Going Gently

City Mooching and the Best Movie of the Year

It has been a lovely day.
After a leisurely breakfast ( Nu's hubby Jim missed out cos he had to jet off to Amsterdam for work) we caught the tube into town and suddenly became real tourists for an hour or two when we boarded one of the Thames clippers and took a trip from Embankment up to the London Dome and then back to Southwalk .
The weather was lovely.
At Southwalk we ambled around the cathedral then had a cracking seafood lunch at

The Wright Brothers Oyster Bar, which was filled to the gunnel's with suited and booted diners

We took our time over lunch, talked and laughed some more and then made our way to the Curzon Cinema in Mayfair where we indulged ourselves with probably the best film I have seen all year- the Argentinian movie The Secrets in their Eyes

Now Romantic movies have a tendency to leave me rather cold but The Secrets in their Eyes combines an absorbing and rather affecting generational love story with a well written and pacy crime thriller.

Benjamin Esposito (Ricardo Darin) is a retired criminal court Investigator, whose efforts to write a novel are frustrated when he finds himself unable to shake the memories of a 25 year old rape and murder case. After visiting his ex-supervisor (Soledad Villamil), who is now a judge, Benjamin decides to re investigate the case, and the audience is transported back and forth from his memories of the investigation to more recent twists and turns relating to it and in the course of this unravelling mystery Benjamin examines his own romantic history with Irene and his friendship with his drunken best friend and colleague Pablo ( a wise cracking Guillermo Francella)

Darin, with his hangdog charm and mature sexiness is wonderful in the lead role of Benjamin but his scenes with the sassy and luminous Villamil catapult this movie into something much more than your entertaining crime camper.

The couple's chemistry (portrayed over a twenty five year period) is at times terribly moving and their will-they-won't-they relationship literally reduced both Nuala and me to tears..... not a mean feat I can tell you!

Having said all this, there is much , much more to enjoy in this absolute cracker of a movie. The cinematography is superb ( a swooping tracking shot over a football stadium is just one particular standout) and the musical score by Federico Jusid re enforces the film's themes of loss,memory, fantasy and fiction.

Nuala loved the film as much as I did, and after a brief but thoroughly enjoyable narrative post mortem of what they did and why, I just had time to say my emotional goodbyes before I caught my train home.

It has been a lovely, lovely day.

Sigh

I thought I would indulge myself with a very quick blog before we have a sunny breakfast of papers, smoked salmon and bagels! (bliss)
Nuala took me to the Palm Court at Langham's Hotel for afternoon tea, so thank God I had scrubbed up for the event,we ate miniature pastries to die for, weird gin flavoured tea and scones that would make Auntie Glad weep....and it was delightful.
We mooched around Leicester Square , drank wine in the sunshine and chatted non stop , then went to see Sweet Charity at the Haymarket, which was a real and rather surprising tonic.
I absolutely loved the chorus of girls in the Fan-Dango Ballroom, who are all beautifully played, full of weariness, bitterness and savage wisecracks by a troupe of talented long legged but somewhat shopworn looking actresses............their rendition of Big Spender was a real riot....

I loved Dorothy Field's biting and at times rather moving lyrics and of course the other famous numbers such as Rhythm of Life and There's gotta be something better than this.." were real show stoppers............

Anyhow today we are fitting in a river trip , lunch out and a cinema visit ( I KNOW I am in London what the hell am I doing going to the cinema?- well you have to remember me and Nu love the movies, a trip together to a discussable film is something of a treat for both of us!)....
and all before I catch the train home
Back to wellington boots covered in chicken shit

When Turkey attacks

Humm, I have only one reservation about leaving for London today, and that is the fact that Chris will have 36 hours alone with Boris!

For some obscure reason Boris HATES Chris....and to be honest, Chris is not that crazy about Boris either. It is a relationship well seated in mutual loathing and mistrust.. which, I suspect has its roots firmly fixed in jealously over little old me!

Despite being "in recovery" after his collapse, I suspect Boris will rally somewhat when he sees Chris offering him the off bowl of corn and mayhem may ensue.............

hey ho

Check it out

My sister's blog is developing nicely
for those that have not seen it check it out.....
Nice to have Chris back today
Looking forward to my city break tomorrow!
x

http://supportingandrew.blogspot.com/

There is no place like home Dorothy!........but........

Tomorrow, I am off to London for a flying visit to see Nuala.
It will be lovely to catch up with her, we are going to see a show for her birthday and she has something else nice for us to do even though I am only visiting for a day and a half ( she has already given me the strict instructions to "look nice" which is exciting in itself). so after a somewhat quiet week here in the village, the country mouse will be entering the big city--I am so looking forward to it!

The six new hens have settled down in their somewhat grand newly repaired hen house. I have nicknamed the coop "The Memorial Hall" as it resembles the village hall in size and stature.

All hens need is a 24 hour period locked inside their new home and they will always return to that house forever! It is a fascinating part of their peanut brain Psyche that they have this ability....and it never fails them. Last night like the big wuss I am, I still camped out on the field to ensure that the six newcomers made it back to the memorial Hall, but I need not have worried. As soon as the light changed from day to dusk, back they trotted and despite being a newly formed flock already the alpha female (one of the Barnevelders) took her place in the choice spot before her juniors followed her to bed.

I must also note that in comparison the turkeys remain thick as mince........every night I have to herd them all into their sleeping quarters and STILL they have no idea what I am doing and why.

sexing geese

Is it Winnie and Joe....or Winston and Jo?
Apparently it is nearly impossible to sex geese especially when they are young. The white goose (Winnie) has the deepest blue eyes of any animal I have ever seen (honestly he looks just like Paul Newman!!); whereas Jo has deep moody brown eyes...could that be a factor in sexing them? the internet information is not clear. Jo's "undercarriage" seems more pronounced than winnie's, so I suspect I may have a gander and a goose...but who cares.....
Whatever the sex of the geese, they and the three magpie ducks have formed themselves in to a tight knit little flock that go everywhere together.
I find this "crossing over " of species boundaries fascinating and rather moving. Only last year Hughie the lone guinea fowl spent all his waking hours shadowing the cockerel Rogo... and before this Boris would gallop to the "rescue" of the 22 Indian runner ducks when they continued their noisy hysteria when rounded up for the night.
The flock instinct and the innate goal to "belong" is a strong one.....and that is why I enjoy having the animals so much.......their demands and needs are so honest

The weather is glorious , but I just cannot get myself going at all. Night shift was quiet, (which probably made me more jaded today), and the dirty shed in the back garden desperately needs cleaning out after Hazel 's town hens have had their holiday in it over the past week....
But I just cannot be arsed!
So.....I will have another diet coke........then I will have an amble with the dogs around the sleepy village roads..................I almost forgot it is Bank Holiday Monday today....that means.......a few crap but ultimately satisfying TCM movies............thank goodness Chris is back tomorrow..I have had my fill of the single life

A depressing weekend

It has been stormy over the last 24 hours or so. The village of hen houses have taken the brunt of the weather as the wind gusts up the valley, and this morning the birds have congregated in the centre of the coops where they've escaped the worst of the gales.
It is interesting to note that only the heavy and plodding ghost hens seem unaffected by the inclement weather....obviously their bulk seems to shield them from the gusts of wind and rain.
Mind you the five of them,literally move as one so face the elements like a group of Roman soldiers
Last night the cottage seemed rather isolated. The wind was a blowing and it was dark as pitch outside! It didn't help me watching two mean and moody films, both with protagonists battling their own demons during bleak stormy weather! when you are home alone, the old imagination can run riot when all you can hear is the shriek of the wind in the trees.

Marin Scorsese's melodrama Shutter Island is somewhat of a heavy handed movie.Visually, its film noir -ish mise- en- scene coupled with the dark hurricane lashed psychiatric hospital mystery, makes for interesting viewing, but the very artificiality of the plot and style of the piece flagged up the main twist in the story for me only 30 minutes into the movie.
Leonardo de Caprio , is not a favourite actor of mine, but he does carry the movie with an assured and compelling performance. 7/10

Valhalla Rising is a glum, brutal and wholly depressing odyssey from Danish director Nicolas Winding. It follows the unending journey of a one eyed prisoner (Mads Mikkelsen) as he escapes some pagan oppressors to fall in with some viking warriors.....yeap not a bag of laughs.. but I must admit the movie was quite beautiful to look at in a chilling and depressive kind of way

6/10