A very Long Engagement

A Very Long Engagement ( French title Un long dimanche de fiançailles (2004) is a gem of a film, and I can thank the gales that knocked off "sky" and Chris' unfortunate absence to be able to sit down and enjoy it all over again tonight. Convoluted both in narrative and visual presentation, it is a breathtaking piece of work that tells the tale of five French soldiers , who are convicted of self-mutilation in order to escape military service during World War I. They are condemned to face near certain death in the area between the French and German trench lines. It appears that all of them were killed in a subsequent battle, but the fiancée of one of the soldiers refuses to give up hope, and begins to uncover clues as to what actually took place on the battlefield. The story is told both from the point of view of the fiancée in Paris and the French countryside of the 1920's, and in flashback to the battlefield. Audrey Tautou, a favourite of director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, is the somber glue that holds the piece together, but it is the visuals, filmed with an odd sepia/yellow hew that linger in the mind. The set piece where hundreds of French wounded and their nurses are trapped in a Zeppelin hanger, under attack by enemy mortars ( with the hydrogen filled dirigible still in it!) is visually stunning and has to be seen to be believed.

Mathilde's aunt,played by Chantal Neuwirth is constantly amused (in a very Amilee type way) by the flatulance of her dog. Every time the dog breaks wind she is heard to say gleefully "Doggie farts......lighten my heart!!"......................................where the hell does that come from?

Under siege/ Institutional racism

I Have never known it so windy. All the heavy pots on the cottage wall have gone for a burton, and the dogs big walk this time in Bishop's wood had to be cut short as I had trouble physically standing! Effectively I feel under siege! I have never before felt nervous of the strength of the wind but I do today and keep checking if the slates have been ripped from the roof! Some consolation is the fact that the cottage has been here for three hundred years or so; Chris is marooned in Widnes or some godforsaken backwater and is trying to get to Chester so I can pick him up later, all the trains (as per usual when weather strikes in this country) have stopped !

Several trees in the churchyard have been damaged, and least of our problems the satellite dish has stopped working! Hey at least my custard tart has come out ok, so thank God for small mercies. Carole from next door popped round for a coffee and to say hi to the dogs, all of whoom she loves!! (below) but just missed out on the "tart"!

Celebrity Big Brother seems to be going from bad to worse with this racist element being flagged up! The sponsors (carphone warehouse) have now pulled their financial support in light of the Jade Goody/Danielle Lloyd alleged bullying against Shilpa Shetty , and the row has bounced worldwide. This is the end of Big Brother I feel, and not a moment too soon. Originally it was an interesting psychological experiment of sorts, but it has been manipulated to death and now resembles a score of Christians being hurled to the lions!

Goody and her family, I am afraid, seem to be representative of much of the UK population, in the fact they are ignorant and insular and do not have the ability to reflect. They just exist and are what they seem to be! Of course the stress put upon them in this awful atypical environment of the Big Brother house, would make a nun spit, and has fuelled this fishwife behaviour, but Jade and her brood are racist, just as they are narrow minded,crass,ignorant and rude. I see this racism a great deal, and certainly notice it more in Wales than I ever did in Sheffield. It is a product of living lives isolated from diversity and exposure to differences in all manner of things, not just of other cultures and race. The whole sorry mess saddens me greatly.

On a positive note Shilpa Shetty has actually come across as a well adjusted, confident, and self aware individual whereas Goody and Lloyd resemble brittle teenagers who are out of their depth in this unreal situation! Perhaps all this also reflects very badly upon the producers and psychologists of this programme who manipulated these damaged people in the first place.

Chris has just rung,Britain in a weather crisis! , motorways closed and train services all stopped so he has decided to bum a bed off his professor! in scenic Preston.

A Chicken run,mushrooms & Cow pats nightmareS

Nightmare ! Whilst cleaning out the chicken run this morning, I must have left one side loose ! and as I was loading the car with dogs, one of the hens ( I can never work out who is Robina and who is Sarah) could be seen poking her head round the corner of the run, ready to break to freedom! She looked rather cool and calm, so I thought if I edged ever so slowly around in full view I could persuade her to dart back into the run. I stepped forward one step..she stepped back one ! I climbed over the gate, she blinked a couple of times!, I stepped another step and without a change of expression she put her head down and galloped like road runner on a mission across the orchard with me in hot pursuit. I won't bore you with the details of her capture, but it entailed several weetabix , alot of begging and an hour and a half!


Planting mushrooms is a disgusting practice as the compost reeks to high heaven. Please forgive the pink gloves. Hopefully in a few weeks we will have a crop!

To calm down after the chicken incident, took the dogs (including George, who is walking very well on the lead) up The Gop, minutes into the walk all four of them found a cow pat! It was one of those sloppy wet ones with a greenish crust ! and obviously totally irresistible to terriers! Finlay swallow dived into its centre, Meg just started to eat it ! (gross) and Maddie not to be left out waded like a fat old woman at the beach. George alone remained clean! It took me over an hour to bath them all on our return to the cottage.

Eddie Mair,the old girls win at the golden globes! and a large tin of custard

I do like Eddie Mair. I used to enjoy his soft, humorous voice every Sunday morning, when he presented Broadcasting House. PM, the BBC news flagship on radio 4, is obviously not as witty and satirical as his former show, but he did manage to raise a smile from me (difficult after 3 hours sleep after night shift) as he discussed the Golden Globe winners ( or more importantly for the BBC, which Brits won what!? and fu*k the Americans)

I was thrilled to hear that Meryl Streep and fellow middle aged thesp Helen Mirren won a fist full of awards! at the Golden Globes, and well deserved they were too!, Middle aged women seem to be making a resurgence in Hollywood nowadays what with Susan Sarandon, Jessica Lange, Diane Keaton, Annette Benning, Sigourney Weaver and Judi Dench all bubbling in the wings ! Both Mirren and Streep looked absolutely fabulous !!! ( By the way Susan Sarandon's family originte in North Wales)

Cold today and guess what?.......it is very rainy! settled down in front of the fire and tv with some Bird's custard and lots of telephone calls !. First night in for a week!!!

At last!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE SUN

No rain, no rain!!!!...................finally a cold dry morning!!!! Pity I can't get into the garden and field as the ground is still sodden, but at least everything looks so much better. Friend Jonney H in sheffield says he wants a view from Wynyard road, and just realised how lucky we are with this one.

A sedate Hen night

Siobhan and Sarah- Nu's neices (Left) were star players at Nuala's rather nice and sedate Liverpool hen night. The sisterhood were there Ona, Ann, and Margie, sister in law Debs, and friends Paula, Rachel,Liz and the wonderfully dynamic Hillary. I was very happy to be there and all seems organised for the "wedding of the year" There was nice chats and gossip and tapas and Chris was a star and picked me up at 11pm, so I was happy to leave them to it ! No doubt much more red wine would have been drunk and tears shed before bedtime.

Tomorrow Sunday I am working nights (Monday too) so it will be nice to get back to being Mr Miniver on Tuesday

Chutzpah by the bucketload, and I am Mrs Miniver!!!

Fiddler on the Roof, At the Crucible was an amazing experience ! Exciting, moving and totally absorbing! three hours of stunning theatre shot by in what seemed like 30 minutes. Henry Goodman, played Tevye magnificently; with a twinkle in his wise old eye, his scenes with Beverley Klein as Golde, his shrewish wife were especially moving, and there was not a dry eye in the house when they sang Do You Love Me? It was a lovely evening.

Jonney Highfield was in excellent performing mode, and we had a great time on catch up before and after the theatre yes in ALL BAR ONE!.It was like old times doing theatre and a few beers:

Read most of Mrs Miniver by Jan Struthers on the train, and must admit I was a little disappointed as it chronicled her life ( and rather privileged one at that) before the war so was very different to the 1941 film version. One sentence did hit home with me and I realised that me and Mrs Miniver ( or indeed Jan Struthers) are very alike!!!in certain ways, as she/they seem to enjoy the small things that mean "home"

"She reached her doorstep. The key turned sweetly in the lock.
That was the kind of thing one remembered about a house; not the size of the
rooms or the colour of the walls, but the feel of the door handles and the light
switches, the shape and texture of the banister rail under one's palm; minute
tactual intimacies, whose resumption was the essence of comming home"

The other George,I am fitted for a new suit ! antiques club

This is Nia and George's "Little George"- just received this picture, liked the T shirt logo

Went to Chester, and got fitted for my wedding outfit! A very camp salesman organised my clothes and flounced around with very thin lips when I walked in! (I was wearing my green mini welli slip ons!!! which I am sure ruined his day) He asked me what my waist size was and when I said 36, he looked me up and down like John Innman and said very pointedly "36! I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I. DOOOOOON'T THIIIINK SOOOOO" I very almost laughed but did go a shade of crimson when he measured me and proved he was right!! Oh the shame!

The wind is awful today, little George on his lead resembled a small hairy kite, so we all had to walk on the leeward side of the sand dunes. Off to Antiques club with Janet later, which should be fun, I think it's all about Arts and Crafts movement. Well actually it was about the life of William Morris which was generally interesting, however the speaker did concentrate on tapestry and wallpaper design a little too much. The church hall was full of grey hairs (about 40!!!) and the usual ankylosing spondylitis 80 year old lady was fast asleep on the front row!! The information the speaker gave of Morris' Red House at Bexley Heath was facinating and the house (now owned by the National Trust) was quite beautifull.