A nice little listen

[scott of the woods]

I quite enjoyed this programme, may see if I can get the book. Has anyone read it?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01mhwx3

[RIP]

Well spotted Scott, just listening to it. A very mellow half hour. Absolutely brilliant. Should be required listening for all brethren here. Anyone any idea how to save the programme as a file? Have you heard it Stu? Hope you can catch it before it evaporates from iplayer.

Yes I have the book, if you'd like your own copy they're out there. You can avoid Am@zon by going to: https://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-search/ ... en-graham/. A bit of an investment though ;-).

* So when you put on your old clothes and take to the road, you make at least a right gesture. You get into your right place in the world right away… You get into an air that is refreshing and free. You liberate yourself from the tacit assumption of your everyday life. What a relief!
* A tramping hat does not get old enough to throw away. The old ones are the best.
* Of course, once you have slept a night wearing your hat it is not much more use for town wear. It has become more of a tramp than you are.
* The less you carry the more you will see, the less you spend the more you will experience.
* In tramping you are not earning a living, but earning a happiness.
* There is perhaps no greater test of friendship than going on a long tramp. You discover to one another all the egoisms and selfishnesses you possess.
* If you want to find out about a man, go for a long tramp with him.
* I am inclined to measure a tramp by the time taken rather than by the miles. If a hundred miles is covered in a week it is a longer tramp than if it is rushed in three days.
* You cannot tell till you’ve spent a night in the rain, or lost the way in the mountains, and eaten all the food, whether you have both stout hearts and a readiness for every fate.
* On the road the weak and strong points of character are revealed. There are those who complain, making each mile seem like three; there are those who have untapped reserves of cheerfulness, who sing their companions through the tired hours. But in drawing-rooms they would never show either quality. The road shows sturdiness, resourcefulness, pluck, patience, energy, or per contra, the lack of these things.
* The morning swim is such an embellishment of the open-air life that many are tempted to plan their whole expedition with that in view.
* Nothing in the present ever seems so good as what is past.
* Beware of going to Jerusalem in order that you may come back and tell the world you have been. It spoils all you found on the way.

Plenty of food for thought there.

"R"

[giryan]

Yes I have the book, if you'd like your own copy they're out there. You can avoid Am@zon by going to: https://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-search/ ... en-graham/. A bit of an investment though ;-).

Sadly, they bought Abebooks in 2008, and equally sadly, another alternative, book depository they bought in 2011. :(

[RIP]

"bought Abebooks in 2008" - might have blinking guessed, sigh .

Just realised the narrator is the legendary Arthur Smith, which quadruples the listening pleasure! I accidentally (a long, different, story involving a free rail ticket and serendipitously getting off a train at Breich for no reason one Saturday night, bivvying in a field, then finding out there were no Sunday trains to Edinburgh next day!) came across the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in the mid-1980s; as I strolled up the Royal Mile there were all the "normal" tour guides with just one or two punter-takers. Then at the top was this ragged bloke wearing a stained frilly shirt and a kilt, holding a fag in one hand and a can of lager in the other. Yes, he was The Alternative Royal Mile Tour, in his pre-fame days. By the time we set off he was like the Pied Piper with about 30 people in tow! It was brilliant, with him pointing out all the alternative "history" - "Bonnie Prince C fell over pished in this gutter here after a heavy night at The Sheep Heid" etc etc. I even fed him a line - we saw a pile of sand behind some tenements, with some pish puddles around it. I suggested it was the Edinburgh Lido. He said "brilliant, I'll use that line". Great guy.

[techno]

Anyone any idea how to save the programme as a file?

the iplayer app lets you dl it for a limited period.
I'll rip it at some point this evening and send a link
there are programs that will let you rip the file from the app or website but i'm not sure which to suggest.

[ianfitz]

Thanks for posting that. Enjoyed listening to it over lunch today.

Although I now want to pack a small bag and head out for a while!

[Dr Nick]

I've just down loaded it from iPlayer radio, to listen to on the train home tonight.
Good find Scott...

[rando nomad]

A great listen while on the way to work today. A very insightful look into the tramp in a modern sense as well.

[benp1]

Thanks for the heads up.

It's a 21MB file, I've just downloaded it, apparently it's now available for the next 24 days

Will listen to this on the cycle ride home, if I remember...!

[Moder-dye]

[Charliecres]

Excellent. I often feel like just wandering off. Who knows, one day I might ..

[Dave Barter]

Slightly OT but if you like this sort of thing then read Orwells - Down and out in London and Paris. That book changed me as a teenager and I will never look down on a tramp or a service worker ever as a result.

[thenorthwind]

On a similar topic, read Laurie Lee's "As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning.' A different era completely, but beautifully and evocatively written.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Have you heard it Stu?

Sadly, I can't access iplayer as I don't have a TV licence ... so it's naughty.

[FlyingFox]

It’s a nice listen indeed.

Perfect to pass half an hour when I need to think about nothing else.

[Borderer]

Have you heard it Stu?

Sadly, I can't access iplayer as I don't have a TV licence ... so it's naughty.

I don't have a licence either. Anyone got an alternative solution?

[RIP]

Techno Mail kindly pm'd me (and Stu :) ) a Dropbox copy/link.... So I guess you're off the naughty step if you listen to that, as presumably TM has been naughty on your behalf... although maybe now you're a receiver of stolen goods instead... perhaps if you listen to it under the bedclothes or something you'll be ok?

[benp1]

I found it interesting, but also found it slightly sad - going for quite a long period without speaking to anyone. One of the chaps seemed to stop 'tramping' when he found a partner, and then started again when they split up. Sounded a bit lonely

[Bearbonesnorm]

I found it interesting, but also found it slightly sad - going for quite a long period without speaking to anyone.

While some people find misery in loneliness, others find joy in solitude.

I think the longest I've ever gone without speaking to anyone was while living in London

[benp1]

That's the thing, I didn't see it as solitude, I saw it as loneliness (not for everyone, just for that person who was talking)

The problem with London is that everyone is in a rush and there are some many people that you end up not bothering to speak to anyone - there are too many people and you just want to get on

[techno]

Techno Mail kindly pm'd me (and Stu :) ) a Dropbox copy/link.... So I guess you're off the naughty step if you listen to that, as presumably TM has been naughty on your behalf... although maybe now you're a receiver of stolen goods instead... perhaps if you listen to it under the bedclothes or something you'll be ok?

Shhhhhh!!!!

(If anyone else wants a copy I'll meet you in the park wearing a pink carnation, usual briefcase swap job