Sun-shiney Day

Days like today, always worry me a bit; in the back of my mind, because I've had a really nice day off, the rest of the week will be shite.

For Boy and I had a lie-in, read we got up at 8 am, rather than 7. Gee came round for a cup of coffee and a natter, after we put the world to rights we agreed we'd go out to the new and re-vamped Cinema City to see Guillermo del Torro's The Orphanage in the evening. Boy and I then spent the next two hours trying to get across the city (by bus) to the Post Office's Sorting Office, to pick up a letter/parcel that the sender didn't pay enough postage. The people in the snazzy, new bus station sent us to the bus that kind of goes near where the Sorting Office is, after a leisurely walk. When we got on the bus to ask the kind driver to drop us off at the nearest stop, he shook his head and said 'you wanted the Number 11, but only goes every hour." He did drop us off at the right place and we did pick up the A4 letter, with no postage containing my contract with the PCH.

*sigh*

Boy and I then caught the Number 11 back to the city and walked to the Garden Centre on the Ring Road for a coke and some more plants. My plants are not only alive *gasp, shock*, they are actually doing really well, so I wanted some more. I did manage to control myself and not get a trolley and put in pansies, violets, bellis and three types of lavender. Instead, I got an ivy, a French tarragon, thyme and a small dill. I'm still thinking about getting some lilies, maybe even a few tomatoes, peppers and aubergine to put in a grow-bag. Not to mention the lovely orchids I saw.

Boy and I tend to play Eye-spy when we travel and are bored. I've noticed that when we do play, people in ear-shot start looking around and you can just see them itching to join in, but not being brave enough. Which is a shame, because it can be quite fun. We don't play by the rules, you can ask questions and get hints. I always ask 'is it clean?' Boy likes to be obscure.

The best of Eye-spy today was:
S for skin
C for clouds
R for rings
P for pavement
S for shops
D for dust
T for tickets

The Orphanage is a gothic tale (I knew this was so because of the creaky house and bad weather). I'm the wrong person to ask if it was scary because I spent a bit of time hiding under Gee's armpit. I have no tolerance for scary bits, no matter how obvious, cliched or over-done they might be - I still squeak and jump. It was beautifully shot, and the acting was good. However, it was a touch predictable and everything was well flagged and over-explained. I suspect del Torro would have found Pan's Labyrinth exceptionally difficult to follow and whatever he would have done, it would not have been able to match it in terms of beauty, horror and enchantment.

Tomorrow I go to work, so I'll let you know if my superstitions were justified.

Bad Dreams

I didn't sleep very well last night. That's not unusual really, I tend to be a light sleeper and sleeping with a cat pinning your legs down means surfacing into wakefulness every now and then to turn over. I have weird dreams all the time, some more bizarre than others, generally speaking it doesn't bother me one way or another.

Sometimes I have monster dreams, those tend not to bother me either, because I turn into a less-busty version of Lara Croft and do some serious butt kicking. I also have flying dreams which I love. Though having said that, they tend to be big jumping dreams where I'm making gigantic leaps across the landscape, soaring through the clouds (with no turbulence). I often have dreams about Trinidad and my childhood, I revist my grandmother's house for a spot of afternoon tea which was always the highlight of my stay with her. She used to make platted bread for me for the event, and she had to have a pot spoon at hand to beat me away from the cooling bread. It's always lovely to see her again, she looks well and happy.

We've been making our way through the Alien Quadrilogy, which has been a feat of endurance for me. I scare easily watching films. I'm not keen on watching people getting hacked to death, tortured, raped, enslaved or humilliated, which means that most of the time I don't watch horror or thrillers. I do love reading them though. Give me a good horror or thriller to read and I'm a very happy bunny. I suppose reading 'he screamed as the monster from hell ate his arm' is not as scary as seeing the blood gushing from the severed arm, quivering in the jaws of the salivating monster and hearing the pain and fear from the owner of said arm. I'm also a sucker for movie music, the minute the music starts to go menacing, I'm quivering behind the nearest strong shoulder, cushion, cat or doorway.

The last time I tried to watch Alien, it was 1992 and I only managed to watch it as far as when the baby alien's shed skin was found by the guy who was looking for a kitty cat. At that point I fled to read a book in bed, far away from the movie playing downstairs. So I'm rather proud of myself being able to watch it start to finish, albeit behind the doorway, the Viking, the Boy, the cat and the cushion. Boy and I have now watched Alien 2 and are part-way through Alien 3, but Boy got tired and I really didn't want to watch it on my own.

A few years ago I did watch some of Saw, and thought it was the most gruesome film ever. Obviously I was wrong, because they've released Saws 2, 3 and 4. I'm really freaked out by Japanese-inspired horror, that is truly scary. I saw the American version of the Grudge and although I kept expecting Sarah Michelle Gellar to leap up and stake the ghosts, it was creepy, creepy, creepy. The Viking is threatening to bring The Ring down for us to watch. I suppose it'll be good for a laugh - for them.