This weekend has been very much stop start, before it really even began. I wanted to go and see D.O.A. with Pav last night and had actually given up on the idea completely and resigned myself to spending Friday night in (which was not a bad thing really). There had been an alternative option. Head over to the Empire over in Slough with my sister for the 8.45pm screening. After all, she had missed out on Superman Returns which I had seen with my other sisters a few months back. However, I knew it was not really her type of movie and she had already been to see another remake, The Wicker Man during the week. There is an unwritten rule when it comes to my cinema experiences. Although regular readers of my blog will know this already. They are quite simple really but I suppose most people would consider me extremely fussy. Firstly I have to watch all the big movies on their opening weekend and secondly this has to be at a Vue cinema because they have the fantastic Pearl and Dean cinema advertising before the main feature. Stupid really when you consider there is a cinema less than two minutes walk away but I opt to drive twenty five miles to the Reading. So, I had resigned myself to catching the movie when it made an appearance on DVD in early 2007.
At work yesterday, Pav flashed up on MSN to say that we could go and see the movie in the end. The late show was 11.30pm which gave him a good few hours to sort out Hussein’s Fabia. Yep, he too had come over from Harrow for the full Pav Auto Detailing experience. By the time I got over to Caversham it was just after 10pm and they had been hard at work for nearly 5 hours. Pav was finishing off the final few panels with the polisher before applying the magic wax. Meanwhile Hussein was busy polishing the windows. I made a small contribution of taking of the masking tape. Then we had to put on the Empeg. Amazing you can control everything with the remote control, pointing all the way back from behind the boot. Finally just before 11pm, the car was reversed out of the garage onto the drive for the final few touches. Hussein went over all the trim to clean off excess polish, while Pav got to work cleaning the wheel caps. We could have done with more time, perhaps an hour to go over everything make sure it was perfect. It was late, very late and Hussein was close to collapsing if he did not start driving back home to Harrow soon, plus he had an early start this morning to drive to Cambridge. One satisfied, if somewhat tired customer.
It was too late for the movie but we headed down the road to the Island Bar & Restaurant. It was the first time I had been there and it was a nice quiet setting on the river. It opened just over a few months ago and some of Pav’s friends had been there for the opening night on Friday 28th July Although the reviews appear to be to the contrary, I thought the location and decor were well styled and considered. Nothing quite like a quiet time to sit outside by the river, talking to friends and unwinding after a difficult week.
It is a big weekend of football, with the Grand Slam Sunday taking place from 2pm. I am looking forward to it, even if Terry believes we will lose 4-1 to United. Rather pessimistic in my opinion but can hope for a draw. Rather than look forward to tomorrow, I prefer to look back on the midweek game. I love the Champions League. Everything about it is amazing, although I disagree with monsieur Wenger and believe the best football is always play on the World Cup stage. Yet European’s premier club competition has everything you expect from great contensts in football. The sterring operatic theme tune, the atmosphere, tales of the unexpected and the fact that there usual tends to be a group of big surprises every year. We were lucky but we deserved a bit of luck and I am glad we finally took a shot outside of the box and scored. We need to build on this performance, gain some confidence and head to the Theatre of Dreams with determination to not drop any points. A point gained is always better than three points dropped, when you consider the form of the Red Devils.
Spare a thought for our dearest friend Daniel over in Singapore. He nolonger has access to free to air football as everything has moved to pay to view. Read the full story over on his blog but I could never find myself in his shoes. I need to have access to live football or my live is just not worth living. Sure, I can remember the days prior to 1997, when I did not have satellite. It was the occassional game on the BBC and some Champions League on ITV. Now Sky rule the roost and I have not missed a game that is shown live on Sky featuring Arsenal for many years. I hunted around my archive but was unable to find an exact date, I believe it was in early 2003, and it was a Prem Plus game on a Sunday afternoon (if my memory serves me correctly).
Watched Episode One this evening on Sky, looking forward to the next two films in the first trilogy. Hopefully I will get a chance to update some more tomorrow.