The Sun Has Got His Hat On!

Saturday. Too right. The sun has definitely got his hat on and he's coming out to play. It's really warm and sunny. This afternoon is the funeral of The Duke of Edinburgh. Only thirty people were allowed in the chapel at Windsor Castle but some 800 troops in the parade within the castle. The Queen will sit, alone and masked. Poor woman! That shouldn't be allowed, even with social distancing. (Thinks: 'social distancing' is an oxymoron. Never thought about it before. A contradiction in terms.)

I've just been to Waitrose for a few items, including eggs. They are double-yolkers. But, just tell me, how can they be certain that they have double yolks? Surely double yolks in chicken's eggs are rarer than, dare I say it, hen's teeth. You wouldn't know an egg contains a double yolk until you crack it. It's a bit like saying, which comes first, the chicken or egg. Are they guaranteed? If I take it back when I find that one doesn't have a double yolk, can I get a refund? Do they have an X-Ray machine to check? I remember, years ago, going to the egg-packing station which was in Bedford, somewhere in Horne Lane, probably where a carpark now takes up the land (probably not, as I have an idea it's been redeveloped, with flats there, but couldn't be sure.) Anyway, as the eggs went along the production line (packing line would probably be more correct. No chickens were harmed in the course of this entire procedure.) and at one point they were held against a light which showed if they were bad (well, I imagine that was what it was for.) So, perhaps that is how they would be checked for double yolks. All this sounds very like the Ardman Animation film 'Chicken Run.' If you've not seen it, you must, it's brilliant, and has to be one of my all-time favourite films. Clever, funny and so original.

I've started a new drama series on Amazon called 'Leonardo.' I have had something of an obsession with Leonardo Da Vinchi, so this seemed a good show to at least have a look at. The part of Leonardo is played by Aiden Turner, who played Ross Poldark in the rebooted BBC1 series. I seem to remember him in another series based on the lives of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, 'Desperate Romantics,' in which he played another painter, Dante Gabriel Rosetti. I can't say it's particularly dynamic but they seem to have got the period right and it makes a change to have something that isn't about people being horrible to each other, jumping in and out of bed, car chases, or shooting up drugs or killing one another.

Sunday. 6.55a.m. I woke up at around 2a.m. This is normal for me. I had a shave and did my Bible reading on YouVersion, ' 2021:A Year Through The Bible With Nicky Gumble', and as usual, Alfie followed me from room to room. A time to then check emails and then back to bed. Alfie kept on prodding me as he thinks I will just jump up and take him out. If anything, he keeps me motivated. 

It's another bright and sunny morning, although not particularly warm, as I discovered when I took Alfie out as normal.

Later. I got back from Church to be greeted by Alfie, excited as he is usually when I come home. He was a real sight, hair everywhere. He had been rolling about on the sofa and it really made me laugh. Eventually, he settled down, but it made me think that his haircut is more than ever important. Just a pity it won't be until July.

Later still. Alfie needed to go out in a hurry, so we did just that. Oldbrook Green is heaving with life. People everywhere, sitting on the grass, playing football, some children in the skateboard park, others in the playground. Then, add to that the litter, which is everywhere. With enough bins, why can't people put their rubbish in the bins which are there for that purpose? Likewise, dog mess. Just not nice. I could go on, but I won't.

Monday. 7.50a.m. Yet another bright and sunny morning. 

Alfie had a bit of what I can only describe as a 'situation' this morning. As a result, he was somewhat smelly. To say he was embarrassed by it would be untrue. If he has an unfortunate accident (!) he gives me such a look that can only be described as contrite. The only answer to the situation was to put him in the bath. He doesn't enjoy it, but he was going to have to put up with it. I had to organise thing beforehand, run the bath and make sure the water wasn't too hot and I had enough towels and the plastic jug nearby to use to rinse him. He shivered a lot, which showed he wasn't enjoying things. I took him out of the bath and, he shook himself, which is what all dogs do when wet. I managed to towel dry him sufficiently to allow him into the lounge but the bedroom door shut tight as I really didn't want him in there. As I write this he is sitting in his favourite place on the back of the sofa, looking somewhat disheveled but I can't take him out until he is dry.

Current Reading and Viewing

I'm currently reading 'The Story of Lucy Gault' by William Trevor. I studied another of his books for G.C.E. 'O'Level English Literature over 30 years ago. In fact it was the last year of G.C.E. 'O' Levels before they became G.C.S.E. The book was 'The Children of Dynmouth.' It's a good novel, I think I'll have to reread it. I have a volume of his short stories. I occasionally dip into it if I have nothing else to read (which is rarer, as I always have a stack of books to read. Not just novels, but also history books. Both Carol and I read a great deal and if we're passing either branches of Waterstone's in Milton Keynes shopping centre, it takes all our effort to not enter and browse and then come out laden with a load of books. Those tables they have near the entrance with 'Buy one, get one half price' or even 'Buy two, get one free' are far too tempting. We probably have more books than most people, also, more than we really have space for. Why cares? Reading is good for you. Expands your vocabulary, you learn something (generally) and it's often better than cinema or television. Adaptations of books as films or television series don't always meet expectations. They often fiddle around with plots and characters. ITV's series 'The Durrell's is good up to a point, but the latest series, which ended a few weeks ago, has veered off the track, away from the original Gerald Durrell books to such an extent I don't really recognise it. They have expanded the whole thing, no doubt so that they can extract as much as they can from the original material so as to allow more storylines and so develop as many series as possible.

We've had a good batch of television dramas on all channels. I've mentioned 'The Woman In White' in an earlier post. Then there's been 'A Very English Scandal,' about the Jeremy Thorpe scandal of the 1970's. Extremely well done. Hugh Grant showing a very different side to his acting ability from his usual 'floppy-haired' persona. Make-up and costume very convincing and no doubt he'll be in the running for a Best Actor award when the BAFTA nominations are announced.

We're not 'Poldark' fans. We've never seen it, so it's no good writing about something we haven't seen. Probably very good, but I for one am not a great fan of historic fiction, so a series based on such a series of novels doesn't really appeal.

'Car Share,' the comedy series written, directed and performed by Peter Kay has been a great success on BBC1. I for one have really enjoyed it. It's such a simple idea for comedy. A manager of a supermarket drives to and from work and the company he works for sets up a car-sharing scheme and the manager (played by Kay) takes an employee called Kayleigh (Sian Gibson), to work and then takes her home each day. Nothing like it has been attempted before. They chat as they travel. Very little happens, but it's done so well you can't fail to find the characters likeable. They build up a very close relationship. We never see their work-place. We hear about others they work with, but never get to meet them. Technically it must have been extremely difficult to film inside a car. It seems so natural. This simple show has taken traditional sitcom to new heights. There's no audience on the soundtrack. It doesn't need one. It's not 'laugh out loud' comedy. It doesn't need to be. It's about a really mundane subject, a lot like so much comedy, for example, the stuff the late great Victoria Wood wrote and performed. It's the sort of subject-matter we can all identify with, the every-day things that we all go through, the basics of life, getting to and from work. Think of what Alan Bennett wrote about. I remember with great affection his wonderful television plays. One-offs which we don't get anymore, unless you think of the daytime drama series which has run for several seasons on BBC1 at 2.15 during the winter months called 'Moving On.' There have been very few episodes of 'Car Share.' Much the same amount as 'Fawlty Towers.' Only two series and 12 episodes. It seems like there must have been more. It didn't over-stay it's welcome and then just limp along. Episode well-written and acted. So with 'Car Share.' The BBC even had the first series on iPlayer so you could watch the series in it's entirety if you so desired. I personally can't see the attraction of 'binge viewing.' If you wait for each weekly episode, as we would have done in the early days of television, it would be like enjoying something, savouring each episode as it was aired. Before we had V.H.S. cassette recorders, and the only way you could see something was when it was broadcast.