We really did not know what to expect with this production. I knew it was set a while ago because of the costumes but that was it. Just been researching it and I never knew it was originally a British film and it was produced way back in 1955 and starred among others Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers. and a few minutes ago just discovered there was 2004 film version with Tom Hanks!
Graham Lineham wrote this production (most famous I suppose for writing Father Ted) and it starred Michele Dotrice, Shaun Williamson and Clive Mantle. In a nutshell a sweet old lady, Mrs Wilberforce, rents a room in her higgley piggedly house to a 'professor'. What she doesn't realise is that he is a master criminal and when him and his mates are practising their music in his room, they are really planning a heist.
The set was wonderful and at first the lopsided house made me feel a bit queasy but your eyes soon adjust. The cast was excellent and were well into their roles. We looked the jokes and really did not expect it to be as good as this.
I loved the car chase using the remote control vehicles and the performance of the musicians in front of Wilberforce's posh friends. They manage to pass off the 'noise' as modern music. As someone in the play said 'being fooled by art is a pleasure only for the middle classes' or something similar.
This was an excellent show we are glad we went to see.
** spoiler alert ** I really enjoyed this book and got to know the characters quite quickly. It revolves around a little girl, Belle, who lives with her single father and who is finding it hard to get y since his mother died in a house fire which destroyed all their belongings and as she was also his childcare, he finds it difficult to find work. He meets someone who says there is a job elsewhere so he naively goes and gets involved in collecting drugs - when he discovers the real job he is distraught and dumps them - not realising that the dealers will be after him and so he can't return to his daughter, whom he left in a coffee shop with a woman (Erin) they befriended a few days before. When he does manage to return it is to discover that Erin has taken his daughter to her mothers (a woman she has never met) so he rushes down there and realises that he still loves his daughters mother and that her father was the one that forced them apart and true love still exists. Erin meanwhile is tackling her own ghosts, as she is still grieving for her daughter who died in a freak accident. But taking care of Belle helps her cope and get her life back on track.
There is lots more to it but it is so easy to see how things can so easily spiral out of your control if you have no-one around to help you
This is a WOW book. An excellent book which I will read again and again over the years. I enjoyed the film so thought I would enjoy the book too but even more so. It basically tells the tale of some black maids who have raised white children and in doing so have spent less time with their own children. It portrays the awful attitudes at the time and how most white people thought nothing of their treatment of their maids. I would have been embarrassed, like Skeeter, to have friends like those. The maids get their own back by telling their stories and Skeeter, a want to be writer, puts them together into a book. When it is published everyone is nervous as they don't know if their stories will be recognised and whether they'll be punished, sacked or beaten for telling truth.
** spoiler alert ** Another harrowing book. Kathy Glass and all the other foster careers out there are saints. They care for such damaged children and try their hardest together them back on the right track. These children haven't asked for the lives they have led and need a lot of love, care and attention to help them choose the right pathways. This book is about a young boy Tayo, who it is discovered is in the country illegally after his mother kidnapped him from his school. His mum is totally unsuitable - into drink and drugs and associating with all the wrong people - and is constantly moving around. Tayo was one of many children in the country illegally who had been set to work in a sweat factory ... Yes they do exist in the UK and I couldn't believe hope many children are actually 'hidden' in this country ... It is frightening to know so many children are unaccountable for. Despite this lifestyle Tayo is extremely polite although on occasions his anger does spill out. His mum continues to either not turn up or turn up late for contact sessions and shout at him when she does. He continues to believe his dad will turn up for him and despite extensive searches nothing can be found about his dad. Then one day Cathy gets a phone call to say Tayo's dad has been in touch. He had been searching for over five years and hires the best lawyers etc to try and win the custody of Tayo. Here mum, Minty tries to win him back by deciding to hire lawyers too .... Tough she still doesn't contact or phone him. Thankfully she puts the nail in her own coffin by turning up to court late on many occasions and drunk on another. Custody goes to dad and a couple of days later a delighted child goes back to the family who love and cherish him. A wonderful ending to this true tale. It is a pity that they all don't end so happily
A Quick Read about a guy who loves his job and who even refuses a promotion as he enjoys messing around so much but all that changes when his girlfriend loses her job and gets a new one working next to him. His life suddenly closes in around him and he starts thinking of ways to get her out of his work life. But he doesn't realise the consequences of his actions until too late.
