Chilling in the spring sunshine in Leicestershire

Day one in the NAMs house and we're all still playing nicely!

It's been good to catch up with friends and meet new people. The programme is relatively light so there's plenty of room for chatting.

This evening we watched the film 2012 - chosen because it contained no swearing to speak of, no sex and no strong violence (bar the obliteration of whole continents!) - and I for one was so pleased it didn't cost me anything. Clunky dialogue, ridiculous science and pretty average CGI - and this from the director of Speed and Independance Day (obviously having an off day). It was hysterical, though that was a bi-product of the dreadful script.

Tomorrow I'm looking forward to hearing Steve Holmes.

Dodging the raindrops in good company

I spent a very happy morning yesterday with my MA supervisor. The first chapter of my thesis got the thumbs up (it needs some pretty major tweaks, but the general thrust and level of engagement was deemed ok). So now I have to write the other two over the summer, recast the first and submit it.

I shall be making an argument that we can locate the early Pauline churches - economically, socially and physically - in a way that makes good sense of the broader social context and of the theology of the letters that Paul wrote to those tiny communities.

On my way to and from St John's Wood (trying to dodge the showers), I listened to the new Tracey Thorn album, Love and its Opposites. Thorn was one half of Everything But the Girl with long-term partner (and now husband), Ben Watt, who first came to my attention back in the early 1980s on a Cherry Red records sampler album. She has a silky smooth voice and keen eye for life's foibles. This new album is a mature woman's take on family life, identity, heritage and love. And it's truly wonderful. It'll be one of the albums of the year alongside the National's equally sublime High Velvet.

And last night I finally got to watch Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland last night. It was full of typical Burton wit and playfulness; the performances were uniformly excellent, the human actors more than holding their own against the animated ones. The story bounced along at a fair lick, the dialogue sparkled and the special effects did what they needed to without overwhelming proceedings. All in all, a hugely enjoyable two hours 

Batman and the downturn

We went to see Batman - The Dark Knight last night at Bluewater. Well, we went, but we couldn't get in because the cinema was heaving with people and all the performances were sold out.

Now, I thought we were suffering a downturn, straitened economic circumstances, etc. I have to say that Bluewater was humming when we arrived at 7:45pm last night, shoppers and cinema goers milling about in their thousands.

As we couldn't see the film, we went to one of the bars for a drink. Again the eateries we passed through were doing good business with people queuing for tables.

As ever when the headlines scream that we've never had it so bad, the picture on the ground is always more mixed. Some people are undoubtedly struggling because of rising fuel and food prices. But most people are not. we're paying more for basic commodities, but those items account for small amounts of our total spending (less than 15% according to a recent analysis by David Smith in the Sunday Times) and so the majority of us still have cash left over for entertainment as I saw at Bluewater last night.

Hopefully, I'll get to see Batman at the weekend...