we stayed in this afternoon and watched jacques tati as monsieur hulot, on holiday
i'd seen & enjoyed it nearly forty years ago in the little theatre in bath but suddenly it makes me squeal out loud with astonishment, with huge jokes sandwiched between moments of surreal beauty, and a marvellously inclusive tenderness for the world and for people
then she gave me a chocolate, my sixth from a box of ten ...
Saturday, October 01, 2005
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
prejudiced ? moi ?
i had a brief conversation with an even older cheese driver, shaun, about the merits of high-speed film noir dialogue, having just seen a dvd of otto preminger's fallen angel, made very cheaply in black & white in 1945 & currently available from the nft
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037691/
we didn't have much time to talk after too long a day, so shaun ended a condensed diatribe on modern film by saying, "i'm an intellectual snob, really !"
"no, shaun !", sez i, "you read the daily telegraph and that makes you a reactionary snob; whereas i read the guardian and that makes me an intellectual snob !"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037691/
we didn't have much time to talk after too long a day, so shaun ended a condensed diatribe on modern film by saying, "i'm an intellectual snob, really !"
"no, shaun !", sez i, "you read the daily telegraph and that makes you a reactionary snob; whereas i read the guardian and that makes me an intellectual snob !"
Monday, September 26, 2005
Saturday, September 24, 2005
belt & braces, horologically speaking !
putney church beside the tidal thames, the sundial is now o'ershadowed by tall buildings
Thursday, September 22, 2005
dear diary ...
04.15 am - ish
am narrowly missed by three drivers in near collisions at succesive T-junctions as i cycle towards nine elms ... glad to be alive !
08.15 am
arriving in kent, slip while stepping out of cab and fall backwards from truck onto concrete but effortlessly achieve optimal landing on both buttocks and both shoulderblades simultaneously ... followed closely by back of skull
emit roar expressing mixture of shock, pain, and embarrasment ... energised with fear of permanent injury and inability to pay the rent
one second later realise that i am still lucid and nothing is broken
concrete apparently undamaged, kentish onlookers mildly amused, and i am mighty pleased to be alive
recovery fuelled by huge rush of adrenalin
11.00 am
as adrenalin rush subsides, buy bacon lettuce tomato and mayonnaise sandwich from a spotlessly clean road-side stall outside tonbridge
theatrically, whilst i wait, an inspector enters the stall uninvited, wearing a white coat and bearing a clipboard
watching the proceedings he enquires of the pretty lady with the "philadelphia cheese" accent, "have you washed that lettuce ?", to which she rarther candidly replies, "i've never washed a lettuce in my life ! ... i just trim off the outsides !"
17.00 pm
arriving home, discover that the girl at the supermarket checkout where i bought my spring onions has "generously" over-changed me by five pounds
18.00 pm
whilst reading today's wiltshire gazette on-line, discover that school-hating fourteen year old nephew tom has been sectioned after a foolhardy encounter with cheap drugs
my brother argues that young drug abusers shouldn't be protected and thus encouraged by confidentiality
there but for fortune go you or i
18.30 pm
check last night's national lottery results and am now a further ten pounds richer !
and so to bed ...
am narrowly missed by three drivers in near collisions at succesive T-junctions as i cycle towards nine elms ... glad to be alive !
08.15 am
arriving in kent, slip while stepping out of cab and fall backwards from truck onto concrete but effortlessly achieve optimal landing on both buttocks and both shoulderblades simultaneously ... followed closely by back of skull
emit roar expressing mixture of shock, pain, and embarrasment ... energised with fear of permanent injury and inability to pay the rent
one second later realise that i am still lucid and nothing is broken
concrete apparently undamaged, kentish onlookers mildly amused, and i am mighty pleased to be alive
recovery fuelled by huge rush of adrenalin
11.00 am
as adrenalin rush subsides, buy bacon lettuce tomato and mayonnaise sandwich from a spotlessly clean road-side stall outside tonbridge
theatrically, whilst i wait, an inspector enters the stall uninvited, wearing a white coat and bearing a clipboard
watching the proceedings he enquires of the pretty lady with the "philadelphia cheese" accent, "have you washed that lettuce ?", to which she rarther candidly replies, "i've never washed a lettuce in my life ! ... i just trim off the outsides !"
17.00 pm
arriving home, discover that the girl at the supermarket checkout where i bought my spring onions has "generously" over-changed me by five pounds
18.00 pm
whilst reading today's wiltshire gazette on-line, discover that school-hating fourteen year old nephew tom has been sectioned after a foolhardy encounter with cheap drugs
my brother argues that young drug abusers shouldn't be protected and thus encouraged by confidentiality
there but for fortune go you or i
18.30 pm
check last night's national lottery results and am now a further ten pounds richer !
and so to bed ...
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
chocolate tears
we went to the airport and i bought a box of anthon berg strawberries in champagne chocolates before we flew to bilbao
there, in our hotel, whilst i lay staring at the trendy purple ceiling, she discovered a safe that could be programmed so that only her credit card would unlock it
and that was where SHE hid MY chocolates
there is no justice ...
there, in our hotel, whilst i lay staring at the trendy purple ceiling, she discovered a safe that could be programmed so that only her credit card would unlock it
and that was where SHE hid MY chocolates
there is no justice ...
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