Whilst standing in passport control at Stansted Airport, The Boy and I were musing over the last time we traveled back there from Germany. The shuttle monorail hadn't been working properly and in consequence an enormous number of people had accumulated on the platform. One couple who were near the back decided to push to the front. We had noticed them previously on the aeroplane because they had paid for two extra seats to put their luggage on. When they got to the front of the platform, they exclaimed they couldn't get on. At which point I loudly started suggesting to them that was no surprise as we were unlikely to be standing on the platform for fun. I am known to speak my mind in such situations. Back at Stansted and in the passport queue, The Boy and I had finished our little muse, when a woman next to us said, "I wish there were more people like you".
At the cinema (Cineworld in Enfield if you must) last night, I was assigned the job of getting the refreshments. We like coffee. But as with every time we've been to the pictures in the last year there was a coffee problem. In this instance they had run out of milk. I explained my frustration to the person who wasn't serving the coffee. He shrugged his shoulders. So the manager was summoned. I explained that we simply wanted coffee, and that whenever we went to this cinema it wasn't available. The manager dispatched someone to find milk. And lo and behold milk was acquired. I believe it was the projectionist's personal supply...at least it came from the projection room. There may be bigger battles to fight, but I have to say that coffee did taste good.
On the screen itself, the film was excellent. I'm somewhat confused that Hailee Steinfeld was nominated as Best Supporting Actress. After all the film was her story and she had the most lines. I guess she just doesn't have the same fame as Matt Damon and Jeff Bridges. A good film. A very good film indeed. Very stylised. But excellent entertainment. But I'd never have picked it as an Oscar winner (that's easy to say this morning), and I'm glad Colin Firth got his just rewards. If only Geoffrey Rush had.
I'm a little confused by Libya, and outraged by The Bastard Blair on the front page of The Times saying he had been right to bring Gadaffi 'back into the fold'. But then I am outraged every time TBB takes a breath. There are no doubt some Arab leaders who privately feel that however bad Gadaffi is, they would prefer him to stay, as his departure will show that no despotic leader is safe. He is certainly showing True Grit in hanging on in there.
And I'm interested to note some 29,000 Chinese have been evacuated. That's a lot of influence.