Tuesday

I think it’s supposed to be called ‘Xmas Tuesday’ and is a bank holiday. The KFC and Dominos Pizza were already open again last night - so with the exception of more stupid binge drinking - everything is back to normal.

Liz Smith.

Last night I scrolled through my film collection trying to decide what my actual mood was, it came down to a rather schizophrenic choice between Fight Club and A Private Function. Fight Club won - and it’s still as relevant and exciting as it was in 1999, quite a remarkable film. If I had gone with Private Function I would probably have learned of Liz Smith’s death whilst watching one of her greatest onscreen performances. An actress her whole life - only achieving any measure of success in her late 40’s, she pretty much ‘owned’ the older character actress crown in this country. Capable of great comedy, perfect timing and the most subtle of nuance - as well as heartbreaking tragedy. She was quite remarkable. 95 is a good age, well earned and well deserved.

I spent part of yesterday looking through the media and papers online - I actually bought a paper on Xmas eve (The Guardian) - I’ve not bought a paper in years (I think the last time was when the now defunct Independent made a big play of changing it’s typeface - so it was a work ‘thing’). It was quite a disappointment - there was nothing in there I didn’t already know. What I did glean yesterday was that there is a quite perceivable shift to the right across most media - and a quite astonishing and frightening rise in extreme right wing sentiment in any comments and feedback. People seem emboldened by this year to express things online that I would never believe they could say in public - and the tone of many papers- the Telegraph and Daily Mail in particular - is frightening and dangerous, and unchallenged. Seeing as we no longer have an opposition in this country - layers of hatred, small minded nimbyism and prejudice are peeling away and revealing themselves in less than subtle ways. Even the die hard Corbyn supporters I now avoid have gone very quiet and shuffle their feet when you look at them. It’s going to take years to fix this mess and be a very bloody fight just to get back to the more equitable society that we took for granted too long.

I need to get on and do things today or I’ll just fall into a week long fugue - the dogs are getting used to me being here during the day and are constantly demanding walks. Small dog managed to piss in the house 6 times yesterday - I think she’s doing it on purpose now. She even comes home to piss. I’m going to just take them out for 15 mins in the hope that they leave me alone for a couple of hours - they have already been out once. I don’t even think they like walking that much any more - they just want to wind me up.