Sunday 5 October 2008

Not quite marathon

Today was not the weather for being out of the house. As far as I can tell it started to rain sometime around dawn and continued pretty much all day long. You had to feel sorry, then, for those taking part in the half marathon that was trundling around the Borough of Greenwich today. Sony Ericsson's (that's with two S's sign-writers!) 'Run to the Beat' was closing roads in SE7 (amongst other places). Terribly badly advertised it would appear. I saw a great deal of irate motorists trying to get onto Littleheath only to find their way blocked by barriers.

I went out (in the rain) several times to see what was happening. Some irritating drum-and-ethnic type music coming from Charlton Park... a great deal of St John's Ambulance staff... a lot of event organisers on motorbikes... and rain (of course). Just to set themselves apart from the London Marathon the runners were coming from the other direction, eventually. Around eleven some very wet runners finally appeared up the hill from the Barracks. I watched a few of the frontrunners... decided I was wet enough, and went home again. Given the weather there was an impressive amount of people on the street watching... but not many compared to the London Marathon. To be fair, who knew? I don't partake of any local media - maybe it was advertised there, but not much else. The mis-spelt road closure signs (lost amongst all the Thames Water signs) and the plastering of the ticket barriers at North Greenwich - that's it. The annoying music might have alerted you, I suppose.

I've managed a good haul of movies this weekend. Last night was 'My Sassy Girl' - which I almost enjoyed. It was quite cute, but one of those movies where you sit there at the end and say to yourself 'so what?'. There were some funny bits, some touching bits... and it was well written and acted, but it was just a bit tame. Five out of ten.

Today I had a much more satisfying experience with 'Sex and the City' (at last!). This I deeply enjoyed, having missed the TV series since it finished five years ago. If you liked the TV show you'll love the movie... if you didn't like it or never watched it you probably wouldn't get much out of it. Lots of loose ends were tied up - and the end was utterly satisfying for all fans. The only thing you would ask yourself is what is left to put in another movie?! Nine out of ten.

I spent the rest of the afternoon watching 'Paycheck' with the ever lovely Ben Affleck. Superb movie - seen it before, but thanks to my rubbish memory didn't remember much (any) of it, so enjoyed it just as much as the first time that I saw it. Ten out of ten.

I've just enjoyed the 'early' game of NFL on Sky Sports - watching my Giants annihilate Seattle. Mighty Giants 4-and-oh. Unlikely but possible that we could be the annoying will-they-won't-they-go-sixteen-and-oh team.