Tell someone you write and one of the first things they'll probably ask is where you get your ideas.  My usual answer is, "I only wish I knew."  This week I'd be able to tell them something more definite, if not more useful.

1.  A television programme about moving house visited the river side in Bedford and sparked a memory of playing in a samba band at the festival, and the basis for a short story.

2.  In another television programme, a soprano spontaneously bursting into an aria in a town square was inspiration for a poem.

3.  In an episode of a detective series, a bird sitting on a gargoyle got me thinking about souls, and gave me an idea for a dark/fantasy story.

4.  An arts programme about Italian cities made me link a historical character with the architecture.  Material for a story or play.

5.  An anecdote on Bargain Hunt showed how the way people look i.e. their build and features rather than their clothes, leads to assumptions about their personalities - another starting point for a story, perhaps a humorous one. 

6.  An archaeology programme got me thinking about earlier civilisations, the extinction of the dinosaurs, previous apocalypses, the end of the world - and an SF story.

Six ideas from six different shows.  Who says that watching television is a waste of time?