Monday 17th June 2024

Woke late...rolled out of bed and made tea. Porridged. Aki working at the computer for most of the morning. I pottered about...did a little reading, and practised some Bowie. Cooked up some savoury black beans for dinner later, as we'll have a quick turnaround. Made some lunch, then we set off for Holborn, walking to Finsbury Park in the sunshine, and hopping on a Piccadilly Line train. As we exited the platform we bumped into Jeremy Corbyn, with a couple of youthful activists in tow...he accompanied us up the long escalators, which afforded us a quick chat. He said his campaign was going well, and he was on his way to the LSE to congratulate the new graduates. We left him outside the tube station, and I gave him a fisted salute and wished him luck. We headed for the Garden Cinema to watch their screening of "The Heartbreak Kid"...it turned out I'd researched the re-make with Ben Stiller...the screening was of the 1972 original, starring Charles grodin, Jeannie Berlin (the director, Elaine May's, daughter), and a young Cybill Shepherd. The screenplay was by Neil Simon...but it felt a bit disjointed, especially the rather dubious character of Lenny, with whom it was difficult to sympathise. I think I prefer the look of the 2007 re-make. We dived back down Holborn tube station, and caught a No.91 bus outside Caledonian Road station, in a bid to get home in time to cook dinner before heading to Hanley Road for gospel choir rehearsals. Pan-fried hake, with the beans I'd cooked earlier, and some sauteed potatoes. Got to rehearsal in good time. Not a great turnout, but the tenors were well-represented for a change. Got home in time to catch the second half of the France v Austria game. Looked like Mbappe exited the pitch with a broken nose late on...the French scraped a 1-0 win.