Post 507. WHERE WENT SPRING?

 THE FLOWERS ARE HERE

BUT NOT THE CLIMATE.
It has been a cold month, and I am still dressed for Autumn. I'm of shivery disposition, though, so I asked around. Everybody agreed. It has been a cold month. Now there is an election in the offing, and scarcely a worthwhile candidate in sight. Never rains but it pours, does it? Well I said it a few posts back; I'll not vote. So I'll deserve what I get? A clothes post with a blue ribbon?

Excuse me if I look unimpressed.
TELEVISION.

Rob and Rylan's Grand Tour. (BBC) This priceless pair did, in a three part series, the grand tour that was once the province of the poet Byron and assorted upper crust dilettantes.

I was prepared to dismiss it as yet another expensive holiday gifted to media names. Wrong!
It turned out to be great fun, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Motorhoming with Merton and Webster. (Channel 5)
Paul Merton and his wife, Suki Webster, took in the motorhoming scene in a six part series.
They came across as a happy couple, Good scenery, gentle conversation; lack of concern for white van drivers and miles of following traffic: honestly, there was nothing to dislike in any of it.

Come back soon

You too.    

Post 506. ONE OF THOSE BOOKS

YOU CANNOT PUT DOWN.

BY DELIA OWENS.
Ms Owens first novel, and very much on a par with To Kill A Mocking Bird.
Where The Crawdads Sing was recommended to us by our granddaughter, Jessica, who also thinks it to be of Mocking Bird standard. We loved it, and I'd wager it will do for Delia Owens precisely what Harper Lee's book has for her. If she never wrote again she will always be remembered as the author of a beautifully crafted first timer. Crawdads is one of those books.
TELEVISION.
We binge watched the first six part series of Ian Rankin's Rebus (BBC1). Richard Rankin is Rebus, Lucie Shorthouse is Siobhan Clarke, and Stuart Bowman.is arch-villain Ger Cafferty. To my mind nobody can ever replace Ken Stott, Claire Price, and James Cosmo, but this new bunch is very good. Worth the watch.

FILM.
Recently we saw a Jason Statham film for the second time around. Can't remember what it was called: but the action was crazy the dialogue laconic, and it kept up Jas's mortgage payments. 

Great stuff for those who like an occasional madhouse.. We do.

We also saw the film version of Where The Crawdads Sing, directed by Olivia Newman from a screenplay by Lucy Alibar. Lovely acting from Daisy Edgar-Jones as Kya and her fellow actors, but it still puzzles me that film people always modify, even abandon, crucial parts of an author's story in the  belief, presumably, that theirs is a better version. It isn't. Good film, Almost the book.

NEWS.

Well it's politicians insincerely apologising for ghastly balls-ups perpetrated donkey's years ago.
Thank the Gods for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

And that's it for now.

Post 505. A DISTURBING START TO MAY

LANDED ME

IN HOSPITAL AGAIN.
Last Wednesday night, suddenly cursed by haematuria, I was admitted to hospital. I was lucky. The entire procedure ran smoothly. Some ten minutes after Maureen's 999 call an ambulance arrived at our door and two reassuringly amiable and competent paramedics, Dani and Jez, took over. They did their stuff: bleeding persisted. A&E in the ambulance accompanied by Mo.  Medical preparation and admission arrangements undertaken. Then lucky again. St. Helen's Ward, Single room. Consultant Mr. W. Akhter and a friendly,  efficient, staff who could not have been more kind and concerned. A couple of days treatment and our son was able to collect me and bring me home. Nobody wants to land in hospital like that, but those lovely hospital people came as close as possible to making it a pleasurable experience, I thank them all. 
Now I'm back, safe and reasonably sound, with Mo keeping her eye on me.
That, my friends, is good luck.
All the best to you.

Take nothing for granted.