Yesterday being my 'rest day' I met up with a friend for coffee before heading off to town to the cinema.

This was a new friend - a kind of pen-pal really who I have got to know over the last year or so as we travelled similar medical and work 'journeys' (she's a hospital chaplain).  There is always that fleeting moment of 'what if she doesn't like me in real life' (and if she didn't she was way too polite to say so) but we had a lovely hour (or I did anyway) before she and her husband headed off to the funeral which was their real purpose for being in Glasgow.  There is something about some shared experiences that seems to create connectedness... Guiders experience it, GB leaders experience it. girlie revs experience it, and people affected by (at least some) similar medical conditions experience it.  Anyway J if you read this twaddle, it was brill to meet the real you, and I hope you got home safely and not too kn*ckered.

The film 'The Artist' has attracted rave reviews so I thought I ought to go and see it.  I enjoyed it greatly (though the final twist failed to surprise me I'm afraid) not least the shameless copying of cameos from other places, so beloved of contemporary film making.  With minimal captions, it must have been quite a challenge to create a 'silent movie' for a 21st century audience... a very different challenge from the subtitling to which we are all becoming accustomed with Scandinavian imports.  All of which is interesting... in a noisy, highly visual culture, we find pleasure in films and programmes that deny aspects of that.

Today I have the delights of clearing my living room ready for new carpet to be fitted tomorrow... poor Holly cat, she's just about recovered from weekend visitors and now more disruption to her routine!