Marion and I retire on 30th November and the first step we take will be a rush to the car and a drive to Manchester to see Madness perform at the Apollo. Truly a case of One Step Beyond and quite an appropriate one I think. We've always loved them and they have many similarities with that other favourite of ours ,UB40, being a big group with a lot of instrumentalists and ,whilst it's not reggae, another stomping beat. Roll on November.
As we came out of the cinema last night the air was thick with smoke. It was clearly a big fire so we had to go and have a look what the source was. When we saw that local roads were cordoned off, the size of the blaze became apparent and the huge number of blue flashing lights on the Promenade pinpointed the conflagration to the old Kingsway club which, still firmly ablaze, looked to be now just a shell. I read recently that the owners had applied to demolish the building. No need now. That will save them a packet and all that tedious beaurocracy too. It's strange how a number of derelict local buildings have gone up in smoke recently - not that I am pointing any fingers. The Kingsway was famous for being the venue where Ringo made his first ever performance with the Beatles, where my brother used to splash two shillings on roulette and where, as a teenager I once managed to get in but discovered to my disappointment that it was called a "night" club because it was pitch black inside and apart from shirts lit up with UV lights I couldn't see a thing.
The scene last night taken by Jenny's friend.
And the morning after.
As for the film, "The Last Exorcism" was a pretty scary horror movie although it was spoilt for me and Marion by four juvenile morons (older than teenagers) in the row behind who managed to talk (talk might be too generous- grunt might be better) for large chunks of the screening completely oblivious to those around them, rushing out to answer their mobile phones and rocking our whole row by putting their feet on the seats - and no I didn't do anything about it, I just hoped that something as nasty as what was happening on the film befell them on their way home. That nastiness included gruesome mutilation (which would have been just fine by me). A good film but not a great one. It moves with pace. It is filmed in the style of "The Office" as a film crew trails a preacher who was once an exorcist on one final exorcism. He is now coming clean and wants to show that he was just a fake and nobody is ever really possessed - or are they? A great premise and a good story well filmed until the final five minutes. I won't tell you the ending but it takes the themes of more than one famous horror - "Rosemary's Baby", "The Wicker Man" and "The Blair Witch Project" all spring to mind - and mixes them all up into something of a disappointing mess.
Finally I would like to wish our factory leader Tony Mercer all the very best for his birthday today. Tony is Instanta's longest serving employee having been with us for around thirty six years. As usual he is holidaying on his birthday but I hope that he finds five minutes to see what I have written about him. As this is the last time that I will be at Instanta for one of his birthdays I would like to offer Tony my sincere thanks for his support over my past twenty two years here. His time keeping and attendance records have been exemplary - I can't recall him ever being late and he has struggled into work many times when others would be shivering beneath their sheets. He hardly appears in our sickness records going year after year with 100% attendance. He must be doing a good job as our productivity figures sometimes slip when he is on holiday (factory please note) but targets tend to be met when he is not. So enjoy your well earned holiday Tony. Marion and I wish you a very happy birthday and a continuing successful career at Instanta.
I'll close today with a clever promo for "The Last Exorcist" using ChatRoulette.com. Bad language warning.
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