pumpkinstrokemarrow

Second plug for the Kings Speech. A film which has been heavily advertised on the sort of TV which we watch and which arrived at the local cinema last week. So we went. A good film, if a little too long, which got one rooting for the stammerer alright. One also learnt something about how one comes to be a stammerer and what one might do about it. If a bit jazzed up. Unsympathetic portrait of the Duke of Windsor and his wife. Thinking about it afterwards, I wondered what the royals made of it. Rather intrusive, verging on breach of medical etiquette. Including portrayal of at least one person still living, to wit HRH, The Queen. Did they get permission? Did the royals get a preview with some sort of rights of edit?

Having over the last fifty years moved from strongly republican to mildly royalist on the grounds that our queen is much less obnoxious than some presidents one hears about, reminded of a serious defect of hereditary monarchies: the fact that you will, from time to time, get a dud. OK, in the olden days you could usually rely on the duds being knocked off by the barons, but we don't do that any more. Does that change the game?

Third plug for North by Northwest, a film acquired from a local charity shop for the sum of £2.99. Watched it last night, first time ever, and judged it very good value. It had worn very well for a film which was around 50 years old, much better than the Bond films which followed shortly after and which it appeared, in many ways, to anticipate. But without the violence, the sex or the silly toys. Started off a bit alarmed by the amount of noise being chucked out of the TV, but once the film was properly started, it calmed down to a watchable level.

Slightly puzzled by the title, not having been so gripped by the film so as to not consult the atlas during the proceedings. Where I find, rather to my surprise, that Chicago is more or less due west of New York when I had thought it would be further south than that, and that Mount Rushmore is more or less the same amount west again, on the eastern edge of the Rockies. So where does north by northwest come in, the action having moved steadily west across the US of A?

Furthermore, Google Earth suggested that Mount Rushmore was not that far from the site of the battle of Little Big Horn. So this important national monument is placed fair and square in the middle of lands ripped away from the aborigines. I think someone ought to apologise to the aboriginal nation on behalf of the successor nation.

Then took a peek at our own house. I was pleased to see that the picture had been updated and our new neighbours have indeed moved in. Their car was properly visible even if the new lid to our compost heap (see October 14th last) was hidden under some trees. BH, having taken on a drop of Martini, was upset about Google's invasion of her air space. I had taken on a drop of the Christmas Grey Goose (see January 1st and 2nd). Very nice it was too.