I'd not expected to do anything particular on that first evening but Ross insisted
that we took time out to go and see Planet of the Apes. Many critics have
disliked the film and say that it is not a Tim Burton film. Ignore them.
The August Bank Holiday weekend is a general signifier of the end of summer and, looking back over this Journal, it would appear that it is traditional for Ross and I to spend the time together.
This year was no exception.
I travelled down on the Wednesday by train and dropped into UCL where I spent a couple of hours catching up with colleagues including John in the Library before picking up my Easy Rental car.
I'd not expected to do anything particular on that first evening but Ross insisted
that we took time out to go and see Planet of the Apes. Many critics have
disliked the film and say that it is not a Tim Burton film. Ignore them.
Ross and I had the best time at the movies that we've had all summer. It's a class film. Intelligent script. Good effects. More than adequate acting. Some sly In jokes, like casting an uncredited Charlton Heston as the baddie ape's father and getting the character to utter the same lines as Heston did at the end of the original film.
But it's also a more than creditable attempt to imagine what a ape/humanoid society would look like. The city on the hill is realised in ape terms. It's not thought of in flat two dimensional terms with regards to ingress and egress. Access can be vertical too. And the apes mount horses by leaping and knuckling on their backs rather than cocking a leg over.
The main let down of the film was that Mark Wahlberg's costume, having been aptly distressed during his crash landing on the ape planet, resolutely refused to tear any further during his subsequent adventures. We say Boo Hiss
Follow up films are planned.
On the Thursday, a special day occurred. It was 1000 days before my 50th birthday.
We also did quite a bit of work on Ross's garden. I particularly enjoyed working on the small pond that he has devised. As I weeded the paths and beds, I extracted small stones and laid a pebbled bed on the lining.
We also laid some semi-permeable membrane over the paths to dampen down the spread of the weeds. I'm antsy about all this gardening. Why all the investment in the London home if Ross is planning to come up to live in the North West? Yes, I understand that it's part of his ongoing therapy and it gets him out of the house and all. But.
We had a drink in Docklands that evening and bumped into Pero, my erstwhile mentee from Connect. He's just about to start working for Shell in London and was looking full of that excitement and energy that comes from starting a whole new project in life.
Friday brought a trip over to Islington to see Chris and James and their new flat. The flat was excellent. Basement. Large-ish back yard. Nicely appointed. Food was good. Conversation flowing.
Chris and I took time out to talk about his novel. I gave him my thoughts which were mostly positive laced with a few reservations, like I think that it has the fault of most first novels of having enough material for three novels - I am sure that Chris will return to and re-work some of this material later on. I also told him how envious I am of his achievement. He's done what most scribblers only ever dream of. He's got an opus out there in the real world.
I also contrasted our writings. His use of language does not shirk the reality of being an artifice, a contrivance. I meanwhile I am trying to disguise all of that by attempting the absolute discipline of appearing to be spontaneous. I told him that I think I achieve that in about one in every fifty postings in this Journal. This elicited the sort of unprompted and unsolicited praise that I was craving.
Whilst we talked, so did James and Ross. Which was good.
Saturday gave me the opportunity to visit Linda and Mary whilst Ross rested. This was most pleasant.
Sunday and we blasted up the A12 to Lowestoft to visit
Colin. I can't remember the last time
that I visited him at home but it was before Ross became ill which makes it
a good four years. We also me up with Colin's friend,
Ed and his partner Joe - both nice youngmen.
Ross wants to have them up some time - at least that's what I think he said.
It was most excellent seeing Colin again after so long. We didn't get much time to ourselves to chat but he made good food for the five of us which left us pogged out and we watched Hannibal and the completely uncensored version of Caligula (yes it is pornographic) on his home movie system.
Then it was a sequence of return journeys which eventually brought me home. I travelled to Crosby on the bus with a young man of unconscionable good looks. How unfair that so many random good look genes should have congregated in just one soul. He looked like a more handsome, more stocky and more manly version of David Beckham. I just hope that he suffers from premature ejaculation so as to level the playing field.
