When I Was a Kid …

The music (Mouret’s Rondeau) is my ringtone. I miss Alastair Cooke.

My childhood was long before this. Sunday night meant Bonanza, with the Cartwrights constantly risking their lives, using their fists and guns to protect the Ponderosa. At the time it seemed to make sense. That was before I heard Jefferson Airplane’s “We Can Be Together” with this lyric:

“All your private property is
Target for your enemy
And your enemy is
We”

My dad cheerfully heating a 55 gallon drum of water over a fire outside so we could take a warm bath in a galvanized steel tub.

@redmanlaw: You always have the best family stories.

In London I loved his Letter From America which was on the Beeb Steam Radio for years. It’s quite wonderful. When I was being maître d’ for a putrid restaurant in London while between engagements, he came in and I had the pleasure of telling him how much I liked it. He came back with friends and I gave him the best table going. Unfortunately they had to serve him the food.

One thing I’ve never understood about Masterpiece Theatre is the need for a ‘host’. WTF?