Revolutionary Rants

It poured all day yesterday. It poured when I took Chicken to work. It poured when I went to the capitalist shop and agonised over whether or not to get some flared jeans (I didn’t, but now I regret that decision bitterly). It poured whilst I drove to and walked through Bideford. It poured whilst I got Ferris’ treats from Creature Comforts and all through my volunteering. It poured as I drove back to Swimbridge and collect Ferris. It poured whilst we dragged round on a very wet walk (extra thanks go to the woman in the silver Golf who drove passed us at 60 and splashed me from head to toe in dirty puddle water – you’re a star). It continued to pour all evening long.

Today the sun is back. Hooray! Not sure how the weather will pan out over the weekend, but I am not too worried about tomorrow as we are off in the evening to see Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. I am sadly sure it will be a rotten film but I am still going because I want to remember how it felt when I was seven or eight and my brother Jon got me hooked on Indy – and see it on the big screen for the first time, of course. We’re going with my nephew, who I in turn got hooked on Indy by giving him my old videos when Chicken brought me the DVD box-set for Christmas a few years back.

Well, slimy Michael finally went. And I actually felt a bit sorry for him. I, too, couldn’t understand why anyone would spend close on to £3,000 for a day in a car. OK, the engines sound quite nice, but so do my Mozart CDs and most of them ain’t so expensive… My hatred of Alex grows by the second. He and Lee were once again quite fowl to Lucinda, sending her off to deal with her stolen idea of raffle tickets and hire out an Austin Martin, whilst they continued their lads mag woofing noises and praised themselves up to the hilt. Gross. Alex reckons ‘in his head’ that he’s a ‘high end salesman’ – I keep having a feeling he worked at the Car Craft just outside Leeds before The Apprentice… If he doesn’t go in the next round I will be very, very annoyed. The most interesting clip for the programme next week was that of Lee doing his usual ‘whooping’ noise in front of a very disturbed looking interviewer – can’t wait!

Last night I watched Filth – the Mary Whitehouse Story which was really rather boring. The performances were all quite hum-drum and you felt you knew very little about the people, the era or the television that annoyed her so much…

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As per usual the extended weekend has flown by. This despite the fact that we have had the rotten weather currently being oooh-ed and ahhh-ed over by the papers. Yesterday all I managed was a couple of dashed trots with Ferris and we spent the rest of the day inside in the warm playing computer games and generally being lazy. Sunday we did at least manage to get in to Barnie to get Chicken some much needed new shoes.

What else did we do? Well, allotmenting was not really a possibility – and now slugs are moving in on my lovely runners, damn them! I re-watched Jean de Florette and Manon des Source, cooked a rather unsuccessful chocolate and raspberry roulade and… did very little else really. Nice.

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The Girl Geek has set herself an interesting challenge, of watching all of Shakespeare’s plays live and of watching the AFI’s top 100 films of all time. This set me thinking ‘how many of those films have I seen?’. So here goes:

1. Citizen Kane
2. Godfather, The
3. Casablanca
4. Raging Bull
5. Singin’ in the Rain
6. Gone With the Wind
7. Lawrence of Arabia
8. Schindler’s List
9. Vertigo
10. Wizard of Oz
11. City Lights
12. The Searchers
13. Star Wars
14. Psycho
15. 2001: A Space Odyssey
16. Sunset Blvd.
17. The Graduate
18. The General
19. On the Waterfront
20. It’s a Wonderful Life
21. Chinatown
22. Some Like it Hot
23. The Grapes of Wrath
24. E.T. The Extra Terrestrial
25. To Kill a Mockingbird
26. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
27. High Noon
28. All About Eve
29. Double Indemnity
30. Apocalypse Now
31. Maltese Falcon
32. Godfather Part II
33. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
34. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
35. Annie Hall
36. Bridge on the River Kwai
37. Best Years of Our Lives
38. Treasure of the Sierra Madre
39. Dr. Strangelove
40. The Sound of Music
41. King Kong
42. Bonnie and Clyde
43 Midnight Cowboy
44. Philadelphia Story
45. Shane
46. It Happened One Night
47. A Streetcar Named Desire
48. Rear Window
49. Intolerance
50. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
51. West Side Story
52. Taxi Driver
53. The Deer Hunter
54. M*A*S*H*
55. North by Northwest
56. Jaws
57. Rocky
58. Gold Rush
59. Nashville
60. Duck Soup
61. Sullivan’s Travels
62. American Graffiti
63. Cabaret
64. Network
65. African Queen
66. Raiders of the Lost Ark
67. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
68. Unforgiven
69. Tootsie
70. A Clockwork Orange
71. Saving Private Ryan
72. The Shawshank Redemption
73. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
74. Silence of the Lambs
75. In the Heat of the Night
76. Forrest Gump
77. All the President’s Men
78. Modern Times
79. The Wild Bunch
80. The Apartment
81. Spartacus
82. Sunrise
83. Titanic
84. Easy Rider
85. A Night at the Opera
86. Platoon
87. 12 Angry Men
88. Bringing Up Baby
89. The Sixth Sense
90. Swing Time
91. Sophie’s Choice
92. Goodfellas
93. The French Connection
94. Pulp Fiction
95. The Last Picture Show
96. Do the Right Thing
97. Blade Runner
98. Yankee Doodle Dandy
99. Toy Story
100. Ben Hur

So, at the age of twenty-five this leaves me with the somewhat worryingly low number of thirty-five (I think,. my counting skills are never too good) to see. Most of which are musicals, westerns or starring John Wayne as well… I do need to see The French Connection and Apocalypse Now as both are bad omissions on my list.

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I am zonked today. The village boy-racers treated me to a startled awakening at 1:45am this morning. Ferris woke up too, and decided to verbalise his annoyance. The bang, the revving and the barking all got me in to such a state that I did not drift back off to sleep for some time…

Oh well.

The allotment has been well watered by a couple of wet-ish days, which is great. We are expecting more heavy rain tomorrow, but today is windy but dry. As Chicken is still in his dressing gown presently I am not holding out much hope of getting out to Arlington Court, which was my hope for the day, but ho-hum. I am making a raspberry roulade so hopefully that will be edible.

It has been a weird week, seeming to take twice as long as a normal week to go by. Bombs in Exeter, Jacksons in Appledore, Tories in Crewe… The country seems to be trembling on the edge of a troubled time, economically, and our collective mood seems to be there with sterling. I am thinking quite a lot about the Tories being back in power again. There is so little difference between the two main parties now that it hardly matters, but somehow I am still afraid of a return to Conservative rule.

On lighter matters, I think Raef was robbed! S’Alan has wanted to get rid of him since he opened his mouth and proved not to be a working class lad/lass made-good. Why the slimy Michael survived only Sugar himself knows, presumebly because S’Alan actually thinks – in some sense – he is really a “good Jewish boy”. It all smacks of Trey last year, kept in no one knows why because of the big gob and the attitude. I hope Lucinda wins, not very enthusiastically, but she is a bloody good manager and I like that she has the guts to wear hugely loud and weird clothes in the business milieu, too. Not that that has anything to do with her business credentials, it is just a bit individual and ballsy.

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A blissful weekend. I feel, for once, refreshed and relaxed heading in to a new week. Even when Classic FM news went off a 7:00am I didn’t get my usual Monday heart sinking. We have slept well, but not too long. We got lots done.

On Friday I went in for a few hours to cover at work, brought a replacement squeaky chicken for Ferris and was collected by the non-squeaking Chicken to head home. In the evening I watched The Name of the Rose which I hadn’t seen since my teenage years. It was just as odd as I remember it, but I still quite enjoyed its oddity.

On Saturday we had a nice lie-in and were up at 9:00. Post-breakfast we had some bad news, Dad’s flock were effected by the evil that is fly-strike. We went over to Nan’s to help Dad corral the heard, which was the easiest it has ever been I think. Mr C then took Ferris for a walk along the Taw, whilst I got some new wellingtons from Brian Ford’s. For those not from Barnstaple, Brian Ford’s is a rather eccentric ‘discount’ style shop which blends a odd brand called ‘Nisa Today’ with almost out of date posh stuff. Plus they have lots of bargain footware! I got myself some very, very eccentric boots, white and pink with multi-coloured skulls & crossbones and hearts on them and, excitingly, some Rocket Dog shoes for £10. I have been lusting after Rocket Dogs for ages and the bargain price meant a great combo of two of my favourite things: shoes and cheapness. Hoorah.

When we got back Dad and I put up the runner bean canes and planted them, planted some raspberry canes that Mum got at the village Church plant sale for us and I weeded my onions. Then I baked a cherry clafoutis to take to the ‘rents (our opinion: make it with plums, much better) where we all met up for a chilli and to sink diaries over the school summer holidays.

Yesterday, after another lie-in, we awoke to bright sunshine. Chicken finished putting up the new gate (Ferris protective) and I spent most of the day down on the allotment. My sister-in-law and brother (before the poor thing had to go to work) were also down so we got a lot done. We have now filled the place up, really, and it suddenly looks quite exciting! We have potatoes, onions (red and white), lettuces, carrots, beetroot, spinach, sweetcorn, tomatoes, pumpkins, raspberries, broccoli, broad beans and runner beans. Now we just have to keep on top of the considerable amount of weeds and hope we have a harvest!

So, not a bad weekend at all, really! And it is a beautiful day again, even if I have to go to work!

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The weather has been amazing all weekend, which has been rather marvellous! I had a short stint at work on Saturday, but after that we set about building the new gate for outside (well, Mr C did most of it and I made him home made lemonade at his request at the same time!) We walked Ferris, watched Dr Who and a very one-dimensional film called In Her Shoes.

Yesterday was even hotter, so we visited Nan and then went to Instow with FBSB. We hadn’t realised dogs were not allowed on the beach from May 1st (we were not the only ones, mind) as we had to park out of the village as there were so many people about taking advantage of the free parking.

When we got home I went down to the allotment to hoe my onions, whilst Dad weeded my pots. They are both coming through quite strongly, which is exciting indeed! I also planted my first row of beetroot, some Red Ace F1s. This evening I might try to sow some lettuces if I get the chance.

We then had a small barbecue with Cornish sardines, veg skewers and organic stake for Mum and Mr C with my ‘rents.

The sun is still shining away today, so not a bad way to start the week, is it?

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It is muggy here today. After several days of glorious sunshine the promised clouds rolled in last evening and brought with them the pre-rain fug that is the worst bit of summer (bar sunburn, which I hope to avoid this year with my 30+ spray and 25+ face stuff – finger’s crossed for my poor gothic/Celtic skin).

It rained all night, but it hasn’t cleared the mugginess, plus it is wet enough for Ferris to refuse to go outside for his morning ablutions. Still, we have now been for a long walk and sorted that side of things. He is teething presently and sitting at my feet chewing hard at a raw-hide “cigar” in between inspecting his paws for rain damage…

We have both taken the return to work/volunteering/getting up at 7:00am in our stride and also enjoyed a BBQ with my brother and family on Tuesday. Add to that an exciting Apprentice (how could you not know what Kosher is? Even worse mistake for a ‘good Jewish boy’ to make, though, surely?) and some downright dreadful Heroes and you have our brief week. Oh, plus a lot of American Dad, which has just come on BBC3 – hoorah!

A quiet weekend is in the offing: I work tomorrow, and I want to build our new gate and do some weeding, too.

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We left Devon at around lunch time on Wednesday and had a hassle free and easy train journey to London. We got the tube to King’s Cross from Paddington and checked in to our hotel, the Meridiana, which was ok for a stop over but not great generally. The breakfast left quite a lot to be desired!

We went straight out to meet Charles, at the National Gallery cafe and then we walked around arguing about what to do in the rain. We ended up having a beer at the Oxo tower before dinner at the National Theatre, which was very pleasant indeed. I had a lovely polenta dish and a highly extravagant choccy pud.

The next day we caught the Eurostar to Gard du Nord. Our trip was quick and smooth and we were not involved in the fire that snared up the Chunnel later on in the day.

We got our Visites from St. Pancras, so we got straight on the RER to Luxembourg and checked in to the Hotel des Mines (which is pleasant enough apart from being on a RER station rather than Metro, which is really quite annoying!)

We headed straight out after freshening up and took our 2007 Michelin Guide to find somewhere for dinner. We walked all around the St Michel area, through St Germaine, saw Notre Dame and walked on the Ile St Michel and Ile de la Cite.

We stopped for a vin rose/beer at the Place de la Sorbonne and saw the photos of Mai 1968 before heading back to our chosen restaurant, Le Mediterrannee. This was a lovely place. We had the set menu. We both started with soupe du poisson, which was quite delicious, as always! I followed this with swordfish and courgette tagliatelle, whilst Chicken had duckling with petits pois and sugarsnap peas. Then we finished with creme brulee and pistache ice cream (those of you who know us will know which was whose pudding!). The meal, wine and ambiance were all wonderful.

After a good nights sleep we headed out for breakfast, as was not included in our hotel. We decided to be boring that day and went to Brioche Doree, a chain we sometimes frequent in Nice. Once caffeined-up we headed down to Pont d’Alma to go to the Egouts (Sewers) museum – however our DK Guide didn’t tell us it was shut on Fridays…

We went up to the Champs Elysees for my loved one to visit Fnac and had lunch at Leon de Bruxelles (moules marinieres et frites plus gauffres au chocolat). After a rest at the hotel we went to Montpernasse to get baguette, cheese and patisseries. Then we walked around the Jardins du Luxembourg (there is an excellent and very moving display of photos on the fence of the gardens currently running – well worth a look should you be in Paris) before returning here to the hotel for our meal and a few glasses of wine/beer, a DVD and sleep!

We had another leisurely start on Saturday, and awoke to find the sun was out, contrary to weather forecasts. It was a stunning day, indeed!

We set out on the RER to St-Michel du Notre Dame and went to our favourite cafe from our honeymoon trip, across from our previous hotel on Rue Lagrange. The pain aux raisins are as big as cart wheels, and as this is my favourite breakfast bite whilst in France, it is a good place for us! Plus the coffee (another must) and pain au chocolat are pretty blooming good too!

Then we hopped back on the RER and back to Pont d’Alma for the Musee des Egouts. We only had a short queue of less than five minutes before heading down the stairs. The staff were very helpful, allowing me to go through to the toilet and chatting away happily with Mr C about why on earth we’d pay to go in a sewer!

The Musee itself was very interesting, telling us a great deal of historical fact and allowing us to get a good feel for the work of the sewer workers. Plus, all importantly, it did not smell too badly at all!!! You got the odd whiff of something very bad, but not all the time, despite walking around on open grids which allowed you to see the running sewer below you.

After than we went to Les Halles shopping centre and failed to find new shoes for my loved one, before heading back for a quick baguette and remoulade lunch. We had another stroll at the Jardins, seeing the Medici fountain and – it seemed – all of Paris as the park was packed!

Then we returned to the hotel to freshen up for Maceo.

We arrived early but were seated straight away. I went for the Menu Vert and Chicks the Menu Decouverte. He started with smoked salmon, poached egg and asparagus soup, myself with poached egg, asparagus tips and mushrooms. Both good. The main was excellent. I had pasta risotto of broad beans and artichoke and Booty had wild duck with turnip and fruit. Then to pudding I had a raisin macaroon, apple and chocolate tower, of which the chocolate was AMAZING! Sminks had a fraise sorbet and fresh fraise with cream which was quite delicious and fresh.

All in all, Maceo’s food was still breathe taking, but the service, on this very busy night, was not so great. Last time we had jokes, chats and all our food explained in great detail in BOTH French and English. That made it feel special, plus it felt like “our” place then, with only us and six other diners in their all evening. After recommending it to everyone I now realise that means everyone goes!!!!!!!!! Oh well, still great.

After our dinner at Maceo, we awoke at around 9:00am and after showers headed back to our favourite breakfast place near Notre Dame.

We had decided against Versailles as the Petite Trianon is closed for restoration and we particularly wanted to see that. Plus, we plan a full on ‘museum and culture’ trip next year, with my Mum and Alex. That way my Mum and I can get museum passes and do all the related things of interest whilst Chicken and ‘Weeks shop ’til they drop!

We headed up to Montmatre. It was a stunning, sunny day and really quite hot, so the crowds were out in force! We arrived at Pigalle and walked through the seedier bit of Montmatre. We saw the adult video shop used in ‘Amelie’ as the work place of Nino, which was another tick on our ‘seeing places in the film’ list!!! We then went to see the Musee de l’Erotisme.

This was quite a disappointment as we had expected a sort of history of the area and much more Lautrec style stuff, of which there was really very little. Three floors were given over to very violent modern Japanese artists and we felt quite miffed we’d had to pay to see stuff that was basically just on sale and not very good!

We next walked all the way up to Sacre Coeur – and when I say walked I do mean it! The line for the funicular railway was enormous, and we didn’t fancy standing around being targets for the bracelet guys, so we took the stairs. I was quite proud when we got to the top! Plus we got very little hassle with the bracelet guys this year, compared to last when they hurt my wrist and chased us!

We then went on a wild goose chase to find this vegetarian restaurant: we found it, but it was closed on Sundays…

So off went again, by now pretty hungry and with the time nearing 14:00. We gave up on Montmartre as it was so busy and got back on the Metro to Sorbonne, where we had pleasant altho’ not great pizzas on the Place de la Sorbonne. Not a touch on our favourite place in Nice, I can tell you! We then went – with the rest of Paris – to get ice cream from Berthillon on Ile St Louis. We queued at the window and it only took around 10 mins to get our ice cream, which was fab. We then got baguette, cheese and some wine for that evening and decamped back to the Hotel des Mines.

We were up early yesterday, our first wedding anniversary, and grabbed a quick espresso at Montpernasse, where we went to our old stamping ground, the huge Monoprix. We got all the essentials for home – a couple of boxes of wine, Grand Marnier, garlic bulbs, tapanade and pate for my loved one. We also got stuff for lunch on the Eurostar.

Then, we got our bags and left for Gard du Nord. With no trouble on the Eurostar and some with the English trains (surprise, surprise!) we got home to North Devon last evening happy and tired.

One of the best things about a holiday is being both sad to go and very happy to be home. We missed our Ferris very much whilst we were away, and we were so glad to collect him from my parents house! And, lest we forget, however good our holidays in Paris are we also live in one of the most beautiful parts of this world ourselves! Well, so we think anyway…

And, it is not even raining today – the weather is just as sunny and lovely as in Paris, actually – so wonders will never cease!!!!!!!!!

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