Back to the grindstone

So Les Mis is 30 years old? I find that rather astonishing. I think I remember when The Mousetrap was 30 years old and that seemed ancient! They're presently running a campaign with a series of cast members looking suitably dramatic and glum, under the banner "thirty years on." I keep wanting to scrawl underneath, "and still no one's smiling!"

I had my first day back in the work place today, directing a corporate film about diabetes. Only I could walk away from a situation like that wondering if I myself have type two diabetes! It's certainly something which is not unknown in my family, and, as I learned today, it's very definitely a hereditary condition. Then again, I'm a fully fledge hypochondriac, so any statements I make about illness must be taken with a healthy pinch of salt.

The woman I was interviewing today was so so lovely, with big kind blue eyes. I instantly took to her and hope I've done her story justice.

We ended the shoot in a little park around the corner from her house, which she described as a "rec," a word I've not heard in many years. I instantly remembered The Rec in Higham Ferrers. "You gooing down Rec, Chunkas?" We used to ask. I relayed my memories to our contributor, who said, "why do they call them recs?" "Rec is short for recreation ground!" I said. "Oh" she replied, "I always thought it was spelt "wreck", and it confused me because I thought our rec wasn't really a wreck at all!"

Anyway, it was nice to be back in a work-shaped saddle, even though it was just for one day...

I came home and we had chips and a halloumi and salad in pitta for tea whilst watching the Big Painting Challenge. I'm beginning to rather like the artist Lachlan Goudie who is one of the experts on the show. I initially thought he was a little on the dour side, but latterly he's shown himself to have a somewhat sensitive, kind disposition.

I know nothing about painting, however. I don't understand how to appreciate visual arts, and certainly have no aptitude whatsoever when it comes to drawing and such. I do like watching painters at work, however, in the same way that I like watching anyone whose skill set is so far removed from my own.

The Big Painting challenge is a funny old format, which rather proves, in my head at least, that painters have a tendency to be slightly antisocial, somewhat sour-faced loners. The "life and soul of the party" contestants on shows like Sewing Bee and Bake Off all seem to get along famously, and be genuinely upset when one of their number has to leave. The painters are a great deal more self-centred and mono-syllabic in their interviews, and I've not yet heard one of them praising a fellow contestant's work, even in the fake way that you get on The Voice, which, come to think of it, is even more ghastly!