Sleep

It’s 12.27 am.

I’m sat in a chair next to a patient 

I’m waiting for them to fall asleep.

They asked if I could sit there in the dark until they did so

No conversations, no lights save for the muted glow of my iPad. 

Just silence apart for the gentle whoosh of the radiators and the faraway rumble of a late night car.

My fingers are moving silently on the screen.

I’m waiting until their breathing changes.

The relaxed breath of sleep.

Then I will creep out of the room, like a maid in a hotel.

I miss listening to someone sleeping next to me.

The dogs with their farts and snores and brief galloping dreams keep you company for sure

But there is nothing like the deep rhythmical breath followed by a long sigh that says 

I’m ok…..

I’m relaxed…..

I’m slumbering….

It’s like listening to an old clock without a chime.

I look at the digital clock across the room 

It’s almost 1 am

and I’m the only one awake now.

I will wait another five minutes to be sure 

And then I’ll get up and go.

But is it art?

 Before the cinema, I met a friend for lunch. 

On the Promenade, I photographed some of the public art work that is dotted around and mused just how much these little pieces enhance the spaces we inhabit.

We often take them for granted which is sad

The relaxing bowmen in Rhuddlan

The giant otter, in the flooded River Elwy in St Asaph

The metal holiday makers Colwyn Bay

West Side Story

 I thought I had seen the original West Side Story, but on reflection I think I’ve only really seen bits of it. 

Of course, I remember most of the famous set pieces, but I think on the whole I found the film rather too theatric and somewhat overlong for my liking.

Perhaps I was too young to fully appreciate it.

Who knows.

Anyhow, Spielberg’s homage and remake is a revelation. 

It’s not a theatrical musical filmed

But it is a filmed theatrical musical.

I hope that made sense.

For apart from one or two sequences, the whole film feels real and gritty and totally 1957 New York City.

It’s quite, quite beautiful and breathtaking just to look at.

I totally loved it, even though it remains a tad overlong.

Alvarez and DuBose

Spielberg’s casting is sublime.  

Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler are totally believable and incredibly moving in their lead roles of Tony and Maria. David Alvarez and Ariana DuBose almost steal the whole show as Bernardo and Anita and Rita Moreno creates a new role of Valentina ( Doc in the original) and at the age of 90 (her birthday was yesterday) I am sure she will be the oldest actress to ever win an Oscar, for her rendition of Somewhere literally breaks your heart and makes you want to give her a standing ovation 

Moreno

Zegler and Elgort

Spielberg’s touches are everywhere, enhancing Jerome Robbin’s original choreography and Bernstein’s music into a proper, hyper-real cinema treat. The vibrant set piece America has been bravely shifted from the tenement rooftops at night to the busy streets of the Upper West Side in fully summer.

It’s a truly stunning piece of cinema.

The director has also managed to inject more characterisation into the characters wisely leaving the Puerto Rican cast to speak Spanish when needed. 

The violence is not stylised as it was in the original  and the tension between the Sharks and the Jets is palpable and made very real during the lead up to the final show down.

On the negative side, the musical remains very slightly too long for me, and I could have done without I Feel Pretty aside, as well as the gender ambiguous character of Anybody’s who added nothing to the story

But these are just two minor points for I adored this version which is a real triumph for Spielberg   

Breakfast at Tiffany's Moon River

This song always seems to haunt me every run up to Christmas 

Hey ho

Every Cloud

 It’s been a bit of a bust of a day.

Got a cheap matinee ticket to Oliver Twist at the Storyhouse but got caught up in the Christmas traffic in Chester and couldn’t find a parking space for love nor money.

Finally admitted defeat and came home but not before popping to a local deli to buy some Korean ready made meals

Every ugly cloud has a sort of a silverish lining.

Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars

Out Patients

 Two pairs of eyes, overlapping surgical masks were looking worried,

A gloved hand was on my shoulder.

“ Sir are you ok? Are you alright? Came from under one of the masks and I noticed that the technician’s eyes were a deep brown with speckles on the iris.

I had dribbled a little on my hospital gown.

Sputum and not wee, thank goodness.

I only noticed that after the fact

I apologised and hurriedly assured the xray staff that I had not arrested as they thought I might of done , but I had fallen asleep in the chair after a long night shift.

Both giggled , more out of relief than humour I thought.

I left the hospital soon after. 

It’s very cold today.

My sister has made me a steak and kidney pie dinner( with starter AND pudding)

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