Once Upon Another Time……..in Trelawnyd

 At 6.30pm Radio Four showcases its comedy half hour.

To be honest this can be all a bit hit and miss given their inclusivity remit but I have found their series Relativity by Richard Herring rather vital and sweetly moving.

Today’s episode was a four handed between sixty some parents Ken and Margaret ( Phil Daniels and Alison Steadman) and their grown up children Jane and Ian ( Fenella Woolgar and Richard Herring) 

It was essentially half an hour of a family remembering family holidays from the early 1980s where the Children bickered about being left in dangerous situations, no one wore seat belts and where egg and chips  was the go to meal of the day. 

The mini play was full of affection and nostalgia and brimmed with the observations of the unsaid ties between siblings and parents from an age not far from my own and listening to it underlined my own ties with sisters who shared a lifetime so different ( and then so not) to those of today.

My memories of my sister Ann belting out this Mario Lanza classic rather badly on the way back from a night out at the theatre or a concert rushed back to me as I drove in the dark to work tonight

A memory that couldn’t be fully understood or appreciated by anyone else in this world 

The nostalgia theme continued this afternoon with the catch up ( after 17 years) of Sex and The City - and Just Like That . 

I won’t give much away, but the first episode was a bit clunky. 

Samantha’s absence was explained away in a hurried and slightly obvious way.

Charlotte looked incredibly plastic, and Miranda’s Brady is having noisy set at home with his girlfriend.

But the whole thing is just getting into its stride and like a popular red wine, you have to let it stand for a while before things settle.

I’m not a lover of Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie, but her relationship and acting alongside Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) has a ring of truth about it which chimes with the nostalgia of seeing the “ girls” yet again..

I will give the series the benefit of the doubt and note it was a brave step bringing in such a turn about in the narrative only two episodes in ……

It’s nice to have my old friends back

I will leave you with the what’s app message Affable Despot Jason posted today