Hats, Shirts And Subtitles

I mentioned on an earlier blog that we've got a wedding coming up shortly. It's two of our oldest and dearest friends' son's big day and we want to create a good impression. I got a new suit last week and Marion has a dress for the occasion but she didn't have a hat and I didn't have a suitable shirt so, in the absence of a hatters and a menswear shop here in Framlingham we decided to take a trip in the direction of Norwich yesterday. Marion had found The Hattery at Ringland on the internet and they were very helpful on the phone.

They had a massive selection of hats and Marion had no difficulty in finding the right one to go with her outfit.

As we were near Norwich, I decided to drive into the city centre and visit John Lewis for the shirt. I found a great selection and managed to buy three in their sale for little more than the regular price of one. I was very pleased until I got home and tried them on (I didn't want to trouble the assistant with taking them out of their fancy packaging) . Sadly it seems that Calvin Klein's style is ultra slim fitting and, sadly, I'm not ultra slim. This meant another drive to Norwich today where I managed to replace the shirts but at double the cost as none of the bargain shirts were right. At least I did trouble the assistants to take them out of the packaging this time and probably left them cursing as they rewrapped the three or four that didn't fit.

The evenings are drawing in and the summer weather is not quite what it was so we decided to go to the pictures twice this week. First was the Swedish adaptation of The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared, Jonas Jonasson's brilliant debut novel, at the lovely Riverside in Woodbridge on Tuesday where we enjoyed a great meal at the restaurant before the film. I read the book a year or so back and loved it. The film is good fun but misses out huge swathes of the novel and fails to meet the book's dizzy levels of absurdity. There are still plenty of laughs and it is well worth seeing but if you want the very best of The Hundred Year Old Man read the book.

Last night we went to Ipswich to the excellent IFTT for Cycling With Moliere. We particularly wanted to see this movie as it was filmed on location on Ile De Re where we enjoyed two holidays in the last few years. Ile De Re was as stunning as ever - especially as the off season filming depicted it free of the crowds who flock there in the summer. A successful actor travels to the island to recruit an old (unsuccessful) actor friend for his proposed production of Moliere's The Misanthrope. Over a week, the pair rehearse the lead and supporting roles alternating the parts on the toss of a coin. It's a gentle and whimsical film with a touch of romance and comedy as the misanthropy of the lead role starts to creep into each of the actors' characters and threatens to destroy their already shaky friendship. I'm a big fan of whimsy (as you will know if you have read my book) so this film was right up my street. 

And speaking of my book, the proof copies of the paperback version arrived today. I'm very pleased and will be starting to publicise it as soon as we get home from our next trip to Scotland.