A Long Haul Break

We've come away for a night and, as I write we are a whole twenty minutes away from home in an attic bedroom in The Ship at Dunwich. So why are we sitting in a fairly spartan pub bedroom with the wind and rain lashing down outside when we could be sitting in a comfortable lounge in front of a roaring log burner? Well, I read in Suffolk Magazine that The Ship was having a music night on 6th February and there were special rates for accommodation. Having never visited Dunwich before I thought it was something different and an opportunity to visit the area so why not give it a try. But at the moment it's looking like my plans for a bit of a mid week treat are teetering on the brink of falling flat. I'll reserve judgement until tomorrow when we've had the meal, music and breakfast and maybe then things will look a bit rosier. Let's hope it doesn't take a miracle.

I mentioned miracles because last night we were at Framlingham College where FramSoc were hosting the highly eminent Cambridge Professor Sir Colin Humphreys who gave a short lecture on miracles from the bible and their explanations from a scientist's viewpoint. Sir Colin was a charming and affable speaker and his investigation of the crossing of the river Joran by the Israelites resulted in a fascinating and perfectly plausible explanation for the event. So too did his research into Moses producing water from a rock in Sinai. However, when he came to The Resurrection and Christ's walking on water he could offer no scientific clues to these events and it was clear that he was satisfied to be a believer in these phenomena without any scientific proof - which I , as a non believer ,found a bit of a letdown. However, it was certainly another stimulating evening provided by FramSoc and it was well attended by plenty of local people.

It would have taken more than a miracle for there to have been more than a lone survivor in the situation that the characters in Lone Survivor our movie choice this week found themselves in. On a clandestine mission into Taliban territory four US Navy Seals are on a hillside waiting to carry out their instructions when they are interrupted by an old goatherd and two boys. They are faced with the moral dilemma of either killing three civilians and being branded war criminals or letting them go and aborting their mission and trying to return to safety. Marion says she would have chosen option one whereas I would have gone for option two. Neither choice was exactly perfect for the soldiers and I doubt that the outcome would have been a lot different whichever way they chose as within a few hours they are surrounded by scores of heavily armed Taliban.

It's a very powerful war film with near constant action as the band of four brothers in arms attempt to escape against impossible odds reminiscent of The Alamo and Zulu. If you enjoy action films then this is one for you but, for all the action, the movie really hits home when photographs of all the Americans killed in this real life event (in happier times with their wives, friends and families) fill the screen in some truly moving closing credits.   

A Painful Time For Marion, Summer In February In Framlingham And Gravity In Cineworld

Marion had a tooth abscess a couple of weeks ago. She went to the dentist who extracted a wisdom tooth and in a couple of days she was well again. Unfortunately her good health was short lived as she started to have terrible pain in the other side of her mouth last weekend. I don't think I've ever known her be in such pain. Her mouth started to swell up but, as it was weekend, she couldn't do much other than take painkillers and wait for the dentist's surgery to open on Monday. Monday came and we managed to arrange an emergency appointment. I sat in the downstairs waiting room as Marion was treated but even downstairs I heard her scream as another wisdom tooth was pulled. She was in terrible pain for hours afterwards but I am pleased to say that it has subsided now and her swollen face has returned to normality. This tooth infection followed an expensive course of oral hygiene treatments over the last couple of weeks. Whether the two were related or not is anybody's guess. As the first abscess was before the treatment I suppose it's just a coincidence.

Last night we went to FramSoc the society run by Framlingham College for pupils' parents and Framlingham residents. We've been to some great FramSoc talks in the last few months and this was another excellent event. The speaker was Jonathan Smith who wrote the novel Summer In February  and went on to write the screenplay when it was adapted for the screen. We've not read the book but we've seen the film which tells the true story of acclaimed artist Sir Alfred Munnings' first marriage. The short-lived relationship, which involved a love triangle with Munnings' friend Gilbert resulted in the tragedy played out so brilliantly in the film.

Jonathan, a schoolteacher by profession, told us how, through school contacts he met Gilbert's son, heard the story and was so gripped that he felt compelled to write about it. School contacts also resulted in Jonathan coming to Framlingham college; headmaster Paul Taylor told us how he and Jonathan were colleagues at Tonbridge School. A surprise for the audience was a passage from the artist's autobiography which described his unhappy time as a fourteen year old in (where else?) Framlingham College. Further school connections were also involved; Jonathan was so impressed by the teenage Dan Stevens when he was a pupil at Tonbridge that he kept in touch and Dan made a pact to play Gilbert if the novel ever came to the screen.

Jonathan was an excellent, warm and genial speaker and I imagine that he must have been an incredible teacher. He didn't hold out much hope for me as a novelist though. He said that the greatest artists tend to have had troubled childhoods and troubled, rebellious, teenage years; my life has been pretty happy from the start so my book (which I have just had professionally edited and will be ready to upload to Amazon soon) won't stand a chance. 

Talking of not standing a chance, picture this scenario - you are an astronaut out in space fixing some equipment on your space station when the debris from a huge explosion comes into your orbit. This is what George Clooney and Sandra Bullock encounter in Gravity, the film we went to today at the fabulous IMAX screen in Cineworld Ipswich. To tell you what happens next would spoil the film for you as it's certainly better to see it without knowing. The effects are spectacular - as good as anything I've ever seen in the cinema - and IMAX enhances these brilliantly. Bullock and Clooney give good solid performances although they don't engage the viewer like Tom Hanks did in the recent Captain Phillips. People are raving about this film. It's certainly entertaining and well worth seeing (especially if you can get to an IMAX screening) but Oscar material? Other than for special effects, I doubt it.

  

Time For A Laugh

You know how people who are retired tell you that they don't know how they found time to do everything when they were working as they're run off their feet now? We're finding that it's actually true and there's rarely a spare minute at the moment. The Tesco diet isn't helping as the shopping for and preparation of the meals is taking up a fair chunk of time but it is bringing results and on our first scheduled weigh in (five days into the diet) we've lost six pounds between us. If we carry on at that rate we can pack it in in a few weeks.

Yesterday I went to Stowmarket to continue the business mentoring that I am doing with a small business. We've been working together for six months now and have reached the end of the business's first financial year. I was really pleased to see that the turnover and profit both exceeded targets and we're now working on the budget and targets for the new year. It's good to be able to share some of my experience and I'm looking forward to getting a second business to mentor soon.

Last night was opening night for the latest production from FADS (Framlingham Amateur Dramatic Society) and we headed to the college theatre not quite knowing what to expect. The play Third Week In August was about a week on a caravan site and, having lived on such a site for over six months last year, it was of particular interest to us. The huge crowd was perhaps swollen by the Wednesday night pensioners' concessions as Marion and I were two of the youngest in the stalls. What a night the audience had; I don't know which was funnier - the play or the audience; the woman behind me was in hysterics which I found infectious especially when, every five minutes, she forecast (usually correctly) what was going to happen. If I had a pound for every time she told her neighbour that she'd never seen the theatre so full I could have bought everyone a glass of wine in the interval.

Boring Neville  (Peter Turner) and his strident wife Mary (Claire Harries) have been visiting the same site every August for twenty odd years. Their lives are dull but this year they have company in the shape of Mary's twice divorced sister Liz (Kathy Churchill who jointly runs the excellent Aboutfram weekly e-newsletter). Sue (Alison Podd) has booked a peaceful week in a caravan and plans to spend it writing a play. Her neighbours on the pitch alongside are Tony (Glenn Hurlock) and Jenny (Jane Manning). 

It's an evening of comedy as Neville and Mary (who really don't want to interfere) and the other caravaners find themselves embroiled in the very glamorous Jenny and her not so glamorous partner Tony's relationship problems. Mary tries to offer poor and put upon Liz some sisterly advice. Onlooker Sue gets dragged into the situation as it develops into pure, caravan hopping, farce. There were a few first night nerves but the cast got over them well and provided us with some memorable scenes that brought the house down. It runs until Saturday so, if you're in Framlingham, get down to the Headmaster Porter Theatre. I'm sure that you will laugh.

Today we've been to the gym and then went to a local resident's house and did a bit of pruning for her in her garden. We volunteered for the Framlingham Hour Community whereby you offer your skills (or lack of in my case) for an hour or two to help someone who is unable to do a job themselves. A shoulder injury made pruning difficult so we were happy to help. We're now looking forward to our next assignment.