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Saturday 10 November 2012

A great way to waste an afternoon

This morning was busy, tiring, wet, infuriating and altogether unrewarding.  I put a machine-load of washing on and just before I left the house to trudge round in the rain to the bus stop, there was a power cut.

Oh well, I thought, at least the washing will resume when the power returns and with any luck by the time I'm back from town all will be well.

Ha!  Should have known better,  After frustrating failure to get most of the things on my list got a taxi home dumped shopping with a sigh of relief and went to make a coffee.  Two hours since leaving the house and still no power.

 I was cold damp and needed a hot drink, had ironing to do (surplice and stock for tomorrow's Remembrance Service) and also needed to shred a load of papers.

None of these things were possible without electricity, then one of my neighbours rang and asked if I had any power.  Apparently there was a selective cut (just a few of the houses in our close) and we should have been warned by letter.

Not only had neither of us had any such letter, but worse, the power was apparently expected to be off until around 4.00 pm!

By now the lack of heating was beginning to make itself felt and I decided to follow my friend's example and phone my supplier (a different one from hers) and complain about the lack of warning.

This took a half an hour of trying three different numbers until I finally got an explanation and an apology, I should indeed have been warned.  I said I was unimpressed, he apologised again and said they would make a payment in compensation.  This may or may not happen, we'll see, but in the event the power came back on shortly after mid day.

I then raced through all the things I needed to do and fell into a chair with a coffee and switched on the TV.

Trawling through the usual dross I finally hit on ITV 3 just in time to catch the beginning of one of the very greatest TV plays I've ever seen.

This was the marvellous "Lost for words" starring the late great Thora Hird and Pete Postlethwaite.

Anyone who has never seen this superb classic is in for a treat if they have the means of retrieving it on Ipod/pad or similar gadget.

The deeply touching story of a loving son devoted to his lovely, dotty mother combines the very best of humour and pathos as the tale sees his mother through a series of strokes until she finally succumbs. 

To say any more would be to spoil the experience for anyone who has yet to see it, but it is without doubt a truly memorable piece of theatre.

Don't take my word for it, watch it.

Or as Thora Hird would say "Flump!"

6 comments:

  1. Bad luck about the power cut (and you may just get that compensation) but great luck about the play. I saw it ages ago and have never forgotten it. I'd love to see it again, but alas no TV up here in Scotland. I'll keep an eye open for it when we get back.

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  2. Yes, it's not until you lose a taken for granted everyday thing, like power at the push of a button, that you realise just how difficult life would be without it.
    Still, all's well that ended spectacularly well.
    I had forgotten just what a fabulously good play this was.
    Just pure luck that I hit the right button a the right time.

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  3. so pleased such a grotty day did end of such a high note for you Ray x

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  4. Yes, thanks Jane. It really was so much better than it promised to be.
    If you ever get the chance to see Lost for words, I really can't recommend it highly enough.

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  6. Ah, so that annoying day was redeemed after all. Yay.

    Ray, I have moved my blog to anitamathias.com on Wordpress. What a big move! If you could change the URL on your blogroll to the new address, it would be great. Thanks much!

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