The Old Ways and New Methods.

So what am I to make of the two knocks I just heard on my office window, two dull but definite knocks, like human knocks but not quite loud enough for a human caller? Could it have been, I wonder, the garden fey reminding me that their favourite day is approaching and they usually get a treat? If so, I haven’t forgotten.

*  *  *

I’ve been watching some supernatural TV dramas on YouTube recently, several of them being adaptations of MR James ghost stories. Most were made in the 70s or early 80s, and they were pretty awful – poor scripts, unwarranted excursions from the original plot, clumsy direction, and acting that was often either wooden or hopelessly over the top. Last night I found an adaptation of A View from a Hill (MR James) made in 2005, and it was so, so much better.

So welcome, 21^st century. You have greatly improved on one thing at least. Sorry I’m usually so unremittingly harsh in my condemnation of your habits.