HOME
A warm. warm welcome…
To Ava Rose Bennett-Rice, daughter and first child of our step-grandson Theo and his lovely partner Caroline.
Ava was born on the 10th January and weighed 6lb 1oz. Mother and daughter are doing well and T (who was born on the same day as me, but 45 years later) has already been inducted into the magic of nappy changing.
Congratulations to the parents and to new grandparents Neil and Pauline.
Gosh! Maureen and I are now great grandparents!
Look at her, though.
Ain’t she gorgeous?
A last farewell.
My mother’s funeral took place at the Isle of Wight Crematorium on Friday last. The service was conducted by her former vicar and friend of many years, Rev. Graham Akers, and was well attended by family, friends from Arreton C/E and Newport Congregational churches, the managers and several of the staff from Cornelia Manor Care Home where she had been a resident for the better part of the last ten years, and by several worthy individuals who braved the elements late in the afternoon on a bleak day simply to pay their last respects.
We thank them and may their god bless them.
Thanks also to those who expressed their condolences by e-mail or post. There was the published comment from Anonymous John, and there were longer, unpublished but saved, messages of sympathy from mainland relatives, and a pleasantly nostalgic one from Helmut Stacher in Austria.
She would have been extremely pleased.
A fitting last comment…
We gladly accepted the customary invitation to dine at daughter Roz’s place on Christmas Day.
Lunch was barely underway when grandson Ellis brightly inquired of me:
“How is G.G., Boo?”
Suddenly I had to break solemn news to a little boy.
“I’m afraid she died three nights ago, Boo,” I said. “She’ll have gone to heaven now.”
He considered this briefly before asking:
“Will they let her in?”
Any reply I might have made was forestalled by his own, swiftly delivered, coup de grâce.
“They let Michael Jackson in.”
FILM.
What American Movies Have Taught Us.
(Comical but true observations forwarded by friend Jan Bennett)
1) All bombs are fitted with electronic timing devices which have large red read-outs to tell you exactly when they will go off.
2) Should you need to pass yourself off as a German officer it will not be necessary to speak the language, a convincing accent will do.
3) All apartments in Paris overlook the Eiffel tower.
4) Most lap top computers are powerful enough to override a bank security system or the communication system of an invading alien civilization.
5) Every single person in martial arts film has a black belt in karate.
6) When staying in a haunted house, women investigating strange noises should be wearing their most revealing underwear.
7) 1 man shooting at 20 men has more chance of hitting them than 20 men shooting at 1 man if he is the hero.
8) During a police investigation it will be necessary to visit a strip joint at least once.
9) Large studio-type apartments in big cities are affordable by single people with a low wage.
10) The entire British population lives in London.
11) It doesn't matter if you are heavily outnumbered in a martial arts fight; your enemies will attack you one at a time while the others dance around you menacingly.
12) In musicals everyone you meet in the street will know all the words to the songs and the steps to the dances.
13) When a hero is captured by evil international terrorists, guns are not necessary to defeat them, sarcasm and wisecracks are the best weapons.
(And to round the number up, here are a few of my own)
14) If there is something nasty in the woodshed it will have been put there by Al-Qaida.
15) In thrillers the biggest name guest star will be the murderer.
16) In whodunits the very nicest character will be the murderer.
17) All the problems faced by people in musicals can be overcome by ‘putting on a show.’
18) There is no such thing as a secure law enforcement office.
19) Anyone who says: “Thar ain’t no injuns within miles o’ here” will immediately be struck by an arrow.
20) Films given a lukewarm reception in the thirties, forties and fifties will today be lauded as art house, film noir or classic.
TELEVISION.
Eric and Ernie. (BBC2)
Daniel Rigby was superb as the young Eric Morecambe and Bryan Dick excellent as little Ernie Wise, slogging their way around the variety circuits before being ‘discovered’ by television.
Victoria Wood and Jim Moir (aka Vic Reeves) were entirely convincing as Eric’s supportive mum Sadie and down-to-earth dad, George Bartholomew.
The brainchild of Victoria Wood and beautifully written by Peter Bowker, this delightful drama should win awards galore.
Incidentally, I well remember the appalling early shows that nearly scuttled their television future. Remember thinking: these lads are too funny for this crap…what the hell are they playing at?
Turns out they weren’t playing at anything - a dickhead BBC producer was.
If you missed the New Year‘s Day transmission, watch out for a repeat.
They really do not make ‘em like Eric and Ern anymore.
Primeval. (ITV1)
They’re back! Blundering prehistoric creatures lolloping through vortices in pursuit of screaming extras.
Connor (Andrew Lee-Potts) and Abby (Hannah Spearritt) are still in more danger of being destroyed by predatory bureaucrats than by any of the man-eating monsters on show. Lester (Ben Miller) is touchingly supportive of them in face of the ominously dictatorial new management team.
It’s to be in seven parts and we are already hooked.
Zen. (BBC1)
Rufus Sewell as Aurelio Zen, an Italian detective working in and around Rome, looks so much like a cousin of mine who I always greatly respected and liked that I would have watched this short series even if it was not all that good.
It is good and I hope there will be more to follow.
Agatha Christie’s Marple. (ITV1)
I presume the Agatha Christie’s this-and-that titles are the bright idea of a dickhead ITV producer. There must be a bunch of them on every channel.
Anyway, it was Julia McKenzie…arguably the best Miss Marple since Joan Hickson… again and the wholly improbable plot of The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side…again.
So we enjoyed it…again.
Silent Witness. (BBC1)
I’m still not sure about this ghoulish hardy annual, The technique of mixing background comment with sudden close-ups of horrendous happenings and/or sullied corpses is too imitation CSI for my taste.
Everybody acts well even when their character is required to react to an unbelievable situation in a bizarre way.
Maybe I just need a break from television violence.
Above Suspicion: Deadly Intent. (ITV1)
I’ve seen Lynda La Plante a few times on chat shows. Comes across as a thoroughly nice woman, so I always feel rather bad when I don’t like one of her stories or find myself detesting her coppers. Way back (in Post 115) I said Ms. Reilly and Mr. Hinds were fine as the detective duo in a yarn featuring Jason Durr. The two actors are still fine, but…
In this three-part offering, Ciarán Hinds’s DCS James Langton comes across as the nastiest, most self-serving, least competent piece of work to bedevil any police station anywhere and Kelly Reilly’s DI Travis as an unbelievably masochistic ninny who has fallen in love with him.
I watched it to the end and wondered why.
The Secret Mediterranean with Trevor McDonald. (ITV1)
Good ol’ Sir Trev. traipses around every posh spot and stays at every plush hotel along the Med.
He’s like Alan Whicker on speed.
Very nice, but I’m glad it’s not being funded with BBC licence money.
Come Fly With Me. (BBC1)
Was never a Lucas and Walliams fan; thought they were a bit something and nothing. Then I saw Matt Lucas’s Les Miserables appearance with Alfie Boe and was impressed with the little bloke’s determination and sense of the ridiculous.
Consequently I have watched this airport mockumentary with more kindly eyes and it has been great fun.
All Heathrow and Stansted is there!
Not Going Out. (BBC1)
Lee Mack and Co are back without Miranda Hart who has risen above the part-time cleaning job.
Painlessly sees off half an hour if you‘re not going out.
READING.
Halfway through a Graham Hurley and a third of the way through Michael McIntyre’s autobiography. Loads still to read.
More next time.
Happy New Year!
