Managed to get to the cinema again last night, when we went to see the excellent “Donnie Darko” at The Orpheus. We have been trying to catch up with this film for a couple of weeks and I have to say that it was well worth seeing. I can only really say that it’s a bit like David Lynch directing a teen/ coming of age type film, with the cheery story of mental breakdown underpinning the whole thing. The film is set in small town America in 1988, interestingly the Director: Richard Kelly uses lots of English music from the ‘80’s so we get to hear Echo & the Bunnymen, Duran Duran, Joy Division and more surprisingly Tears For Fears, sending those teenage American kids crazy. I’m never quite sure why English music was so successful in the states at that time, then again I have no idea if these bands were really successful or were they just hip with the “alternative” kids. Anyway, the film is great and I would recommend it to everyone.

We have been starting to make some travel plans for 2003. We are aiming to go to Paris in April for Orynthia’s birthday. It been quite a few years since we last went, when strangely we went in the February and April of the same year, thanks to generosity of the people who run the Eurostar rail service. It’s a great place and another visit is long overdue. When Autumn comes around we are hoping to head off to Australia to catch up with relatives. Because of the uncertainty with Orynthia’s job we had to forego invitations to several weddings down under this year, which was a real shame. Still next October/November we hope to be swapping the damp and murky English weather for something a bit warmer. If we really get our act together, we hope to append some time in Tokyo on either the way over or the way back. We went to Tokyo in 1999 and had an amazing time, fantastic people, interesting food and the best record shops in the world.