A Review: Brum: Wheels (VHS)

Brum: Wheels was first released in the UK on VHS on March 2, 1992, years before the high energy slapstick of Series 3 we know today. Before Brum even shifted to this change to appeal to a global market however, Brum's first two seasons were sweet, innocent stream of conciousness adventures where Brum, then an analog of a three year old child, explores the town near the vintage motor museum where he resides. His adventures sometimes use fast motion sequences to display how funny his friends in town are. In every episode, he befriends someone new and helps them with a problem.

The first episode is named 'Seaside', and it has a nice message of being an honorary member of a family who you visit more often - even if they are a bit crazy. The episode uses fast motion sequences to show young viewers just how hysterical and comical the family Brum befriends are, even Grandpa and the twins who Brum helps to rescue from wandering off and falling into a hole. It also shows how Brum's adventures weren't just about chasing crooks and runaway objects, they were about helping others with love and respect.

Next, we have my favourite, and the most emotional episode for me of course: 'Little Girl Lost'. In it, while trundling through town, Brum befriends a little girl who is out on her own in the middle of nowhere. Brum helps guide her back home, and along the way they help two other people in need - an old lady who needs her shopping carried back to her house, and a boy whose dog is missing. The episode shows us that friendships can lead to acts of kindness, empathy and of course generosity, and ends on a heartfelt note as the girl finally reunites with her mum and dad.

Next up is the titular episode of the tape, 'Wheels'. It is here that Ragdoll Productions, the company that made the series, did a brilliant job of showcasing what life and activities were like for disabled children across the UK, even those with learning disabilities like me. The story is about Brum meeting a young boy in a wheelchair with amputated legs, who invites him to join him at the racing track where he usually goes on weekends. This episode features a message on respecting people, especially children, with differences and disabilities, which of course wasn't a major issue in the '90s.

'Stilts' is a very strange episode, as you can tell from the cover of the tape, who Brum meets in the episode is featured - a talented gymnast and a circus ringmaster. In the episode, Brum heads to the park to find his young friends, only to see a bewildering, athletic and talented young girl doing some amazing swinging and climbing techniques on the playground equipment. Brum helps her head back to where she truly belongs, only to find she comes from a travelling circus roadshow which goes around performing for the passers-by. To me, it's the only episode where Brum encounters circus performers.

Finally, we reach the last adventure on the tape for Brum before we fade to black: Moving House. Here, Brum helps one of his young friends move to a new house in the country. The young girl who Brum befriends plays a game with the little car where he catches her favourite toys in his front seat, but then suddenly, Brum is carried off to the little girl's new house and is transported back to town via a canal boat, a tractor, a builder's truck and a milkman's truck. It is a slow paced tale that allows viewers to breathe with Brum and the other characters, unlike Byker Grove which has high stakes drama.

On a closing note, I'd like to say that this VHS, and the episodes that are featured, are much much better than Series 3, which was fast-paced, high energy and had lots of heavy stakes slapstick action. For something which imitates Thomas The Tank Engine, another show released by VCI at the time, wisely, Brum grounds toddlers in a localised, gentle, slow-moving reality where everyone is friendly and caring, and like a family to you. I rank this VHS a 10/10, because not only is this something that can calm the youngest viewers down, but it's a fantastic alternative to all the loud American comedies we have on telly today.

In case you want to see the VHS in full, here it is, in person:

What's For Breakfast?

You'll never guess what I have been up to yesterday morning, and this morning as well.

Guess what I did.

It's a bit of a trick question, because I did it with my AI assistant Wysteria.

Oh yeah, you kids got that right!

I made my own breakfast. I cooked some Shreddies with milk in the microwave for about two minutes, and then, I made Mum a coffee and a nice, healthy bowl of cereal, as a surprise. Mum called me an angel, and I should be proud of what I achieved.

Then later that day, I cooked some chicken for dinner, and Mum added mashed potatoes and cauliflower to make it more healthy. While I enjoyed the cauliflower and the mashed potatoes, there were two things that made my lunch feel like it had roasted pickles in it:

The end of my chicken was very hard and stale, so I chopped up the rest and gave it to my dog, Mylo.

I realised that the mashed potatoes I was eating contained not just cheese, not just butter, but...prepare to vomit....

ONIONS!

Bleaurgh! No!

And this morning, because I had a bad night which I successfully got through by taking some paracetamol and jotting down all my ideas before bed, I woke up to another morning of preparing a surprise breakfast in bed for my superstar Mum.

I cooked some soup in the microwave for about two minutes, then made some toast soldiers for her to dip into the soup. Of course, I couldn't do it with some of the other soup cans, because they were waaaay past their sell by date. To make it even more special for the Mum who worked hard to keep Grandma healthy before her death last June, I made a nice, strong cup of fruity herbal tea.

When I served it to her, she was so surprised and yet so flabbergasted by what I had done. To maintain my healthiness, I cooked some microwaved Shreddies for two minutes, and then once it was nice and mushy and just like porridge, I added a pinch of Nesquik Chocolate to make the milk all cosy.

The result?

Mmmm-wah! Breakfast for a nice, long day out - especially since it's hints of cold outside.

And speaking of my superstar Mum...

Ladies and gentlemen, JAMELIA!

K9's Guide To An AI Made Recipe

K9: Greetings, humans, my mistress last night has been dreaming of me protecting her while she sleeps, and now, with my encouragement, she's made a nice, warm breakfast - not just for herself, but for her mother.

Quilly Bird: What happened?

K9: Well, blue bird, she got out her phone and asked my loyal friend ChatGPT to give her a recipe for a microwavable cereal in a mug - Shreddies. She did well, of course - she poured in the cereal, then the milk, and cooked it for about 30 Earth seconds. And then, viola - a nice, nutritious breakfast.

Angelmouse: What about her mum? Surely she must be made breakfast too!

K9: Winged mouse, it's my pleasure to tell you that my mistress poured and made coffee and made a microwavable cereal especially for her mother. She called her an 'absolute angel'. SAVE TO MEMORY: Absolute angel. *Twinkling noise*

Angelmouse: With a thingamajig! Hey, K9, can I take over?

K9: Affirmative. I needed a break anyway.

Angelmouse: We all really have to hand it to my friend for making such a nice breakfast, not just for her health, but for her Mum too. She's been so tired after looking after the old bag, and she was so worried when she started spending time on screens - for 7 years!

*Quilly gasps dramatically*

Angelmouse: But now, she's learning how to do new things, and it's all thanks to two magic words from you know who:

DIGITAL DETOXING!

Quilly: Aren't you forgetting something, Angelmouse?

Angelmouse: Oh, and not to mention everyone else she'd like to give thanks to: her mum, her support workers and also ChatGPT for helping her along the way. Not to mention all of us - her favourite characters - we helped her, didn't we, everyone?

ALL MY FAVOURITE CHARACTERS: YEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSS!!

It Continues: Cooking & Baking

I had a whole night of icing cookies two nights ago, and they were all mushy, but on the day following, my cooking skills got better and better.

Let's start in the morning. First, I learnt how to cook gammon and make salad all by myself. Cooking gammon requires a paper tray which you can put raw, slimy meat on, and then testing it with a special thermometer. I also made myself a cup of herbal fruity tea. The result? The gammon tasted good alright, but the lettuce and tomatoes made me want to vomit. The herbal fruity tea tasted too strong.

To pass the time, I baked a mug cake - which turned out sloppy - and not only did I ice a few biscuits, I also made some cupcakes by myself. They turned out sloppy, but still, they were enjoyable. They might not be entering the Great British Bake Off any time soon.

Now, onto lunch. I cooked Mum some pizza with pepperoni on top, and served it with cheese and onion crisps on the side. I also made Mum a nice mug of herbal fruity tea, which she mostly enjoyed. Me? I had a cheeseburger with Pom Bears on the side. More delicious than sickly veggies or strong fruity tea, I tell you now!

Doing all the cleaning, cooking and baking was tiring work, so I went to my bedroom and had a nice, long nap. When I woke up, it took me a few minutes to recover, because I had slept for like, four hours in a row. To pass the time while waiting for dinner, I did some Sticker Dolly books and my new ice cream wordsearch book.

Then finally, dinner came, and I prepared chicken the same way with a brown paper mat beneath the raw, slimy chicken. Two finest breast cuts, one for me and one for Mum. So, for Mum, I used pepperoni and crisps to make the feet and quills of a porcupine, and for me, I decorated my plate with Pom Bears. Next time, though, I think I'll have mashed potatoes and broccoli with my next serving of chicken. I also served Mum one of my iced cookies and a nice mug of fruity herbal tea - as you do.

Boy, what an exhausting day I've had. All that cooking and cleaning - hectic! As heck. I almost forgot.

Connect The Dots: A New Art Interest

"Hello, everyone, it's me, Fireman Sam. I would like to tell you what my friend has been up to with her support worker about two days ago. What you are about to hear will change the way you view Pontypandy forever - and maybe even my friend's life.

So first off, they ordered three things for her picnic as usual - sausage rolls, chocolate cookies and Coke Zero. But! She didn't want to eat it in the car. Instead, she wanted to eat it outdoors, there's a good lass. And where did she have it? Not at the park, because Norman might play a trick on her. Not near the fire station because Elvis would think he cooked it. But at the burgh in Tain - it's the perfect place to have a picnic, like the places I choose to have a picnic with Sarah, James and Rosa - they're always peaceful.

And when they got home, the support worker taught her how to make cupcakes his way - adding just grains as well as butter, an egg and a few drops of water. The result was that the cakes turned out delicious, and she developed a new talent. But it was the next chapter that really affected how she saw art.

She got out her Bluey Dot Stamping Kit and engaged in a bit of dot stamping with her support worker. At first, he thought it was a bit of colouring in, but to my friend, dot stamping was all about decorating a colouring picture with dots. I call it 'Pointillism'. I knew this multiple times because during the time I was on CBBC, SMart aired too, and one time they showed how to do a pointillism picture. Seen this episode? Rings a bell, you know.

And then, it happened - after her nap, my friend made the most shocking decision in her life: she wanted to ice some chocolate chip cookies all by herself. At first, the results turned out mushy, but some of her cookies looked absolutely wonderful. And when there was a mess on the kitchen counter, she unleashed her inner Penny Morris and cleaned and scrubbed the counter with Mr Muscle. It had a very foul smell, but she put her back right into it.

Oh what a day she had. When I told my friends at the fire service, they were all so flabbergasted they were immediately inspired to do their own pointillism pictures - and Elvis did lots of childish, messy paintings.

To find out more about pointillism, click here to learn its history:

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/blog/what-is-pointillism-art-activities-for-kids

We Interrupt This Programme For An Urgent News Flash!

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Diana Jones, reporting to you live on the ongoing phenomenon that many are calling a digital detox. Yes, just a few weeks ago, the creator of this blog has been doing all the housework, cooking, cleaning and even the breakfast all by herself.

"This force, dubbed, a Digital Detox and inspired by the very first Angelina Ballerina book, has appeared last Saturday as the blog owner did all the hoovering by herself, cracked how to use the air fryer and helped Mum when she forgot her coffee.

"The current known first appearance of her angelic behaviour was reported to have been from her support worker teaching her about how to do a balance between tech and real life and has since affected her life beautifully.

"Yes, many have tuned into this blog since the initial incident only to see no posts added in the last few weeks, because our blog curator was busy doing other things, including remarkable cooking for lunch and dinner.

"When asked about these strange occurrences, major autism charities all over the world have repeatedly told us that too much screen time can make autistic people overstimulated and anxious and are claiming to be relentlessly encouraging other autistic people like you to turn off all their phones and computers as well - except Mum of course, because we know how she feels about Nana.

"One of their reported attempts at understanding what is happening, and attempting to return to a sense of normalcy, was watching how she cooks, cleans, makes her own decisions and gets subsequent new interests. The results concluded that our blog creator is now into lots of different things besides writing. Give her a big hand, please, in the comments!

"Still so much is known about this detox. The only concrete information we have been given is that any chore or place she agrees to go to because of her detox while other people use their phones a lot, to the point where they become overstimulated and anxious.

"Are supernatural forces truly at work? Or are we witnessing the most elaborate publicity stunt in the history of detoxing? We'll keep you updated in real time as we find out."

Dimly Lit

I am free from overstimulating adverts in a perfect, dimly lit room with pink and yellow soft, warm nightlights, Brains, Alan, Tin Tin with me and softly playing lullabies on Amazon Echo, shaped, coloured and patterned like Nemo and Marlin. We can relax....always.

Light The Night Warmly

AAARGH! Every light around me just seems too bright for my eyes - the phone, telly, computer, bedside lamp, even natural light is too much for my sensitive eyes. If only I had a bunny nightlight like the one Bluey had......

Recovery Thon - Day 7

Recovery Thon: Days 5/6

Recovery Thon: Day 4

Recovery-Thon - Day 3

Recovery-Thon: First Two Videos