Skylight at Wyndham's Theatre

I have never ever paid anything like £64 for a theatre ticket. And the best seats were well over £100. But the current vogue for starry quality drama still sells out theatres and sends them live to cinemas all over the country. It was the irresistible combination of two of my favourite actors Bill Nighy and Carey Mulligan, together with a David Hare classic directed by Stephen Daldry that I could not resist. And I have to say, it was worth every penny.

Bill Nighy was even better than I had expected from the dazzling reviews. One critic said it was Bill Nighy playing Bill Nighy playing Tom Sargeant but in a really very good way. I cannot disagree. His character is articulate, powerful, selfish and witty. And Nighy is also very very funny. Carey Mulligan as Kyra (a name straight from the mid nineties when the play was first performed) seems to be a little pathetic in her early conversation with Matthew Beard's Edward, but she comes into her own as the play develops as her first class degree shines through. Another critic said she was ten years too young to play Kyra, but on my arithmetic at 29 she is spot on. It is Nighy who first played Tom in 1996 (taking over from Michael Gambon) who is slightly too old. But who cares. He was brilliant.

As for the plot, did he do it on purpose, the reason why Kyra walked out on him six years ago? A wonderful play about love, politics and trust is superbly directed by Stephen Daldry. A clash of cultures from the nineties is as relevant today as it ever was. And what a surprise. After all that intensity, the ending is sheer bliss.

Cold In July, The Fault In Our Stars and Chef

A quite reasonable character led crime drama, Cold In July ticks most of the boxes. There are plenty of twists, the main one being after less than half an hour when it seemed the story was over. The three main leads are convincing. Michael C Hall, Sam Shepard and an over the top performance from Don Johnson are all good. Regular collaborators director Jim Mickle and writer Nick Damici have constructed a thoroughly watchable movie and revel in the grubby Texas scenery.

Having watched the trailer for The Fault In Our Stars, I imagined that they had completely ruined what was one of my favourite books of the last few years, and so promised myself to avoid the film. But the reviews were encouraging so against my better judgement, and in the absence of anything better, I nervously entered the cinema. I'm so glad I did. All my fears were unfounded as the makers lovingly reproduced a great version of the novel. Most of all Shailene Woodley IS Hazel Grace Lancaster. The movie had hardly started when the actress was the girl from the book. It was a shame that the same could not be said for Ansel Elgort as Gus, but nobody could have played Peter van Houten as well as Willem Dafoe. He was everything I had imagined. Laura Dern also brought a surprising humanity to the blandly written mother. Scott Neustadter and John Green have sympathetically adapted the latter's own novel and director Josh Boone rises to the occasion. I was amazed.

Chef is not a comedy. It does have some stodgy humour but really this is a drama without the topping. There is no real story, more a confection of events. There is also some unlikely casting headed by Sofia Vergara as the delicious ex wife of an overdone John Favreau. Cameos from Dustin Hoffman, Scarlett Johansson and Robert Downey Jr fall a little flat as if they thought it was a tasty idea at the time but the script was lacking bite. But funnily enough, all together it makes for a sunny concoction. The cinematography is appetising, the dialogue is occasionally crisp  and the soundtrack is a sizzling collection of Americana. When the Food Truck hits Austin, check out Gary Clark Jr playing "Travis County". Worth going to see the movie again just for these few minutes.

It was all free at John Lewis

Free car parking at High Wycombe John Lewis of course. With the added benefit of a free tea and cake (every month) courtesy of a "my John Lewis" free membership card. But even better, they did not charge me for a pair of dummy drawer clips.

Our John Lewis kitchen is now over six years old and the dummy drawer under the sink fell after the clip on the left broke. Finding a replacement online proved fruitless, but John Lewis came to the rescue. The new clip on the right is identical to the old one, so replicated the one on the other side of the drawer front. A short struggle to slide and push the front back in, and its nice to have the dummy drawer instead of an ugly gaping hole under the sink.

I'm always pleasantly surprised when I manage to fix anything. I used to be totally useless at anything practical, but over the years I have learnt that there are practical things I can do. It is just knowing your limitations.