Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Trolley dash...

Shopping for non-perishable seasonal foodstuffs. The supermarket was far from full but the majority of people in there were huffing, puffing, tutting and chuntering as they rammed their trolleys into anyone that got in their way. If this is what Christmas does to people we should, perhaps, cancel the thing before everyone dies of a heart attack. Made a new elderly friend at the bakery counter - a fellow tiger loaf fan. He saw me scouring the shelves for bread. "After a tiger loaf kid? Me too." He told me how lovely he thought the bread was. "Smashing, isn't it? The best bread there is." That it maybe but there wasn't any to be had. The woman at the checkout gave us a chocolate, which seemed very odd.

Thought I would crack on with some Rank writing today but it didn't happen - by the time I'd filled the cupboards with the shopping and wrapped M's Christmas pressies I decided to sit back and absorb some further research via the miracle of the DVD player. I've planned a series of vignettes and not much else, so far, and the play hasn't really developed a life of its own nor any sort of shape or style, as yet. I find myself watching The Red Shoes or, say, Great Expectations from the halcyon period of Lean and Powell & Pressburger and then tie myself in mental knots wondering how much of those plots I could half-inch. Noticed that the house in which Rank was born, which is just around the corner, has had a brick hurled through the first floor window. Not that it really takes anything away from a property which, aside from the blue plaque, looks too grotty to even be fit for a crack house. My original idea was to set the play in that house but I think the subject matter requires something more elaborate, epic even. It will all become clear soon enough. I hope. Also, by way of muddling myself up as much as possible, watched more video footage of lifeboat rescues. Just watching all that bobbing up and down from the comfort of the sofa made me feel quite ill, so I dread to think what I'll be like when I go out with the crew at Spurn.

No comments: