Once Upon a Time... in Leamington

On Saturday we go over to Leamington to visit Son and of course to do a Parkrun. L may not be quite up to running at the moment so instead she decides to walk Leamington parkrun with Son. Yes, that shocked us too. She’s signed him up with a barcode and everything. He seems surprisingly up for it but I’m sure he’ll never do another one and he looks well ready for his breakfast afterwards.

In the evening, we're at Broadway.

Set in 1969, Quentin Tarantino's new film 'Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood' is two stories ran in parallel. The first is total fiction and concerns Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), a TV cowboy in the long running series ‘Bounty Law’.

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Rick is now a fading star as Hollywood moves on to newer and younger things. So Rick is attempting to reinvent himself but is only being offered bit parts as a bad guy. On the downward curve alongside him is his stunt man Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). They are drinking buddies but while Rick lives in luxury in the Hollywood hills, Cliff lives in a trailer with his dog, Brandy. 

Meanwhile, living next door to Rick on Cielo Drive is Roman Polanski (Rafal Zawierucha) with his wife Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie). Cue the second story, a factual one that is about to get the Tarantino treatment.

The film is set in the months leading up the real life murder of the pregnant Tate and all the other occupants of the house on Cielo Drive at that time. Tarantino slow burns through that period filling in Rick and Cliff’s story and dropping in casual encounters with Charles Manson (Damon Herriman) and some of his ‘Family’ members. Cliff even visits Spahn Ranch to see an old acquaintance George Spahn (Bruce Dern) where the Family are now holed up.

Where is the film going? Of course with Tarantino you can never be sure until you get there. He could have recreated the murders. He certainly wouldn't have baulked at that. In fact you find yourself waiting for tragedy to strike knowing that with Tarantino they would have been in equal parts brilliant and unwatchable but he didn't. Thankfully he didn't. The title of the film implies this is a fairy tale, where endings can be anything you want them to be, so all bets are off.

Overall it’s a long, but mesmerizing, film with all the usual immaculate detail along with an incredible soundtrack (naturally), great cinematography, great acting especially DiCaprio and Pitt among plenty of famous names both as actors and as characters played by other actors. Typically there’s plenty of drugs and violence, and a stirring of controversy in casting Cliff as a wife killer among other things in the film to get people wound up but most of all Tarantino does what he does best. He tells a great story.

Some Quentin Tarantino movies of late have disappointed, this one doesn’t. This is right up there with his best. He might as well retire now.

(Saturday 17^th August)

80th

I complete my 80^th parkrun at Alvaston. It is Daughter’s first at Alvaston and therefore MD’s first there as well. L doesn’t run as she’s still having problems with her hip. She hopes resting it might mean she is ok for the Burton 10k tomorrow.

Parkrun try to get me to celebrate my 80^th by purchasing one of their apricot coloured shirts which come personalised with your home parkrun event. They say this makes a great conversation starter. It does indeed, if your eyesight is as bad as mine squinting at other folk’s chests certainly does get people talking.

Today would have been Doggo’s birthday, so we toast him with a glass of something. This blog isn’t quite the same without him although the Lad has certainly taken up the baton of giving me something to write about.

There’s a match at 3pm and then afterwards I spend some time sorting out my Dad’s car insurance as it seems he’s been scammed by a fake accident without realising it.

(Saturday 10^th August)

Badgering

While at the Tara Kinder run last night I badgered L’s sister into doing our local Parkrun this morning, that ruined her night on the wine. Well perhaps only a little but she does turn up and does Forest Rec Parkrun with us. Having been badgered into it herself she badgers her daughter into doing it too. That didn’t seem too popular.  

In the afternoon L has a coaching session at the tennis centre as a replacement for the one she missed on Thursday. It’s at 5pm so we contemplate falling into a pub afterwards but there’s always the chance her tennis racket might be deemed an offensive weapon on a Saturday night.

We could, of course, have been at Splendour or indeed doing the Thunder Run. In fact one of the reason we dumped the Thunder Run was so that we could go to Splendour again but I think it’s overpriced at £45 a ticket when the bands are either one’s I’m not bothered about or that I’ve seen countless times before and that’s with a tenner off for being a local. Although the Slow Readers Club are one of my current faves I think I’d rather stick to seeing them indoors. I’m sure it was about £20 the last time we went.

We eat at Broadway but don’t see a film. We have one in the Hockley Rebel, where there’s nothing very exciting but I do get my final stamp for a free pint. Then we have quite a session in Brew Dog with several dark beers, some very strong and one on cask but without a hand pull. They’re supposed to be returning fully to cask but they’re clearly not there yet.

(Saturday 20^th July)

Twilight And Dawn

On Saturday L and I both run Clifton parkrun and then head off in opposite directions.

L heads to Leamington on the train to spend the rest of day with Son as it’s his birthday this coming week. While I head to Newark to supervisor our team in the Crufts Team Qualifier. Sadly I don’t have a dog in any of the teams with MD being now in the twilight of his career and the Lad only just past dawn. We reunite later in Beerhedz at Nottingham Station.

I’m back at Newark again on Sunday, supervising more teams but I’m back home just after lunch after deciding not to wait to MD’s one run which was right at the end of the day. Sadly none of our teams troubled the qualifying places.

(Sunday 26^th May)

A Touch Of Normality

It’s a bit of a relief then to get back to work on Thursday and a touch of normality. It’s also great to bike in with very little traffic on the road. However I didn’t expect the normality to amount to so many calls from customers. I usually get my tax return done at work over Christmas because it’s not that busy.

Our office itself is also busy with around half the staff in which is far more than usual. Seems my views on Christmas are more widely shared than I thought.

Normality doesn’t stretch to me being able to play squash or L to play tennis, so we don’t really know what to do with ourselves on Thursday evening.

I bike in again on Friday, so at least it has been a very active Christmas fitness wise.

This continues on Saturday with parkrun. We go to Colwick for a change and I do my third one with the Lad. He is now starting to get the hang of it and I’m starting to get the hang of him. Unlike with MD it’s advisable to start on the front row with the Lad.

We are in the top six from the off and although we slip back, we come 20^th overall. My best result for quite a while and the time... the time is 21:54   which is not only a PB for the Lad but a PB for me and there’s still more to come I’m sure. I was holding him back because it wasn’t an ideal course and was very slippery in places.

(Saturday 29^th December)

A Break For Freedom

We return to Forest Rec for Parkrun and I decide to run with the Lad for the first time. He is very excited at the prospect of this and is so keen to get started he immediately sets about chewing through his lead. I manage to abort that particular break for freedom and persuade him to wait for the nice Run Manager to start us.

When we do get underway we start way too near the back for his liking. I shout out ‘coming through’ as we hurtle through the field elbowing everyone else out of the way.

I manage to rein in his enthusiasm after awhile and steady his pace. I don’t want the little lad overdoing it at his tender age. We clock 23:39, not bad for a first effort.

As if to compensate for last Monday’s wanton destruction of the local Derby v Forest game, Sky TV have given us permission to play our next five games at 3pm. Wow just wow and how retro.

Sadly my Mum isn’t getting any better after her fall the other week but at long last her doctor has now sent her for an X-Ray. Result, two fractured pelvic bones! FFS. No wonder she was in pain. So she isn’t at the match again today but at home with her new zimmer frame and Radio Derby.

Last Saturday I apparently bought L a dress for Christmas. This Saturday apparently I’ve bought her a coat for Christmas as well. That is, she says, if I can afford her. Of course, she’s always great value. I’ll be boots next, you see.

(Saturday 22^nd December)

The Death Knell

We have a dog show today. It’s been a while and it’s one of my favourites up at Winterton Showground near Scunthorpe. L accompanies us and I drop her off at Scunthorpe parkrun on the way.

MD is surprisingly good today, at least at first. He puts in a perfect clear on his first run which I hadn’t even walked. This is followed by a scrappy clear in his second, followed by a scrappy non-clear. You can see the way this is going...

My problem, is that due to my still injured calf, I can’t keep up with him.

Derby lose at Burton, in what is probably the death knell for their play off hopes. Burton were simply more up for the game. It was as if it was their cup final, with it being a local derby, and they have a side packed full of local players. Most of our lot probably don’t even know where Burton is. Somehow I don’t expect us to get any more points this season but then this is the worst Derby team for five or six years. So it’s either a huge credit to the manager that he has kept them in the top six for so long or it’s a sad reflection on the standard in the Championship this year.

We have a night in tonight, as it's Derby 10k tomorrow although not for me obviously. 

(Saturday 14^th April)