adore amy

dazed and confused…

Or at least, very tired and not a little groggy from eating nothing but junk for a week and not seeing the inside of a gym for almost two, although things are definitely improving after a few days of peace and quiet at home even if my well-intentioned plan to attend the Saturday morning spinning class was thwarted earlier when I slept through it.

FrightFest 2018 is at an end and as far as I could see a fine time was had by all in the giant IMAX screen as well as the Prince Charles, where I spent a fair bit of time in the Discovery screens. Standout of the entire shebang (and the entire year, if I’m honest) was the very beautiful (if not exactly cheery) Tigers Are Not Afraid, a Mexican drama that I missed the first time around by not going to Glasgow FrightFest the week of the terrible weather in early March and which proved so popular last weekend I wound up having to buy a general sale ticket because I couldn’t get a passholder seat. I was very glad I did, although this wouldn’t have been obvious to anybody nearby since I sobbed throughout the film, barely composed myself for the director’s Q&A afterwards and then sniffled all the way home on the bus. As soon as it gets UK distribution I will be seeing it again and with tissues – the man sitting just in front of me trying to discreetly dry his beard on his shirtsleeve without anybody noticing can have some too.

Other enthusiastic recommendations include Upgrade (scifi action and lots of fun on a barely noticeable shoestring budget), Killing God (Spanish black comedy which BBC4 might pick up, given that they’ve showed Sleep Tight a couple of times) and The Night Eats The World (Robinson Crusoe-esque tale, but in Paris with zombies). One walkout (which is one more than last year and even with 2016) in One Cut Of The Dead, which was such a runaway success it ran to two extra screenings and thus swayed my usual good judgement on what I will think is shit. I should really know better by now since that was the end of my festival, although it did mean I was back in Aldgate in good time and didn’t even have to queue much for my KFC.

I think the South Bank is possibly my favourite part of town for a brief visit and thankfully the local populace agreed it was a good idea – there was no letup even after I checked out in the form of a rare outcall to a nearby hotel, which kept me enjoyably busy and out of mischief until FrightFest arriving time at 5 o’clock. I couldn’t stay away from the riverside even after upping sticks and moving over to Aldgate for the weekend, and had a gentle Saturday afternoon stroll along to the Tate Modern and back for Picasso and a brew rather than hang about for a random mid afternoon screening that I can’t even remember. That said, the daily ride into town on the 15 bus from E1 was a highlight all by itself (as is any bus ride if you are me, to be fair) and I won’t leave it so long next time.

This next few weeks will be an exercise in calmness and with the school holidays at an end, it’s back to normal for everyone – yay! Autumn is definitely in the post, and I’ll be here to enjoy it until Tuesday 25th before I head off to leafy (and gratifyingly, also calm) Pimlico; I’m well on the way to organising all my awaydays up until Christmas and bar a couple of up-in-the-air bits which even I don’t know about yet, they will be posted overleaf soon.

Song Of The Week (and it’s fabulously eye-hurting video) rightly celebrates my very favourite month – the sun is still shining while the air cools down and sharpens, the trees start changing colour and the cosy, pie-concealing jumpers will be making a very welcome appearance shortly. The Christmas cake and pudding pre-planning is tentatively underway, the heating has gone on for the first time in months this last week and a bit of peaceful post FrightFest hibernation beckons over the rest of the weekend.

More soon! I’ll be getting back to the resting up, and thanking the good people at Samsung for my Smart TV (shortly before cursing the useless fuckers at EE for their monumentally crap broadband). Hey ho.

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