The Manor House, Bledlow - Open Garden

A perfect early summer's afternoon took us off to Lord Carrington's garden at The Manor House, Bledlow that was open for charity as part of the National Gardens Scheme. Although it was early for many of the flowers (the rows of wonderful peonies were still in bud) there was still plenty to see.

Alison particularly liked the water feature. A technically brilliant piece of work.

We even found the vegetable garden that on our previous two visits we had missed. And finally tea and cake sitting outside, served by our neighbour Angie, the owner's PA.

Tring Book Club - The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

This highly original book that seemed a little dated in it's writing and linear narrative. But the plot develops nicely, Tom Ripley needs a lot of luck to keep himself free from justice. It does seem somewhat farcical in the second half, but the author just keeps a handle on all the twists and turns that have us amused or horrified. The descriptions of Italy are terrific as the action visits San Remo, Naples, Rome, Palermo and Venice. But in the end, quite a disturbing story. I'm still trying to work out if this is in a good way.

Unlocked, Sleepless and Alien:Covenant

Three pretty forgettable thrillers, but all worth watching at the time. A starry cast (Noomi Rapace, Orlando Bloom, Michael Douglas, Toni Collette and John Malkovich) cannot help an ordinary screenplay for Unlocked, but director Michael Apted brings a nice pace to this movie about a terrorist plot. What is unforgettable is Orlando Bloom's cockney accent, the best since Dick Van Dyke.

The plot of Sleepless has so many twists and turns that it becomes a bit of a comedy. You just cannot take it seriously. I'n not sure if the French original was the same, I shall look out for it. But the cast play it deadly serious and that works fine. Jamie Foxx is convincing in the lead role and director Baran bo Odar keeps the action going. The fights are not too long, thank goodness, and the ninety minutes flies by.

Basically just a rehash of all the previous Alien movies Fortunately Michael Fassbender holds it all together and Ridley Scott's direction is never boring. The hardware and CGI is impressive, especially at the end. I just wonder how this is rated 15. In the old days it would not get an 18 certificate without serious cuts.

The Grant and Stone Marlow 5 - 2017

My fifth time running the Marlow 5 mile race. The only year I missed after starting running was in 2013 when we ran the Oxford 10K on the same day. After last years hot weather, this time it was the perfect temperature for running. A cool 10 C when we started off and cloudy but bright all the way round, apart from the odd glimpse of the sun. So no wonder I achieved a PB. My time of 43.05 was nearly a minute and a half quicker than my previous best in 2014. I was pleased with coming third out of thirteen in my age bracket and 511th out of a total of 1054 runners. My age grade of 68.51% was the second best I have achieved for any race, the best being at parkrun in October. As I said, conditions were perfect.

Alison, at 47.44, was also halfway down the times of the female 50-59 group. Very good considering she ran the MK half marathon six days before. We met up with lots of people we know from parkrun. Even Monica, the Aylesbury parkrun event director, was there near the finish cheering us home. As usual, we stopped off at John Lewis in High Wycombe for a well earned (and free with our vouchers) tea and cake.

Unforgettable, Their Finest and Lady Macbeth

Three films with strong women as the star. I cannot remember if this has ever happened before. Not only that, but the trailers when I went to see the last of these again featured women in the starring roles; My Cousin Rachel, Wonder Woman, Mrs Sloane and Atomic Blonde. Good to see.

Unforgettable comes from the same stable as Fatal Attraction, What Lies Beneath and The Hand that Rocks the Cradle. An unhinged ex wife. That's all you need to know. This time it's Katherine Heigl and Rosario Dawson who square up over a forgettable man. An excellent original screenplay from British writer Christina Hudson and good work from first time director Denise Di Novi. I liked how the clothes worn by the two stars were so different, and the sets and cinematography were all fine for a limited budget. Why is it that in these movies, we always see the woman out running? Probably to show off the hills of Southern California.

It's Gemma Arterton who just about holds together Their Finest, a whimsical story with a serious background. London in the blitz is an uncomfortable place to be. So the scenes shot in Devon are a more suitable place for the light hearted nature this film tries to portray. The mixture of witty dialogue and war is a little strange, but in the hands of Bill Nighy (playing himself again) it is always fun. Lone Sherfig directs with aplomb and there is great attention to detail in the 1940's costumes, sets and design.

When a very small movie gets 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, and even Camilla Long in The Sunday Times gives it five stars, it must have something. And that is a drama which is so raw and powerful that it leaves you breathless at the end. It must have been tricky to cast twenty one year old Florence Pugh as Katherine in the title role of Lady Macbeth, but she is extraordinary. Is it too early to talk about an Oscar nomination?

I had only heard about the Russian novel Lady Macbeth of Mtensk from recently reading Julian Barnes' The Noise of Time where Shostakovitch adapts the book for his opera of the same name. This time the story is set in the nineteenth century close to a British north eastern coast. When you buy a young woman for an older man's wife, and take her far away from civilisation, you really don't know what you are getting into. With her husband and his farther absent for long periods, what is a strong lass to do?

First time director William Oldroyd has worked marvels with a tiny budget. Some TV dramas must get more. The house and the landscape are eerie places. Oldroyd has cast black and mixed race actors in some surprising roles, but these work really well and add to the disquiet this movie brings. Then there is the sound. The absence of any background music was strange and uncomfortable to begin with, but after a while it was fine. The noise of doors and shutters opening and closing and other little sounds were therefore magnified in an otherwise silent house. There was one instance when Katherine is sitting silently and all you hear is a slight rumble from outside and you have to guess what that might be.

"Problem with wireless adapter or access point"

In the end a very quick fix. But not after having tried for a couple of hours to regain a lost internet connection. Both the other laptop and the tablet were working perfectly. The troubleshooter for the network connection failed to identify the problem, only that the wireless adapter might be at fault. But although the Dell Wireless Card was said to be working, it had no wireless connection to the network.

I did find the message above, but having googled it, the varied and complicated advice was beyond me. Although among all the different ideas, I did spot one about the router, although with the other two devices working properly, it couldn't be that. Could it? A couple of seconds pressing it's reset button, a couple of minutes to reset, and there we were. All working properly. It's just the lousy Windows 10 upgrade again !!!

No More of A Fine Frenzy and Nina Gordon?

"A few years ago I put A Fine Frenzy to bed, which was a pretty big step for me. I needed to grow and the only way I knew how was to step away from it and the world that went with it. Maybe that was my own cage that I created, but I needed to let myself out of it". So said Alison Sudol in 2015. Which is such a shame as her three albums ( One Cell in the Sea, Bomb in a Birdcage and PINES)
 recorded as A Fine Frenzy are so good. But with her well received performance in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, there will be more movies and less music.

Nina Gordon is, unfortunately, back with her old band Veruca Salt. After having left in acrimonious circumstances, her two solo albums (Tonight and the Rest of My Life and Bleeding Heart Graffiti) are altogether more my taste. In fact, like A Fine Frenzy, they are among my favourite albums. What we need is another falling out.