sunday bloody sunday

it's sunday today, hence the title - it's also the title of a film that came out when I was a tweenie back in the early 70's. It was about a love triangle between the late great peter finch, the young actor Murrary Head (he of "one night in bangkok" fame, the stage version of hair and various cool young brit type roles) and some woman that I can't remember - might have been Vanessa Redgrave or Sarah Miles, I'm not sure and not convinced it was either.

The reason I remember the film of course is because of the hint of guy on guy action!!! This was probably the first film that entered my consciousness where the gay boys were not flaming hairdressers or a form of transvesite . Peter Finch played a doctor - respectable, upright, well dressed and "straight acting", Murrary Head , I think played a hip photographer in low slung skinny jeans spreading sex appeal in all directions - male and female. This was what I aspired to be and in retrospect I think I probably acted out this role throughout my early 20's without even realising it. Anyway, even though the film made a big impression on me, I never saw it. At the time I was too young to buy a ticket and life moved on. But I still love the title for it's dour recognition of an immutable truth and they way it sums up all the contradictions that sunday brings with it.

schaedenfrufde

I hope I spelled it correctly ... the great thing about the web is that you can connect or secretly stalk old friends and colleagues. I generally wish everyone well with a few exceptions who seem to have gone out of their way to hurt me even when the open palm of friendship and kindness was extended. I think it says more about them than me, so I don't lose sleep over it and assure you I have moved on. BUT BUT BUT ... there is a secret guilty pleasure in following former friends with a public profile and either getting reassurance about what half wit bores they are by reading their blogs or watching their careers slip into the sand via linkedin as they enter the nether world of b2b consultancy or worse. I don't bother about good friends or colleagues, I wish them well and they vastly outnumber the 3 people I follow with gruesome fascination watching a slow car crash but I secretly enjoy it. I hope it doesn't make me a bad person ..

march of the ipod nazis

I have a blackberry storm, and it is a stormy relationship.
Tied together by mutual necessity we managed to overcome many hurdles not least of which was I went through Storm I,II,III and finally settled into comfortable co-dependency with storm IV. Together 24 hours a day and even sleeping side by side, slowly I learned to trust Storm IV with my contacts and my calendar even though I had been burnt by Storms I,II,III all of whom swallowed my address book and photos with nary a care in the world never to be seen again. Storm IV now contains my little world of friends, family, employee's and that amazing pic I received at christmas totally randomly of a gorgeous guy in the bathroom mirror. I suppose it was a wrong number but christ! Lucky me!!

Now sinister forces are at work ... our mobile phone provider is upgrading our handsets to iPhones. I tried it and even inserted my sim card. too much, too soon. One day out in the West End and I rushed back to the office and retrieved Storm IV, inserted the sim, rebooted and felt better. It was like having a cigarette, ipod now back in box on desk. Tomorrow the box goes in a draw

Toast on Monday

well, I don't feel great about it but at the sametime I don't feel bad. If you are wondering what I mean, I am talking about making toast on a monday morning and not the bread kind. I had to "terminate" someone this morning for not acting like they enjoyed their work. I would admit that the position involved mind numbing meetings, creating complicated dull presentations and herding a series of client cats in Europe. Work is a bit of theatre and these days, not playing your part means getting cut. It was pleasing and touching that the rest of the team were fully behind my decision and also felt that the toast in question was not playing their part ... I am reminded of the saying "All the world's a stage and we are but players" . Certainly true today ...

personally, I am worried about getting fat ... I have a black tie event tomorrow night and when I tried on my gorgeous very expensive Hugo Boss tuxedo, I risked shifting my internal organs trying to button up. As I am buttoned up enough these days, having the trousers "taken out" seemed an eminently clever idea, but having the time to find a decent seamtress to "take them out" (I love this expression and it reminds me of my mother who was a very good seamtress) and not being sure they would be ready on time, I accepted defeat and ran to Marks & Spencer and bought new trousers with a bigger waist (the shame - now 36) for the amazing price of £29! I was secretly pleased that there were not many of the new size I need, which led me to believe that I am not alone in the expanding waist from 34 to 36 journey. Please god, no-one looks at my trousers tomorrow night ......