It was an odd game of football last night. There were long periods where Aldershot completely dominated the game with good crisp passing and a goal. Lincoln City were left looking stunned as we went to a 2-0 lead. But then we went to sleep in the second half and started the stupid big kicks up field which never work. They quickly scored twice, catching our defence out both times and making us look like waxwork dummies.
The final ten minutes were all spent desperately keeping them from scoring a third. Fortunately we did and the game ended in a draw. The highlights of the game (apart from our goals) were the Lincoln City goal keeper who never stopped shouting but could never be understood and the player who came on late in the second half called Moustafa Carry-on. I’m sure it’s not spelled that way but it definitely sounded like it. It brought general mirth and merriment to an otherwise sullen Slab.
Back at home, we watched a brilliant British film called This is England. While the subject matter sounds rather dark and unpleasant (England in the 80s with skinheads and racism rife) the film is not. While there is a lot of implied violence and one of the characters is not in the least pleasant, it is a wonderful coming of age story of a young lad growing up without a father, looking for a substitute and needing to belong.
There was not a weak performance in the entire film and we both enjoyed it thoroughly. If you can get passed the swearing (which, to be fair, is of the time), this is a wonderful film. I saw the writer/director, Shane Meadows, interviewed on Breakfast when it was released and he went to great pains to say how autobiographical it was. It shows. His deft hand gives us a glimpse of an unpleasant world while making us care about the main characters.
At the end of the film I wanted more; I wanted to know what else happened to the main character to shape such a wonderful film maker. Thomas Turgoose, as the 12 year old Shaun, is superb.
Of course, we also drank too much whisky and went to bed far too late but it was worth it. Normally we see pretty crappy films so this was an unexpected gem. And then I was up at 7 to wake Mirinda for work.
Fast forward to lunchtime and we had Italian today, again at Covent Garden, this time in Ponti’s. During our stroll around the small lanes we came across this rather interesting pub sign – sadly the pub was boarded up.
Pub sign, London
We also spotted a rather lovely building in Leicester Square. It looked rather odd, being so ornate but the colour scheme was lovely and these heads nicely incongruous.
Forget the deer, let's put human heads on the wall
As usual, we spent a lovely lunch hour (and a half) and, after we parted I high tailed it back down to Waterloo. I was going to visit Dr Johnson’s house afterwards but I’m going for a drink with Stevie tonight and needed to get home to feed the poodles. I figured Dr J could wait.
What a shame the pub was boarded up it would have been interesting to see the inside you couldn’t see through the windows? I love the heads so old world.
love mum