touchdown

Do you like my so-called window seat? There are times when I do and times when I do not sleep on flights and this trip was the latter. Qantas managed to impress me somewhat with their movies on demand in economy, and I therefore slept for maybe three hours and spent the rest of the time reading my book (Shadow Divers) and watching, in order, Stranger than Fiction, Rocky Balboa, The Queen, Kenny and The Last King of Scotland. All movies I'd wanted but had not seen at the cinema. So the flight became, in effect, me staying up late and watching a load of movies. And they were al, in their own way, very enjoyable.

Spoilers ahoy, so read not on if you don't want to know about these flics. Well, not really spoilers, I'm far too tired to get all film reviewer here and now.

Stranger than Fiction is a bit Truman Show in that it takes an actor known for comedy and gives them a straighter role. In this case Will Ferrell. The movie tries and just about gets away with being a bit too clever for it's own good. Dustin Hofman plays one of his vague bloke roles that he is well suited to.

Rocky Balboa is a shameless nostalgia trip back to the earlier moves but that's not a bad thing. Sentimental set up and then, when the music starts...well, its Rocky and you have to love it.

The Queen had a made for TV air to it but I watched it because Helen Mirren is very watchable. Cannot help but get annoyed at any actor playing Tony Blair because they are sooo irritating. Just like the man himself. Right now, Rotten Tomatoes is giving it a 98% rating, about the highest I've seen.

Kenny is utterly fantastic, though not fantastic enough to make it onto Rotten Tomatoes, hence the imdb link. Odd. A mocumentary fly on the (bog) wall of a bloke whose job it is to supply and maintain portaloos at events. An Australian movie, lots of folks thought Kenny was a real bloke. I guess that is a mark of how good the movie is. Well worth watching.

I've been up for hours with very little sleep, I'm fading fast...The Last King of Scotland is also a top notch movie with several moments where I found myself thinking of one character or another 'you are soooo fucked'. Idi Amin, not a nice bloke.

Customs cleared painlessly, my bag one of the last to come out - seems to be a relationship between time taken to clear customs and time to wait for bag - and then the most expensive (mile for mile) trian ride in the world, the Heathrow Express takes me to London Paddington, then the Bakerloo Line to Waterloo, then a train to Wimbledon and a bus to Morden and voila, back at the family homestead. Ready for a kip.

Weather was crisp and clear as I came in and I think I was the only person in London wearing flip-flops. But now, at midday the temp has risen and it is a fabulous spring day. Trees are all green and blossomy and London - well, the bit of it I'm in - looks bloody gorgeous.