Comfort

 Hello all. Hope you are well. We are all a bit damp. I'm not sure where you are in the world but it is very rainy and windy on the south coast of England. HOH and FOW2 have been sea swimming this week and I believe the conditions were a little "challenging". I prefer not to think about it when they are out - imagining, as I do, helicopters, lifeboats etc. but both were quite shivery when they returned. However, my suggestion that they might like to think of a wetsuit or one of those big coverall drying coats has been met with disdain as if I was a wuss. I am a proud wuss. And we shall see who the wuss is as it gets colder and wilder. 

I am going to start by putting forward an argument - even though I know that I am wrong. I don't like the modern version of Be Thou My Vision. Like Mrs Slocome, I am unanimous in this. I know that "You are my vision" is more accessible and that it's not about me (apparently) but I think if you can't recognise poetry when you see it and therefore give it a bit more thought then - well - I have no sympathy for you. It's wrong of me and selfish. Ask me if I care.

As the evenings are getting darker and wilder, we have been looking for comfort distractions - film, telly, art etc. and I thought I would share a few - not all of them successful. For example, Plymouth has just hosted The British Art Show. I like a bit of art. I like a bit of modern art. I may not understand it but I do find some of it very moving. But blimey, this was rubbish. I understand that I am wrong ( this seems to be a recurring theme) but it was nonsense. Highlights included a room where a woman had sculpted a reaction to an LSD trip. It should be used in "Just say no" campaigns all over the world. Don't do drugs kids if you don't want to struggle getting rid of the picture of a giant blimp-like balloon with poppy-out eyes rearing up whenever you enter the room. There was also a sculpture of a woman who was turning into a rabbit I think (again, mind-altering drugs may have been involved). Into the next room to be greeted by a painting of a woman's nether regions which the artist had produced by crouching over a mirror. The thing was, it wasn't even good enough to offend anyone. I saw at least one person with their head on one side trying to work out what on earth it was. Still, it wasn't a complete failure. We went to the shop and managed to buy a felt bumble bee with a Christmas hat on for the Christmas tree. Bringing the high culture here. 

Anyway, back to comfort. If you have Netflix, the new Enola Holmes is out.

It's not the most challenging thing you will ever see but it fairly barrels along, makes you smile and Helena Bonham Carter turns up and plays one of the people she plays - but she does it so well that nobody cares. Glass of wine, bag of crisps, guessing the story within 15 minutes. That's your top-class Saturday night right there. 

Also, if you have Disney+ See How They Run has arrived. It's an Agatha Christie spoof based on a few true facts about The Mousetrap. Everyone is sort of quietly brilliant. The story is excellent and there are some cracking laughs. We pay for Disney+ mainly so I can re-watch the good Marvels and Lilo and Stitch whenever I want to. This is an excellent addition to my comfort watch collection. (The Walking Dead is not on my comfort watch collection and it's really weird that it is on Disney.)

Comfort watches on ordinary telly were Louis Theroux interviewing Dame Judi Dench making everyone feel better about more or less everything really. Also, we are really liking Stanley Tucci wandering around Italy and eating stuff. I'm not sure I am quite the slavish fan of Tucci that everyone else seems to be. I mean, he seems nice enough but I wouldn't go mad on him as my mother used to say. But the sunshine and Italy and his genuine appreciation of the food are very pleasing. There is quite a lot of stuff wriggling about before they die a horrible death so that he can eat them with pasta but that is the way of the world I suppose. 

Finally, we ventured to the actual pictures to see a film - not comforting at all  - that has stayed with me. The Banshees of Inisherin is set in a small Irish community in the 1920s

Two men are friends. One decides that he doesn't want to be friends anymore. Cue heartbreak, loss and some brutality. You know me, I'm not keen on violence etc. and there is very little here so don't let that put you off. Still, it's dark and brooding and sad as well as being a satisfyingly complex look at depression and mental illness. It's not comforting. It is brilliant. Highly recommended. 

Have a good week.