December Snow

 

It all started with the first heavy frost of the year, early on Thursday 8th December. The same on the mornings of the following Friday, Saturday and Sunday. With increasingly cold temperatures when on Sunday it didn't get above freezing during the day. Then overnight on Sunday/Monday it snowed. A decent couple of inches which is still with us today, the 18th December.

After Sunday, the frosts have been getting harder and harder until on Thursday it was -9C overnight. On Saturday the 17th it was still -7C when we woke up. Still below freezing on Sunday the 18th. So that is ten days of frosts in succession. The spiders webs do look lovely in the early morning sunshine.

Fortunately the last two days have been sunny. Here is the mock acacia tree at the end of the garden.

After the frost of Sunday morning, it only managed to get up to 2C at 1pm. But then the milder weather we had been promised a week ago started to arrive. By 8pm it was up to 7C and then 11C overnight. This morning, Monday 19th, it was up to 14C by midday. All the snow had disappeared and I was able to walk on the pavements. Amazing. 

The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, Winter Garden and What Are You Like

This is a companion book to "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry". We read that novel in February 2013 for Book Club, where he is walking from Kingsbridge in Devon to Berwick-on Tweed to "save" Queenie Hennessy. She is terminally ill and a resident of a hospice and while Harold is walking, here she takes up her story of how she came to meet Harold and how she took flight at a difficult time.

It is therefore nine years since I read the Harold Fry book that I now see I really loved. This story is equally great, Rachel Joyce mixes a one-way love story with charm, wit and darkness. The shortish chapters alternate between Queenie's time at the hospice and the other patients, with what happened 20 years ago when she worked alongside Harold Fry. At the heart of this story is Harold's son David. A clever boy, on his way to Cambridge, he sees Queenie (who went to Oxford) as an older kindred spirit.

His parents never know about this relationship, something Queenie will live to regret. He actually despises his parents. David is sponger, a thief and actually one of the nastiest characters I have encountered for a long time. Rarely do I get angry reading but stealing from someone who actually cares for him. That's bad. "I'd rather die than be ordinary".

Queenie is persuaded by the nuns at the hospice to write her story. She wants to tell Harold everything that caused her departure. She tells us how she made her way as far away as possible and ended up at Embleton Bay in Northumberland. This was particularly interesting for me, as we had walked this part of the coast a few times on holiday. She describes where she made her home, near the golf course, Dunstanburgh Castle and Craster which are all so familiar. Wonderful

Having enjoyed all the seven other Beryl Bainbridge books I have read; this came as a major disappointment. Whilst it is humorous on occasions, it just seems to show off the author's knowledge of Russian tourist spots as our three visitors are whisked from Moscow to Leningrad and Gori? Obviously, the trip does not go as planned. There is a very boring repetitive plot about a missing suitcase. The whole time there is the mystery of the missing Nina, whom our "hero" was hoping to spend time with. Not for me.

This was another disappointment. Anne Enwright's most recent book "Actress" was a delight. "What are you like" is from twenty years ago and only takes shape after halfway. Maria is born with a twin sister, but with the death of her mother in childbirth, her father, Berts, can only cope with one. It is only later we find out what happened to the other.

There are so many switches in time and character, it takes some concentration to keep up. Even later in the book, new characters pop up. Is this the author practicing for her later better novels? The best parts follow Maria at twenty: "She always felt like someone else. She had always felt like the wrong girl".

SPOILER ALERT

The book settles down in the latter half with the alternating stories of the separated twenty year old twins Maria and Rose. It's just that we had to wait so long for coherent story telling

Have You Seen ....... ? by David Thomson - Part 1: Shadow of a Doubt, Don't Look Now and Blue Velvet

These three movies are the first of the forty eight I have listed from David Thomson's Have You Seen..... So Here we go:

I manged to catch up with Hitchcock's 1943Shadow of a Doubt when it was shown on an obscure film channel. David Thomson says that "this was a turning point in Hitchcock cinema". But it was not the best film to start these reviews. It was only because it was a Hitchcock movie that I had never seen that I listed it at all. As Thomson says "So the film lurches in and out ........ much of which has dated badly". I couldn't agree more. The cinematography is the best thing about the film, there is one shot when two men follow Joseph Cotton's Uncle Charlie and the music beat matches their footsteps. The camera follows them from behind and we see Charlie between them. Why Hitchcock said it was his favourite film, I have no idea. We have to sit through an interminable story for an exciting two minutes at the end.

David Thomson says in his review of Don't Look Now "what cool intelligence can do with horror". Personally, I would not describe the film as horror, although there are nasty bits, especially at the very beginning and the end. I think it's more of a psychological thriller, especially about the dangers of seances. We are in Vienna, spookily quiet in 1973, and based on a story by Daphne Du Maurier. The locations are very well shot and director Nicolas Roeg has given the whole movie an eerie feel all the way through.

It was worth watching just for Julie Christie, beautiful, fragile and vulnerable, she's an easy target for the seance sisters after the death of her daughter. But when  she smiles, it is devastating. He costumes are fabulous. I suppose I have to mention Donald Sutherland who is just OK. And the ending is surprisingly nasty.

David Thomson says in his review that "it emerged seemingly from nowhere". Blue Velvet " from 1986 was David Lynch's breakthrough film that he "wrote and directed with an implacable assurance that he never quite matched since". It has been called a "neo-noir mystery thriller" or a psychological horror. I thought it was just too uneven to be classed as a classic. The story does not make a lot of sense, but the style is certainly first class. One to watch at the cinema rather than a TV where the widescreen DVD took up less than half the screen size.

The young Kyle McLachlan gets into trouble after finding an ear and tries to do a detective job on an unhinged Isabella Rossini and a bonkers Dennis Hopper who steals the show. The offbeat music early on is replaced by something more haunting, and is supplemented by  Roy Orbison's In Dreams and Ketty Lester's wonderful Love Letters. And, of course Bobby Vinton's title song.

Have You Seen ..... by David Thomson

 

Or to give it it's full title: Have You Seen .... ? A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films including masterpieces, oddities, and guilty pleasures (with just a few disasters).  

I cannot say that I read every review of the 1,000 films described in this epic work. David Thomson devotes a whole page each film, so this is quite a labour of love. What I have done is to list the forty-eight movies that I do want to see. I have discounted all those that are too familiar or are just not to my taste. So, the first on my list is Charlie Kaufman's "Adaptation" starring Nicolas Cage. I thought I had seen this film before, but the trailer suggested I had not. It was probably "The Player" that I was thinking of. And the last is Antonioni's "Zabriskie Point".

There are some on my list to watch that I have seen before, but either too long ago or I would like to see again. For example, "Ben-Hur", "Blade Runner" and "Brazil". I'm not sure how long it will take for me to catch up on all the forty-eight, but I have either recorded the first three or ordered a cheap DVD. They will not be  in any particular order, alphabetical or otherwise. Then I might get round to listing the huge number that were too familiar. For example, I watched "Rififi" on a DVD when the cinemas were closed and included in my post of 1st January 2021. I might watch it again and compare my thoughts with those of the author.

But I have to say that this book is Thomson at his perceptive best. Note the picture from Blow Up on the cover. 

The Art of Architecture - The Art of the Garden on Sky Arts

 Episode 1   Dan Pearson - Lowther Castle, Cumbria

I should have known Dan Pearson from his landscaping at King's Cross and Coal Drops Yard. But I didn't. That goes for all the garden designers in this series. Lowther Castle has been abandoned since 1957, everything has gone except for the castle walls. The gardens were let go after 1935. Here they are in their heyday when formal manicured gardens like these needed an army of gardeners.

It was the latest heir to the estate, Jim Lowther, who commissioned, and worked in partnership with Dan Pearson to create a sustainable, manageable and naturalistic landscape, bringing in the Lake District in a scaled down form. And to "stop it being a frightening place". The inspiration for Dan Pearson came form his time working in Italy and the gardens of Ninfa near Rome.

We were told about the castle, a neglected picturesque ruin, there was spruce everywhere, "better as a ruin than a house".  But now the remains look wonderful surrounded by the new gardens.

The clearance of the site enabled the designers to put their own imprint on the estate.

The transformation is amazing, "a re-interpretation of the lost gardens for the 21st century". 

Even the courtyard has the style of an Italian piazza, You can sit under umbrellas and enjoy a glass of wine. We saw the new rose garden and a Japanese garden looks down form above. Obviously, we were told a lot about Dan Pearson's other work, notably the landscaping around King's Cross and Coal Drops Yard. There is even a clip of the path I walked down, and the terrace next to the canal. My photos from September 2021.

Episode 2  Arrabella Lennox- Boyd - Gresgarth Hall, Lancashire

Arabella Lennox-Boyd is an international garden designer. Her own garden at Gresgarth Hall near Lancaster is influenced by her Italian roots. It has been developed over 40 years and is open to the public on certain days. A huge woodland surrounds the more formal garden. 

We hear about her horticultural education and a portfolio of eight hundred gardens with which she has been associated. We are shown some spectacular examples such as Kew, Chelsea Physic Garden and

those for English Heritage. Eaton Hall (below) is especially amazing.

The programme goes to Italy to see how the landscape of her childhood influences her work. We see the gardens at Ninfa, an Italian Natural Monument.

Arabella Lennox-Boyd has won six gold medals at Chelsea. In 1998 she won best in show for a contemporary water garden. 

Episode 3  Tom Stuart-Smith - Hepworth Wakefield Gallery Garden 

Surrounded by Victorian multi storey mill buildings and the new gallery dedicated to Barbara Hepworth, Tom Stuart- Smith's garden is situated on waste land with a bust six lane highway as it's neighbour. we are shown how the designer draws and draws everything before he starts on site, The aerial view below demonstrates the layout of formal beds and the snaking paths between. 

I skipped his history and all the other gardens he has designed over thirty years, including eight Chelsea gold medals. 

Along one side is a tall concrete screen that you can just see above at the back to hide and buffer the noise of the traffic. The planting of the beds is superb, especially the yellow achillea and the purple verbena. Excellent.

Episode 4 Tania Compton - Fonthill House, Wiltshire

Fonthill has been transformed from a sad 16th century garden into something modern. The new owners moved in during 2005 and wanted something that needed to respect the original but be easy to maintain.

There were aspects of the old walls and other original features that whilst being preserved, needed a modern update.

The surrounding landscape is particularly beautiful, there are lovely changes in level and different types of soil to contend with.

Compton remarks "I have, unwittingly, changed a lot of people's engagement with nature". This garden is a prime example and not too far away for a visit.

Episode 5 Cleve West - Horatio's Garden, Salisbury

In the grounds of Salisbury District Hospital, next to the spinal injuries unit, is now a garden that patients and carers can enjoy. Cleve West, a winner of six gold medals, has created a landscaped garden from scratch. With two metre wide resin bonded gravel paths and space for families to gather next to an apple arch, we were shown designs of dry stone walls that represent the spine and radiating features.

Horatio was seventeen when he was killed by a polar bear and his parents have been instrumental in in realising his dream of a garden for the spinal injuries unit. And here it is. 

Cleve West is just as happy in his allotment, but the inspiration of this garden in Salisbury has travelled to other hospital units around the country.

Episode 6 James Alexander- Sinclair - Northamptonshire Gardens

This episode showed two gardens designed by RHS Vice President Janes alexander Sinclair. The first was a bare site for new owners Polly and Giles Wilson. So a brand new garden from nothing. Just an old farmyard and fields, a brand new mansion with a view.

There is some spectacular planting around the house (unfortunately not available on the net) but this disappears as you move away with something altogether more natural. There are two lakes created from a stream running through the site and the long winding drive has trees planted either side which in the future will look great.

The other garden in Preston Capes, this time a mature garden for the old rectory next to the church.

Nothing much to say except the idea was to remove the leylandii hedge and add as much colour and excitement as possible.

Astrid: Murder in Paris, They Were Ten and Nordic Murders Series 3

 

The first episode of Astrid; Murder in Paris was the best police drama I have seen for a very long time. We are first introduced to senior detective Raphaelle Coste who engages the help of the autistic Astrid Nielsen to solve a murder. Astrid works in criminal records and when Raphaelle visits to look up some old cases, she finds Astrid. The two women, played by Lola Dewaere and Sara Mortensen, strike up a relationship that is often strained but ultimately fruitful. The emotion in this first feature length episode, relying as it does on it's portrayal of the brilliance but unsocial aspects of Astrid's character, is something else. 

The next episodes are not quite up to this starter, but number four was excellent., as was number five. Here the relationship between Astrid and pathologist Fournier is brilliant. There is so much intelligence in this series, this time we found out all about an ambigram. And I loved the exit song called "The Angel" by DeLaurentis.

Another French series They Were Ten is based on Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. Again, the first episode was terrific as our cast of unlikely villains are invited and then trapped on a tropical island. Obviously there are deaths in each episode, but the best parts are those that show their secrets in the back story of each character. So you know which is the next to be bumped off. What is good about these foreign series is that I don't know any of the cast, so they are the character they play. The inews says "they seemed to have walked straight out of the French language version of the board game Cluedo". The youngish, pretty heroine is Nina, goodness know what she has done in her past to warrant her comeuppance. Maybe we will know in the final episode.

I last posted about Nordic Murders on 23rd February 2021. We are now in Series 3, with former prosecutor and jailbird Karin Lossow still helping to solve crimes on the Baltic Sea Island of Usedom. We are in winter and boy is it cold. Detective Ellen Norgaard now has a child in tow, until that is, it get's abducted. It could only happen in Usedom.

The Menu, Armageddon Time and Glass Onion

 

There are very few satirical horror movies around but this was a great example. A movie that, unusually, almost plays throughout in real time. Ralph Fiennes is at his belligerent best as a chef who has taken exceptional cooking to ridiculous extremes. The rich people he invites to his secluded island are led by Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult.  It is Taylor-Joy as Margo who steals the show, an outsider who should not be there, the only guest who faces up the chef. This is fine dining with a twist. 

I saved the four star review by Tom Shone in the Sunday Times to see if I had missed something. In the lead is Banks Repeta as eleven year old Paul Gaff, the most nauseating character I have ever seen on film. Is he meant to be a young version of writer director James Gray? If so, I'm very glad I never came across him in school. So I had zero sympathy for when he gets into trouble, a spoilt privileged pathetic weasel. His teacher was right, trying to be the stand-out in class but just stupid. His only friend in black and even more stupid as being put down a year. I tried to find something I could relate to at eleven and failed.

 Paul has not been helped with a strict father and soft mother. Anne Hathaway is at the head of a good supporting cast. Anthony Hopkins as Paul's grandfather is exceptional. There is one extraordinary scene when Paul has been sent to his brother's expensive private school where former pupil US Attorney General Maryanne Trump delivers a stern lecture to the school. Admittedly the final third did have some excitement, and a final scene in his father's car after a funeral is the best in the movie, but overall the fact that it only lasted a week at the cinema said it all.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery was surprisingly enjoyable. I thought that changing the setting and the type of plot from the first film worked really well. The story is well crafted, the dialogue is decently written and the twists in the second half are just right. Writer director Rian Johnson has made a good follow-up to the original. The cast is fine with Daniel Craig revelling in his private detective role. The setting looks fabulous, and so are the costumes, Craig's striped twin set is hilarious. Even the ending is fine if predictable. And the Bee Gees song To Love Somebody is perfect as the visitors enter the mansion.