Not Quite Past It Yet

After their endeavours yesterday, L and Daughter marshal at Forest Rec parkrun. Damn, this probably means I’m expected to run. So MD and I do. A time of 25:32 shows that neither of us are quite past it yet.

We hear taht they are trying to set up a new Parkrun in Alvaston Park, which would be good. Whilst we are inundated with Parkruns in Nottingham, ones in Derby are rare beasts indeed. Apparently everything is agreed but they need to pay Parkrun £3,000 as a start up fee, presumably for all the equipment. They are trying to get this through a community scheme that Aviva are running but personally I would have thought going round all the local parkruns with a bucket asking for donations would have done the job.

L then has her tennis, despite the relatively high winds. A least she has a ready made excuse if her shots go astray. I head over to fix my Dad’s internet. He’s been struggling to understand which of his three passwords he has (for his account, his router and his Wi-Fi), he should use where. I talk to his ISP's support for him and translate.

I have a home match and then later in the evening L and I meet up with some friends for our biannual night out. This time it’s a curry at Daughter’s local Masala Junction, the winner of Nottingham's Best Indian award this year, although Daughter appears to have had a better offer. We do drinks first in the nearby Doctor’s Orders and it’s a good night even if the food, while good, is nothing spectacular and we order far too much. 

(Saturday 3^rd November)

Acceptable After All

It seems that my mid-week run with Daughter was acceptable after all. MD and I have been recruited again, this time to pace her around Saturday’s parkrun at Forest Rec. L has admitted defeat on the injury front and will spectate again, still stranded on 99.

Daughter has however, apparently, offered to help L train for the Derby 10K next year. Once she is fit again of course. What is the world coming to? Strange things are certainly afoot.

It’s a normal Friday night in tonight, that is as in no massages. At least not from the professionals. 

(Friday 22^nd September)

Back In The Angel

Today we all go to Forest Rec Parkrun including Daughter who brings a guest with her who’s down from Sheffield. He's training for one of the Tough Mudders, I’m not sure he’ll find Forest Rec that tough, it certainly won’t be muddy but he will get a good quality bacon butty.

I record a positively pedestrian 27 minutes mainly because my dog, MD, decides to become a pedestrian half way around. So either he really is struggling with injury or he’s struggling with old age.

Then we're at Broadway for the first time in ages, taking in a film for the first time in ages. Summer is a poor time for films of course...

Sofia Coppola's new film ‘The Beguiled’ is either a second adaptation of Thomas Cullinan’s novel or a remake of the 1971 Clint Eastwood film of the same name, which ever you prefer.

It’s the late 19^th Century in Virginia during the American Civil War. Waiting out the war in their girl’s school are the proprietor of this ‘Seminary for Young Ladies’, one teacher and five students. Everyone else has left.

One day while out in the woods, one of the students, comes across Corporal John McBurney (Colin Farrell) of the Union Army who has been wounded in action. She brings him back with her where they lock him in one of the rooms (for his own safety presumably) while the school’s proprietor Martha Farnsworth (Nicole Kidman) tends to his wounds.

Oddly Miss Martha decides, in the name of Christian charity, that they should let his injuries heal before they hand him over to the opposition. This, obviously, has nothing to do with the fact that Martha, along with the rest of the all female household, have become immediately smitten with by their hunky find.

The room is unlocked and McBurney's presence starts to disrupt the previous calm as they all compete for his attention, giving him presents, cook meals for him and generally dress to impress. 

He repays their affection with affection, although it is mainly focussed on Martha and the school’s only other ‘adult’ teacher Edwina Morrow (Kirsten Dunst). Being younger than Martha, Edwina clearly believes that she is the most appropriate recipient of the Corporal’s attention. Although she doesn’t take into account Alicia (Elle Fanning), the oldest pupil, who is also determined to be in the running. The school quickly descends into a mini civil war of its own.

When he is fit enough to leave, he tries to stay on as their gardener but Martha, evidently sensing she is losing the war, vetoes that idea. So instead he declares undying love for Edwina. That could have worked but didn’t, when she caught him in bed with Alicia. So she pushes him down the stairs, breaking his leg which Martha then swiftly amputates.

He doesn’t take this well, as you would expect, so they again lock him in one of the rooms (for their own safety presumably) but he sweet talks Alicia into letting him out. A seemingly repentant Edwina pursues him to his room where she throws herself at him.

Martha and the others are cleared hacked off at these developments and therefore decide to murder him with poisonous mushrooms.

It all sounds quite exciting on paper but believe me, it wasn’t. It’s such a slow burn, full of  pensive ambiguous scenes, there's absolutely no chance of anything catching fire. It is far too inoffensive for its own good. Airbrushing war and sex out of a film that should seemingly be about war and sex. Not to mention racism. A 19^th Century house without coloured staff?

Coppola won Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival for this. Really?

After the film we visit the Old Angel in Hockley which I haven’t been to for decades and that would probably have been to see a punk band. It’s a lot quieter these days but still sort of radical, just in a different way. Then we move onto spend the rest of the night in the Kean’s Head.

(Saturday 15^th July)