Families Eh?

Now that our Scottish branch of the family is safely back in St Andrews it's been time to get back into our old routine and we found time yesterday to head to the excellent Riverside at Woodbridge for the early evening showing of August Osage County. It's one that we missed when it hit the multiplexes and we weren't sure whether or not to try it as the critics had been generally unfavourable. I'm glad that we went as it was a fabulous study of a family - or perhaps I should say a dysfunctional family.

Meryl Streep plays Violet the matriarch, a cancer victim whose drug and booze filled attempts to escape her situation drives her husband Bev to an early grave and the film centres on Bev's ensuing wake. It's based on a stage play and, as such, is divided into fairly formal acts and scenes with most of the action taking place indoors. Violet has three daughters who all have mid life problems; Barbara (Julia Roberts) has marital difficulties and her sisters have troubled relationships and health problems too. Throw Violet's sister Mattie and her husband and son (Benedict Cumberbatch) into the mix with Barbara's estranged husband (Ewan McGregor) and daughter plus racist Violet's Cheyenne housekeeper and the stage is set for an eventful funeral party.

If I tell you any one of the half dozen reasons that the wake turns into a disaster I would spoil the film for you but Julia Roberts is fabulous as the eldest daughter who finds herself morphing into her drug addled and foul mouthed mum (I think the playwright was challenging The Wolf Of Wall St for the highest f-word count). Families eh? Where would we  be without them.

Perhaps life would be far simpler if, like Joaquin Phoenix in Her we all fell in love with our computer operating system. Okay so it sounds very far fetched but if you analyse it it's not as way out it sounds. It's 2025 (the not too distant future) and  Phoenix is Theodore Twombly a thirty something guy who has recently split with his wife. He buys a new voice operated operating system for his computer and is captivated as he finds himself having his files and desktop organised by the comforting tones of Scarlett Johansson. 

Now I'm a long way from falling for my SatNav (but you do get a higher class of SatNav with a Mercedes and she always says "please" when she tells me where to go), but maybe ten years in the future programming will be more intelligent and start to answer back when I curse her for taking me down a dead end. If you are home alone and your computer is capable of holding a genuine conversation it's not far removed from the voice at the end of a help line or maybe a sex line and if it were that convincing it's not that difficult to believe that a vulnerable person could become dependent and form a relationship. So, although the premise of Her is ,on the face of it, ludicrous we found the film quite believable and quite touching too. 

We've got a quiet week now before we head off to Fife to see the family so I've been putting a few more bits and pieces up for sale on eBay. After last week's £100ish profit I hope that this week's half dozen offerings do a little bit better. I've got high hopes for this beautiful French cup, French porcelain box and 230 year old Worcester saucer that I found on eBay.

Busy Times

You may have noticed that it's been very quiet on this blog for a week. After going to Cineworld in Ipswich to see Her on Monday it was time to prepare for the visit of our daughter Sarah and her two daughters Rose and Melody. Sarah teaches baby yoga and enrolled on a course in London to qualify to teach toddler yoga too. So we booked an apartment in Vauxhall which was the nearest accommodation we could find to her classes in Stockwell Green and headed down to London to help out.

The apartment run by Think Vauxhall was well fitted out and very handy being right next to Vauxhall Station but the area is not particularly nice. We spent most of our three days of helping walking the mile and a half between flat and classes to deliver and collect the grandchildren as Rose was involved in a couple of the lessons and Melody is breast fed so we needed to be nearby when she was hungry. We were fortunate to find a Portuguese cafe near the yoga studio (there's a big Portuguese population in the area) and the owners were very welcoming and accommodating as we sat for long periods over a couple of cups of coffee.

We spent a bit of time in the excellent Clapham Mary Seacole library.

Rose had a couple of interesting journeys on the underground.

On Sunday we found ourselves with a couple of hours free so we headed off to the South Bank. Marion took Rose on a merry-go-round but a few minutes later we found that Sarah's class had ended an hour earlier than expected so it was back to Clapham before driving home to Framlingham.

It's the first time that Sarah and her children have visited us here in Framlingham. We've had a couple of relaxing days. We've had a look around the shops and had coffee in The Crown and The Lemon Tree and hopefully if the weather stays fine it will be a trip to Southwold Pier tomorrow. 

But the kids have been happiest being dragged around the wooden floors on blankets. Great fun and It's keeping the floor nice and clean too.

Wet Wet Wet

I grumbled about the weather on Friday and there was no let up by the time we were due to head to the excellent Crown for our Valentine's day meal. I phoned around for taxis but couldn't find one available at short notice - so we walked. I arrived at the hotel dry from the waist up thanks to a waterproof coat but with legs wringing wet. I stood by the fire doing my best Vic Reeves leg rubbing impression before heading into the restaurant. We had a very pleasant evening. We chose the "indulgence" menu. Unfortunately with our shrunken appetites since dieting, it was a case of the "over indulgence" menu for us and we were unable to manage all that was offered (the second of two puddings was a step way too far).

I said that there was no hope of Framlingham Town's cup game against Ipswich Valley Rangers being played but my neighbour Bernard's management of the pitch was so good that the surface was playable. The weather ranged from hurricane to calm but at half time the heavens opened with a vengeance and the stand was no shelter from the driving wind so another soaking ensued. The young Framlingham team put on a spirited display against a more experienced Ipswich side and went ahead early in the second half with a well taken goal from Danny Smith who, at sixteen, looks to be a great prospect. I was impressed by the team spirit with Matt Aldis and Boardsley catching my eye. Sadly the lead was short lived when the Rangers equalised with a penalty (above) and the game was over when a freak free kick from the touchline was tipped by the keeper into his net. It was an unlucky end to The Castlemen's cup run and I felt that they were well worth a draw. They all deserved a medal for playing in the conditions.

On Saturday night we headed up to the college for a concert organised by Spice Of Life. It was billed as Modest Ike and Polly Gibbons but the star of the show was Polly's pianist James Pearson (hope he doesn't mind me using his photo from his website). He is the Artistic Director at Ronnie Scott's and he was absolutely tremendous. Polly Gibbons entertained us with some great jazz numbers and Modest Ike and his band were amazing musicians although I have to be honest and say that whilst I appreciated their talent I wasn't very keen on the songs.

Yesterday we headed to Suffolk Showground for another antique fair. It was much smaller than the one we went to in Norfolk but there were some nice bits and pieces. I bought a couple of bits but I don't think I've uncovered any treasure.

Today we're off to spend some of our Tesco club card points at Pizza Express. At four times the points value it's a great offer and Pizza Express do some low cal meals so we won't over do it. After that it's Her at Cineworld. Looking forward to it.

I hope it's more upbeat than the BBC's Call The Midwife. Marion enjoys this but I have to admit to only half watching it whilst being distracted by Twitter or something else on the laptop. Last Sunday Marion was in floods of tears over a tragic death in the show and this week the tears returned with a storyline about a disabled couple, she with Downs syndrome and he with cerebral palsy. I don't know about you but I don't want television to make me cry. Please lighten up Beeb. Let's have more laughs like that absolutely brilliant Inside Number Nine (below). Last week's episode A Quiet Night In had us both in fits.