The Force is Strong (Here be Spoilers)
A busy weekend indeed. Yesterday the residue of a cruel migraine took the shine away from my senses but I managed to watch the Lions take on Bay of Plenty in their first tour match. A few slithers of fine play lit up an otherwise error-ridden match. Adrian Cashmore , the Bay full back was once a top target for Gloucester but he chose instead to ply his trade in Japan. I felt for Lawrence Dallaglio who broke an ankle and will miss the rest of the trip. For all his faults and arrogance, he epitomises a good deal of what Lionhood represents and the squad will miss him. I thought that Dwayne Peel and Joshua Lewsey were the pick of the Lions. As ever I am left with the feeling that Andrew Sheridan and Matt Stevens are the two most over-rated players in the England set up and are lucky to don the famous red shirt.
Last night we bade farewell to our Hungarian guests with a party in the baroque surroundings of Leckhampton Scout Hut. The pair presented us with a few gifts before they departed our shores, some wine, biscuits, books about Budapest and Hungary and a large packet of sweets unfortunately bearing the name ‘Negro Mix’. For a few seconds it was like being in a seventies sit-com featuring Jack Smethurst. Oh dear.
This very morning took me and two children to the cinema to attend a showing of Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith. This film has received the most appalling reviews but I loved every second of it. Every shot looked fabulous and of course everything led to a predictable denouement featuring death, betrayal and deep breathing through masks. Naturally it was all nonsense of the highest order but, having been there ‘at the beginning’, I lapped it all up, including the rather contrived inclusion of Chewbacca the Wookie whose very planet didn’t really need to be in the film, let alone ‘it’ itself. The last half hour sped by and packed so much in including the maiming of Anakin via volcanic nastiness, the birth of the Organa/Skywalker twins, the adoption of said infants, the death of Padme, the exile of Yoda, the ‘birth’ of Vader, the beginning of the Death Star’s construction, Kenobi pitching up on Tattooine on a camel type thing looking every inch a Magus and more besides. What marvellous entertainment. Stuff the critics.
