Neil's Stuff

Back to Luton airport for a trip to Belfast. Thought I would have breakfast at the airport, this time, as I noticed that Pret does porridge. Turns out to be good porridge, I guess because it has been on the heat for a while the oats really get a chance to expand, so the whole thing is much more creamy. I opted for a dollop of honey for £1.99, which means they are making big margins on materials. I get a kg of Tesco value oats for less than a pound, and all you need for a portion of porridge is half a mug full. A bag lasts me a couple of months.
On the way in I stopped off in W H Smiths to get a paper, and noticed that the advertising screen above the tills was showing and error message, as I like to collect public error messages I thought I would share it with you all. It is an AVG anti virus message complaining that the license had run out.
Anyway the plane is about to push off and so am I.

Poppy is a happy go lucky primary school teacher and the film centres around her simple day to day life, as is traditional in a Mike Leigh film. The film starts off with Poppy having her bicycle stolen, she is just sorry she did not have a chance to say goodbye! So she decides that she should have some driving lessons, the instructor turns out to be an very angry person, and the relationship between the two is hilarious, as they are at the extreme ends of the happy spectrum.

The film carries on you meet her sisters and family , and the friend also a teacher who she lives with. During the course of the film normal everyday things happen, she goes to dance classes, meets a bloke, has difficult situations to deal with in the class rooms etc etc.

The film is a typical Mike Leigh film, it is about normal people, in normal lives, (although this one is far more happy), but somehow he manages to keep your attention, proabbly because you want to know what is goint o happen next, and a lot of the scenes are visually stunning, in an understated way, when is a Tesco express service station in front of a Gasometer make a great shot!

I give the film 5 out of 5, and would recommend everyone what it, it is just a lovely film with a nice story.

After having done some chores this morning, because R&L, A&M, Ange are coming rouind for a curry tonight, we headed off to Wendover for a walk to Coombe Hill.
On the way there we popped into our painter’s to have a look at his PC. He had managed to get some fake antivirus software installed which he could not get rid of. We sorted it and were soon on our way.

We parked in the public car park and headed off up past the railway station. The weather was sunny but there was a cold wind. I think we were on the cold side of the hill too, as there were not many signs of spring about, as there is else where round and about. There are fragments of an old fence up round the Coombe Hill area which I wonder maybe belonged to Chequers in a era gone by. See the photo’s attached to the post. The fences are serious structures, the posts are cast iron and the fence part is quite fine (you would not be able to climb them), and very pointy on top (even more reason not to try and climb them).

Any way we did a loop round and ended up coming down the “usual” route up Coombe Hill with the view. When we got back to Wendover we went into Rumseys for a coffee and some lunch, I had Chocolate truffle cake and Helen had carrot and orange, very health concious we are.

Fire alarm at 9:15 the factory was on fire. No less than 2 fire engines, a fire all terrain vechile, and a fire car turned up.
We all had to stand outside in the cold. According to a reliable source “They ran out of water and had to start pumping from the canal”, although some doubting Thomas thinks that they used a fire hydrant.
The news got as far as the Mix96 website by 15:38 (not as quick as it was on the blog!) and we got glowing reports. Everyone knew what to do the, and all our fire precautions are ship shape because we take that sort of thing seriously.

This is a film from a book of the same title. Apparently the film follows the book but leaves out some details, but does clarify some of the more confusing parts of the book.

The film is set in the 70’s and centres around a girl who lives in Norristown Pennsylvania, who want to grow up and become a wildlife photographer. She is murdered by a neighbour, and then things get complicated because she goes somewhere that is not the after life it is a bit of a “waiting land” where she meets other girls. Anyway there film jumps between her family and never never land as they all come to terms with loss and separation.

Susan Sarrendon plays her drunk grand mother who at one point comes to stay.

There are some surreal scenes set in New Zealand, probably because the film is directed by Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings fame.

I give the film 3 stars worth a watch but if other films had been available to watch I might well have chosen another.

This is a French film about a the editor of a women’s fashion magazine Bauby who suffers a stroke and and ends up a prisoner in his own body. The condition is called locked in syndrome. He could only move his eye but thanks the patience of his speech therapist he was able to communicate and eventually write the book that the film is based on.

The story shows the relationship between Bauby and the speech therapist, his wife, three kids, ex colleagues, mistress etc. It is very thought provoking.

At the start of the film the shots were a bit wacky but it was an attempt to see the world through is eye’s and we soon got used to it.
Despite the depressing subject matter, the film is a great attempt to see a world we could never imagine, and is actually really well filmed.
I give it 4 stars.

On the way to and from work this morning it looked like the canal was going to over flow. Not sure if it was caused by the recent rain/snow or a lock open up stream. The water was flowing fast through a closed lock, it was only a bout 1 or 2 inches from over flowing, and generally the canal was clear rather than the usual murkiness.

It is finished. Great work by all our trades, thank you. & Neil has christened the floor by dropping a food processor on it

Just got back from visiting friends in Thornbury over the weekend. Lots of snow lying in the fields in the Cotswolds & some still in Thornbury too.  They have a lovely new house and the gang were all there.  Had lunch in .Blend, an excellent vegeburger and very good service.  Then some light shopping, Neil picked up a bargain fleece.  Much cheese purchasing in the deli, to go with the local Terrick mustard cheddar that we took T&R from the Chiltern Brewery.  T cooked a fanastic vegetable curry whilst we took R to sample his new local.  A rather unwise but fun late night was had, and then back home today in glorious sunshine.

A family. Rose and Norah, in Albuquerque, lost their mother when they were young. Rose is responsible – a housecleaner, raising her seven-year-old son Oscar. She’s also having an affair with Mac, a married cop, her high-school sweetheart. Norah can’t hold a job. Their dad, Joe, is quirky. When Oscar is expelled for odd behavior, Rose wants to earn enough to send him to private school. Mac suggests she clean up after crime scenes, suicides, and deaths that go undiscovered for awhile. Rose enlists Norah, and Sunshine Cleaners is born. Norah bonds with the dead, Rose finds out that it’s a regulated business, and complications arise. Can a family marked by tragedy sort things out?

I really enjoyed this film and would recommend it.