So tonight I watched the film Paradise Road, a fictional account of the true story of Margaret Dryburgh a gentle hearted Scottish missionary who championed the prisoners of the Japanese in WW2 Sumatra and formed a choir to raise morale
Her story is an inspiration .
Look for the moment where the lumpy and always a burden Mrs Roberts ( Elizabeth Spriggs) gets the harmony right ….heartbreaking
There were eleven of us in my morning class on line.
The film class was interesting Horror Stereotypes with a heavy biased towards Jamie Lee Curtis
Three of the participants were from the US and one very attractive middle aged man was from New York and was drinking lots of coffee as it was 4.30 am over there.
His name was Richard and he wrote screenplays ( so he told us)
He had a lovely thick beard, glowing American teeth and academic specs so he looked the part.
He also called out his name in his thick New York brougue ( before anyone else could when asked if we could introduce ourselves ) and added a rather friendly and flirtatious
“ And who is that big handsome charmer on the love seat John Gray?”
I was flummoxed for a second as I had my second best Herbivore T shirt on as well as a cheap Sainsbury’s green hoodie and hadn’t even washed my face, but I started to preen at the potential prospect of an early morning Valentine’s Day flirt
Then I realised that the American was in fact referring to Dorothy who was sat on the sofa behind me
Or instead of one past-his-sale- by-date homosexual living a pretty hum drum single existence in a picturesque Welsh cottage
Does it look ( and smell ) like four hormonal smelly teenage boys live in my house?
Finishing nights, and after a few hours sleep , I’ve reviewed the wreckage .
Now some of the blame must be given to Roger who not only has gleefully stockpiled three discarded pairs of underpants in his crate but who managed to locate my new beard trimmer from inside a wash bag hidden underneath the bathroom sink and dismantle it over the living room Carpet when I was sleeping.
The rest of the mess , I’m afraid is down to me.
Cups and spoons clutter the kitchen tops, the bed looks like I’ve had a troupe of strippers in and I can’t even share what the bathroom looks like without an antiemetic
On Friday the place was pristine
Bugger knows how it happens
I took the dogs around to Trendy Carol’s when I did her shop ( she’s still got covid )
And I made myself a late bucket of coffee before getting stuck in
Apart from walking the dogs in the middle of the day ,I’ve slept the whole Sunday.
I woke at 5.30 with Dorothy gazing at me like a worried Buster Keaton, had a shower , got dressed and took the dogs out again, this time with Albert in tow
I leave the cottage for work around 6.30.
It’s silent at our part of the village. I presume Mandy & Sailor John are busy with family and trendy Carol remains a bit poorly. Their houses are dark and quiet.
Only mine shines a light.
We walk down the lane and I look at the sky
It’s a Gone With The Wind red and looks magnificent .
It’s at these times solitude turns into loneliness but fleetingly so.
The time when you want to say to another human
“ Look at that marvellous sky “
So Instead I photograph it
And send it to you my friends here
And from now on, no one will sneak in a comment of how indulgently depressed I am being, or now inappropriate it is to feel a feeling and share it .
I’m not depressed , or generally indulgent. ( no more that most regular bloggers I guess.) but I am sharing a feeling and this wonderful photograph of the sky
Taken over the cold fields of Trelawnyd Village on Sunday the 12th of February 2023
Over twenty years ago I walked onto Takashimaya the now long gone Japanese department store on 5th Avenue. A beautifully dressed sales assistant was placing flowers, one by one into a glass vase of sparking water and she bowed her head in greeting. I bowed mine in return and allowed myself to walk around one of the most exquisite shops I had ever seen. It felt as if I’d come home. On the fifth floor I bought a ridiculously expensive pair of glasses both of which had a delicately design etching of a lobster surrounded by tiny fish. The pair have been two of my most cherished items for years I fell in love with them as soon as I saw them.
Last night I told my dinner guest to dig out a glass for herself for her wine when I prepared the food.She picked the Takashimaya glass thinking it was the safest option as my much cheaper ( but more delicate looking wine glasses frightened her) She noticed my look and offered to put the glass back immediately . I refused. It’s nice to see the glass used
I’ve made a lasagne and treacle tart from scratch, but bought custard and nice Italian bread to accompany it.
Mary disappeared from the garden whilst I was preparing the food and I eventually found her inside the old coal bunker where she had fallen through the opening.
She never thought to bark.
I’ve shopped again for Trendy Carol and planted out cheerful primulas in pots to brighten up the doorways
My bedroom is now sorted. The bare old floorboards, all of different widths that echo their age have now been washed clean and as the morning sun flows into the room , they are almost dry.
I always think my bedroom feels like a little boy’s room.
It’s tucked up in the eaves, and feels cosy because of that.
And it warms quickly when the sun shines down from the South.
Mary knows this, and has sneaked onto her favourite sunny corners of the bed.
She sighs loudly .
I climb onto the bed to write today’s blog and fall asleep within minutes, only pressing the publish button after stirring at dogs barking from the kitchen
3000 ABBA fans in one purpose built, eco friendly stadium all intent on a good time.
What’s not to love.
We had a late lunch/ Early supper at Dishoom, then caught the central line to Stafford then the DLR to the Olympic park.
We had a bottle of wine before the concert.
And it was a concert. A large band, backing singers and light show par excellence supported the ABBA holograms just as they would have done to four “real” artists, so from the get go the audience was transported to the ABBA of yesteryear.
It was all rather magical and at times strangely moving, especially as each of the band in close up hologram form addressed the crowds with an aside or anecdote in their 70 something older voices.and when they cranked up a gear, complimented by some very expensive and lovely light effects, the whole area erupted into one big best friend meeting hug.
My favourite part, well apart from watching Janet becoming her 11 year old self again, was listening to Anni-fred sing the most melancholy of ABBA songs When All Is Said And Done proving even a hologram can be emotional
In view of Albert’s psycho melt down last night I took Roger to today’s Trelawnyd Community Association meeting in the Hall.
He was good as gold and watched all the proceedings carefully from my lap, his front feet wrapped around my thumb, like a baby.
Having said that, I’ve just watched an interesting case of physical transference as, after Albert had stalked through the house like The LionKing’s Mustafa, Roger, in a fit of teenage temper broke the cat flap window
I have nothing else planned today.
Chic Eleanor messaged me about the tulips,
I’m on night’s tonight doing the shift for a friend
I went out to lunch with my sister in law today. Tonight I’d planned to meet Chic Eleanor for supper.
Lots of foody things today.
Eleanor messaged me that she couldn’t come as her mother was poorly…very poorly as it turned out and I’ve just dropped some cheerful tulips off at her house on the other side of the village.
Her house was deserted, it’s going to be a tough 24 hours for her.
I’m scruffy as I’ve grown a full beard, a friend in the village who I haven’t seen in a long time commented on it today.
He called me a hipster.
I told him I’m too old
I will have to make a decision to temper it soon
I’ve had a beard most of my adult life, but never one as unruly
In the supermarket I overheard two women complaining about the nurses’ strike.
They said nurses were putting people at risk now, and that they shouldn’t complain
Now it starts , I said to myself.
And I wish everyone would watch this American medical soap’s nurse speech
It sort of captures some of the essence that I think a lot of nurses feel
I went to see Enys Men this morning. Apparently Enys is the old Cornish word for Island which is interesting as the Welsh word for Island is Ynys.
Anyhow Enys Men was advertised as a horror film set on a1973 Cornish Island.
I see that the word horror was used somewhat loosely.
It’s an experimental, abstract film where the mundane daily routine of a wildlife volunteer almost morphs into the history, tragedy and nature of an old Cornish mining island. Set in 1973 we follow the naturalist’s daily routine until no one really knows their arses from their elbows, so atmospheric as it was , I lost the will to live by minute 45, so walked out even though I was sure that the leading lady’s red anorak had something to do with the killer dwarf in Dont Look Now ( filmed in 1973)
Subsequently I found out that Mark Kamode gave it 5 stars .
Fuck me that must have been a slow day for him.
One of the Storyhouse volunteers fussed around me with hand twitching when he saw me walk out.
“ Everything all right?” he twittered
“It’s not very good “ I told him
He made the mistake of arguing.
“ As a horror film it’s got a lot excellent reviews” he countered
“if this was a horror film, then my Dick’s a kipper” I told him.
It’s a favourite saying of mine, and did what it was meant to do
It underlined a point.
It was still lunchtime when I left the cinema so I went to the Thai and Thai food stall in Chester Market and ordered their chicken pad Thai , which is glorious.
I like the new dining area in the market as it consists of long tables which have to be shared.
Sirikorn Jones who runs Thai On Thai
I picked up my food as a take out and literally bumped into Faisal from book club who was waiting for some Bangladeshi food from Guroma.
He shook my hand formally as he did when we met at book club and we had a drink together before and after our beepers went off, signalling that our food was ready .
Roger found a packet of panini in the footwell of the car. It had fallen out of the shopping bag unnoticed and the resulting hysteria from Dorothy who shouldered her way out of her cage in the back seat like a fat faced drug raiding policeman in order to grab one out of Mary’s mouth would have caused a car wreck if we weren’t stuck in the workman’s traffic lights just outside the village.
The bickering over the crumbs lasted at least 25 minutes so I had a headache brewing when I finally got to the dentists in Llandudno.
After my appointment we all had a walk along the Promenade to blow away the cobwebs and I turned listening to Spotify on my phone as the waves flung spray horizontally into our faces.
We sat down in a beach shelter as Max Richter’s On The Nature Of Daylight was playing.
It’s a deeply melancholy and rather beautiful piece of music
And as I listened the dogs crammed in closer, on either side of me in an effort to keep warm.
The pressure of each body just noticeable in three places
Ask my ex mother in law that one, she was a friggin expert on the subject..anyway
Yesterday I went to see The Fabelmans which has been hailed as Spielberg’s oh so personal homage to cinema and his upbringing.
I enjoyed it , with reservations
The reservations came from Spielberg’s need to re-edit and if not re write, reshoot those vital and cinematic moments that punctuate all of our lives when growing up.
As a small child we see Sam ( Steve) recreate the famous train crash from The Greatest Show On Earth as we are introduced to his Elf like mother Mitzi ( Michelle Williams) a former concert pianist who still protects her hands by not washing up a dish, and who chases a tornado with her children in the car.
She is this ethereal character who despite being incredibly selfish, and at times depressed is shown, in a rather affectionate spotlight and centre stage. Sam’s father (Paul Dano) is benign and sweet as the man who finally accepts that his best friend Uncle Benny ( a restrained Seth Rogen) is the true love of Mitzi’s life.
It is clear that Spielberg’s childhood was unconventional to say the least, so it would be forgivable for the audience to accept how his love of cinema helped rewrite and certainly re-edit reality .
Labelle ( right)
The trouble with the whole film is that certain parts are simply not true. I listened to Lauren Lavern’s detailed interview with Spielberg on Desert Island Discs last year, where Spielberg admitted that he didn’t speak to his father for many years, a fact not even eluded to in the movie.
When a film makes the point of re-editing reality, does not the final version feel all a bit sanitised ?
Perhaps that is what Spielberg was wanting to get across?
It’s overlong by 30 minutes too 🥲
Having said all this Gabriel Labelle gave a gentle and intelligent performance as the 16 year old Spielberg and Michele Williams was incredibly moving and restrained as the rather lost Mitzi.
Bill and Frank in The Last Of Us
The Last Of Us is now on episode three on Sky Atlantic
This is a big budget, rather sprawling re working of a popular video game set in the zombie apocalypse where the undead sport feather like growths on their faces and where Joel ( Pedro Pascal) has to protect teenage Ellie ( Bella Ramsey) who is immune to the infection and who may be humanity’s only salvation .
It’s a bleak watch to be sure and until episode 3 ( shown last night) I wasn’t really happy with how things were going.
Last night the tables turned and we were introduced to two new characters Bill and Frank.( Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlet)
Bill, is a survivalist, the only character to remain in his tiny town of just a few streets. He had amassed a stockpile of weapons, gasoline, food and know how to fortify his home but after years of solitude is lonely as he enjoys the finer things in life which he can’t share. In one of his traps he captures the middle aged, garrulous Frank, the only survivor from a group from the city and suddenly the bleak zombie drama takes a severe right hand turn into a gentle and thoughtful character study about the love affair between two middle aged men.
It was quite, quite charming and wonderfully played by both actors who really made you believe that such an unlikely pair could make a go of things.
