things squeezed into other things

On Sunday we saw the current Harry Potter film, which was quite enjoyable, although perhaps less strong than the storyline of the book; the necessary trimming to fit within a feature length removed some of the subtleties of the plot. There was less showing the strength and potential of Neville than I would have liked, for example; and although the London flight scenes were lovely, whatever happened to stealth? Moody would surely have disapproved of buzzing tourist boats... I'm looking forward to the final book, although I fear my pre-order (from what a friend splendidly calls WarlikeSingleBosomedLadyDotCom) may arrive in a place where I am not, delaying my reading by a day or so. I don't expect stunning writing, but at least a rollicking storyline.

Last weekend we went camping on the bike; we managed to take all the usual stuff, and there was still plenty of space for me on the back.

On Thursday we visited the former Millennium Dome, the interior of which is a pedestrian boulevard crammed with the usual UK franchise restaurants and bars at ground level, but resembles a plywood copy of Miami above that. There is even a fake beach and palm trees to bring the illusion down to earth. A very strange place. The Indigo2 venue, where we saw Cake (and Ruarri Joseph as support), was excellent, though it remains to see how well it ages. Cake have quit their major record label for a smaller indie one, and seemed grateful that they still get enough publicity to get an audience at all. It was a good gig, with an interesting cross section of people in the audience, reflecting the musical style and politics of the band.

This week, I anticipate less squeezing, except for the usual fitting of many tasks into finite hours.