Yes, I think it’s fairly certain – Autumn is here. That’s not to say that we won’t get a heatwave sometime in the next week or so. But I hope the extensive lawn mowing I did during the week is the last for this season. What on earth are we doing having to mow lawns in November?
Last Saturday was Guy Fawkes night – the last man to enter Parliament with honest intentions. We were invited to a bonfire party by one of our neighbours – the weather stayed fine and not too cold. She had collected twigs and branches off her various trees throughout the year and had constructed a substantial bonfire. The effigy on the top of the pile was difficult to identify – our hostess informed us it was meant to be Vladimir Putin. I thought Liz Truss (or any of the six Conservative Prime Minsters we’ve been stuck with for the past twelve years) would have been a much better choice but I refrained from expressing an opinion. I suspect several of the assembled throng are Conservative supporters – there are a lot of them around and about.
As the bonfire roared, we were entertained by a succession of fireworks, both those our hostess launched and those from another two or three neighbouring parties. It’s always fun watching fireworks, especially when consuming gallons of mulled wine. A very pleasant evening.
On Tuesday we had a date night – it’s been a long time since the last one. Penny had expressed an interest in seeing Living, a new film starring Bill Nighy. It was on at the new cinema in Banbury so we contacted a set of our lovely neighbours and asked if they would like to join us. And very good it was too.
It is an adaptation by Kazuo Ishiguro (Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go) of Akira Kurosawa’s low-key 1952 film, Ikiru. It’s about an older softly spoken bureaucrat (Nighy) working at County Hall in London in the early 1950s. When he receives a terminal diagnosis his outlook changes and he tries to start living again. He pushes for the approval of a scheme to build a new playground on a former bomb site, a project which he previously attempted to bury amongst the skyscraper of papers and folders in his in-tray. It’s a sweet film, wonderfully acted with a message for us all.
After the film we popped along to the adjacent Pizza Express for a meal. A splendid evening in spite of not having any vouchers!
And speaking of films, we watched The Talented Mr Ripley the other night. Penny’s book club group is currently reading the novel for their book of the month and, when she finished reading it she suggested watching the film. It’s been a long time since I saw it but it’s still very good. Matt Damon, Gweneth Paltrow and Jude Law star and it’s beautifully filmed. While I remembered more of this film than I had of The Italian Job last week, I had completely forgotten how it ended – my diminishing capacity for remembering things works to my advantage sometimes!
I hadn’t realised that there are a number of additional Ripley novels by Patricia Highsmith, two of which have also been made into films although they haven’t had as good reviews as this one. Ripley Underground stars someone named Barry Pepper who I have to confess I’ve never heard of. It also includes Tom Wilkinshaw, Alan Cumming, Douglas Henshaw, Willem Dafoe and a host of others. Ripley’s Game stars John Malkevich – I’ll have to look our for both of them just to complete the set, I guess.
As is often the case, Andy Borowitz had a very succinct and revealing assessment of the midterm elections in the US.
U.S.A. the Envy of World After Ten Billion Dollars in Campaign Ads Changes Almost Nothing
“When you imagine what you could do with ten billion dollars, you immediately think of building new roads or schools,” a citizen of Montenegro said. “But America’s roads and schools must be in excellent shape, if they can afford to spend ten billion dollars on elections instead.”
“Ten billion dollars could pay for a lot of solar panels, wind farms, and other measures to mitigate climate change,” a resident of Somalia said. “Thank heavens Americans realized that political advertising is the thing that makes them No. 1 in the world and decided to spend it on that.”
Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker
Ten billion dollars on election advertisements during a cost of living crisis? Something is profoundly wrong.
And finally, I thought I would share some photos of our adorable lapdog enjoying snuggling on the sofa with the Alpha dog in our household, the lovely Ms Penelope.
And finally, finally Happy Birthday to our lovely, lovely daughter-in-law Lucy who is every bit as lovely as she was when we first met her all those years ago.
Meanwhile, keep happy, keep smiling, be careful, wear a f**king facemask in crowded places and keep your distance. And keep safe. And be gentle to wasps and bees.
Lots of love to you all,
Greg