Cinemas

Today Tasha and Reece took me for a bit of wedding browsing and shopping. It's very exciting. We have a fair few decorations already, some bought online and some given to us by a very generous friend. These will, in turn, be donated to another bride and groom-to-be after the wedding.

Afterwards, I went to see 'Tar' at the cinema. I can see why Cate Blanchett has been nominated for an Oscar. She was mesmerising. It's up for a number of Oscars, in fact. It's a really different film but it was some time into it before it was clear what the film was about. They had time to do that as its run time was 2hrs 38 mins. Unusually, the credits ran at the beginning. Very old school. I don't think I could recommend it because it was pretty slow-paced and wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea. Someone on the radio the other day said that if they don't know what a film is about within the first ten minutes, they will leave. They definitely wouldn't have seen this one through! It made me think about my sister Jane all the way through it as she is in the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and has been for well over three decades (nearer four, I think!). I kept wondering if she would have enjoyed it because it was so deeply about music. I'm glad I saw it and I wish Cate Blanchett luck at the Oscars.

Talking of length of film time, we used to get a scan ticket at the cinema to use in the car park which gave you up to four hours free. Now, the new car park owners have changed the system. When you arrive at the cinema, you have to register your car reg number on an ipad, which logs you into the car parking system. It gives you three hours (!), which is very frustrating as films are very long at the moment. You are fine if you, for instance, arrive at 3pm because you don't pay in the car park after 6pm.  However, say you went to see Avatar: The Way of Water at midday. This runs for 3hr 12 mins. Add the trailers before it starts. The minimum you then pay at the car park is £1.50 (2-3 hours). You pay the difference on leaving the cinema, at the car park machine. Obviously this only happens if you go to an earlier performance, but it is frustrating because, at the moment, so many films are long. What is most annoying is that cinemas are struggling anyway. They really don't need anything that is going to put any potential punters off going.

I'll climb down off my soapbox.

Have bought some magnesium spray and just put some on to help the muscle pain, hopefully. Probably a really silly time to put it on, at bedtime, when I react to so many things. Fingers crossed.

No time to write today. Hopefully I'll manage some tomorrow. Must remember to put in another request on AskMyGp. I asked for an email but they rang me twice whilst I was in the cinema, which means that I now have to go back online and do the whole request over again tomorrow.

No comment.

“There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.” —W. Somerset Maugham