sleep.

Bolton or Bust (by text)

Tuesday 9th February

The sun was shining making the cold seem not so bad.

I was all set for an nice stressfree pleasant drive to Bolton to do some more Brain Teasers with Steven Kay.

They’re becoming a bit of a regular thing. The day after I got back from Lapland in December I was in his classroom doing some Christmas themed mind melting posers.

Olly the producer in London called to ask if I had set off.

The way his question was asked rather breathlessly and his audible sigh of relief when I answered to say that I hadn't, had me thinking straight away that there was a problem.

There was a chance that Steven could not do the planned filming this afternoon.

His brother was all over some of the front pages of the tabloids for having rather raunchy text message conversations with sexy ladies.

Steven felt that he might have to go and look after their mum and dad and possibly protect them from the posse of paps that could besiege them.

It was not a firm no at that point so I set off fully expecting to be turned round. I would rather have to turn round than sit waiting and end up having to rush.

Sure enough after about forty minutes down the road I was making a u-turn and going back to Edinburgh.

I was happily enjoying a few free hours when the phone rang.

“Private number calling”, it said on the phone’s display.

I knew that was the bell ringing to end my free time.

Steven’s shoot was going to happen tomorrow afternoon and there was a little interview to do in Manchester before that.

So I wandered back out to the car and retraced my route south.

At least there was no time pressure because I was just heading down to a hotel to spend the night so that I would be ready for the job in the morning.

The journey was uneventful with the M6 not putting any barriers in the way like breakdowns or accidents, just a couple of average speed camera sections through road works.

I got to the hotel in time for a proper nights sleep. That doesn’t happen very often.