The Holdovers

 

Dave and I went to Hamayuu for supper. The old waitress was wearing a lovely, subtle kimono. 

The food was excellent .

We went to the Picturehouse afterwards to see The Holdovers a charming, gentle comedy set in an American Boarding School at Christmas  1970, where we meet three people marooned by circumstance .

Loner, unpopular Classic master Mr Hunham ( Paul Giamatti ) has to take charge of Angus ( Dominic sessa) a troubled but bright teen dumped by his mother and new husband) and both are looked after by the school cook Miss Lamb (Da’vine Joy Randolph) who has just lost her only son in the Vietnam war                            

The story of three misfits coming together over Christmas is a story rife for sentimentality, but in the hands of director Alexander Payne , we have a nuanced, gentle and Wholly believable story of the coming together of three rather lost souls. 

It’s a beautiful film, brilliantly acted by the three leads , but especially by Giamatti who is a real class act)

Loved it. 

Head?

 What’s in your head at this very moment? 

I feel I need to kick myself up the arse

With a few things 

I don’t like myself today 

Nothing too drastic

The emotion is more vague, like a minor headache you can’t shift

Or that shadowy feeling of guilt after drinking and saying too much at a party.

I’m meeting Gorgeous Dave for dinner then The Holdovers at the Picturehouse

I’m a Gemini and need stimulation 

So It will do me good

Where’s your head at this moment?

Storm ISHA

It’s a rough night.

Almost by osmosis the dogs have wrapped themselves around me on the couch

Protection more important than fireside warmth.

We’ve been for a walk and I could tell they were thrown by the ferocity of the wind, and stood blinking hard against the gusts and rain.

We all hurried back for home as branches from the last ash trees cracked into the graveyard 

It’s dry January but I poured myself a port

Watching Over

Anxiety is always compounded by the dark

Nightime feeds it, as effectively as multiple spoonfuls of sweetened porridge.

Old nurses have certain ploys before they resort to opening the medicine cabinet 

A face and hands wash with hot soapy water and straightening of the bedsheets , will get rid of the restlessness in the muscles that get tossing and turning so exhausting before five am.

A milky drink, even if you can’t stand the skin on the cocoa, will remind you of childhood when the cool hand on a forehead and a stern yet loving voice of your mother , told you in no uncertain terms that it was time to SLEEP! 

More often than not , it’s the sense of having someone else around that calms the night terrors

A half opened eye glimpsing a pottering uniform, the sound of a trolly being pushed with the accompanying clink of crockery.

Does the mobile phone help? 

Sure does….but only when texts are answered and emojis sent

Tiktok diverts but it’s not real company.

The company that reminds you that there is someone watching over you

Best Of Both Worlds

I’m tired

There is a stiff wind blowing from the South West

And the cottage feels under siege, with the gusts roaring through the graveyard trees.

It doesn’t seem like 24 hours ago, I was power walking through Bloomsbury, with the obligatory Americano in hand , looking every bit of the London commuter scurrying to work. 

I’ve fitted in a 12 hour night shift too.

Nu now lives in Surrey

I have little notion where that is, suffice to say it’s only an half hour from Paddington, she’s having a birthday party there in May so I’ve booked the time off last night. 

I’ve just fallen asleep on the couch

Woken by Dorothy who knows it’s time for bed

BackStairs Billy

 London was freezing, but looked lovely, as it always does at night.

I got to Dishoom early and sat at our table nursing several consecutive glasses of hot spiced chai

Bloody lovely.

It was lovely to catch up and see the photos of new house, it looks delightfully villagy

But then I’m biased

 We gossiped and talked as we walked across to The Duke Of York’s just in time to see Backstairs Billy 

A frothy tale of upstairs downstairs at Clarence House in 1983.

The story of head footman Billy ( nicely played by Hollywood heartthrob Luke Evans) and his relationship with the Queen Mother ( Penelope Wilton) isn’t rigorous or in anyway in depth, it shows the mutually needy banter between “ one old Queen and another” 

Billy’s, job is to entertain and boost an ever growing isolated and lonely Queen Mother and she validates his camp existence by promoting him into a position of power.

On reflection both exist in a somewhat melancholy way, and it’s is a relationship, which Billy, is finally reminded, to be one sided without parity. 

Wilton plays the Queen Mother with affection, giving her a certain physicality and vitality not captured by the television footage we have all grown up with. But we have plenty to smile at too , as corgis run merrily across the stage and sycophantic guests are privy to her infamous afternoon drinks party.

Falls From Grace

Yes my hair does look somewhat “ surprised” 

I had a fall, getting out of the car at the station and hit the pavement with all of the good Grace of a sack full of tripe.

I lost my reading glasses in the kurfuffle but have only just realised that , now I’m sat on the train, an almost empty train on its way to London.

I’m getting used to the dismal service provided by avanti trains and decided to catch the early train to London after hearing that my midday service had been cancelled at 8 am. It was a good call but only one I’ve learnt after a plethora of bad journeys to the capital in 2023.

The dogs had been walked and fed and were left asleep for Trendy Carol’s hubby to pick them up at his convenience 

I will arrive in London at 12.30 , more than enough time to have a late breakfast, mooch around the National Portrait Gallery, check into my hotel before meeting Nu at Dishoom on Kingly Street, around the corner to Carnaby Street.

Nu and London has been somewhat of a touchstone for me over the past few years and despite some fraught journeys , it remains very much that.

A place always associated with laughter and with theatre

 

Booties

 

I’m officially an old twat

I bought myself “ booties” from the supermarket.

And I look like a fat Eskimo from the waist down 

At least they haven’t got an easy get on zip at the front, or God forbid, Velcro closers.

Shoot me when I’m wearing something with a zip on the front.

It’s a lazy day today. I’m off to London tomorrow taking Nu to see Backstairs Billy