Angela & Fred

In my last post, I rhapsodized over the joy of keeping in touch with KPLC alum via the Internet. But every bit as gratifying is the "instant feedback loop" the computer provides from our viewers. Every day, I get calls and @mails from viewers. I get the good, the bad, the ugly, and the occasional oddball. The great thing about America is...everyone gets an opinion, and everyone gets a remote control.

I've learned a lot. I've learned that there are folks out there who pretty seriously think that the people on TV spy on them through their television sets. At first, I thought it was a put-on. But over the years, I've spoken to at least 5 callers who were convinced that our anchors and reporters were not only spying on them electronically, but reading their minds as well. Interestingly, each cited as proof the same perceived phenomenon. They told me they would be thinking of a tree, for example...and then the person on TV would say the word "tree" within a story.

I've spoken to a few counselors who tell me such perceptions are not as unusual as it may seem. It is true that folks tend to see what they want to see and hear what they want to hear. Some just take it to an extreme, and there's no doubt that the TV set is for many people a source of real familiarity.

At the other end of the spectrum are the viewers who are so smart and warm and conversant that they become "professional" friends and sometimes personal friends. Such is the case with Angela and Fred Allan. Angela and Fred hooked up with KPLC a few years ago. They are recently retired and love to dote on their beautiful home and garden. They travel to their favorite vacation spot in Italy (Garda) every year and have made friends there. Angela has a passion for Louisiana and has immersed herself in its culture and lore. She knows more about our fine state than most natives. And she is one of KPLC's most loyal viewers. She and I tap out @mails to each other several times each day...sometimes about KPLC folks...sometimes about family & friends...lots of times about news headlines, here or elsewhere. We're all talking about going to Mardi Gras in New Orleans together.

Deb and I consider Fred and Angela two of our best friends.

Oh...I left something out. Angela and Fred Allan have never been to Lake Charles. Never been to Louisiana. Never been to the U.S....not yet, anyway. Our friends the Allans live in Newcastle Upon Tyne...up in northeastern England. How we hooked up is a classic Internet story. Her interest in Cajun culture brought her to the KPLC website, and she found my address (jserra@kplctv.com). She wrote. I wrote back. The rest is history. We enjoy a regular "cultural exchange" program. I send her stuff from Louisiana (food, music, books, art) and she sends me wonderful packages from Newcastle and environs. But we have never actually met in person.



This is just one more testament to the changes the 'net hath wrought. To many people, KPLC is kplctv.com. Like Angela, they use our rapidly-expanding site to keep up with SWLA. They watch all our stories on line, and they watch our streamed "top news," which is the first segment of the previous night's Nightcast. Southwest Louisianians who travel never have to feel very far from home. And as Angela & Fred prove, the old barriers which used to define who is "local" have disappeared. The Serras and the Allans probably have more in common than each of us has with many people who live in our own respective neighborhoods. Walt Disney was right. It is a small world after all.

I mention all this because a package arrived in the mail today. When I see that Royal Mail stamp from Newcastle, I'm like a little kid...it's just like Christmas. And Fred really knows how to wrap a package, so there's lots of time to anticipate what's inside while I cut my way into it like a pomegranate.

Wow! Once while @mailing, I mentioned to Angela my love for British trains. (My wife can vouch for this. We've visited England, Scotland and France numerous times, and Deb sometimes has to drag me off the Tube or Britrail or the TGV..I could ride the rails there all day and be quite happy.) In the package was a DVD on old steam locomotives, a book of British Expresses from 1898, three books on famous steam engines and...three gorgeous detailed models of the trains themselves.

The Pacific Chapelon Nord, which achieved mythical status with its unheard-of 105 mph runs between Paris and Calais...

.

The Duchess LMS, the pinnacle of the English art of steam trains in the 30's...


And, my personal favorite...the Pacific A1 Flying Scotsman, perhaps the most famous steam locomotive in the world, leaving London's King's Cross station for its daily run north to Edinburgh, reaching speeds of up to 108 mph...

Last year we had plane tickets, hotel reservations, and even Britrail passes...in hand...to fly into London and then train up to Newcastle to visit Fred and Angela. But...only a week before we were to depart, our towers fell, and the chance to ride my favorite railroads evaporated for the year.

But hope springs eternal. We look forward to rescheduling our visit to Newcastle. And we look forward to Angela and Fred coming here someday and enjoying our "local" world...one which stretches from the Texas Hill Country to the beaches of the Florida Panhandle.

Till then, we'll continue to share @mails, attachments and "snail mail" packages. We'll marvel at the wonders we see on both sides of the pond as well as recoil at the unspeakable horror of 9-11 and the London bombings. And we'll take for granted a daily friendship which is as comfortable as a link of boudin and a pint of Newcastle Brown Ale.