Socials and films etc.

 Yesterday I was going to see Michael, the Jackson film just out, but because it had a start time of 11.30 am I decided against it and will choose a later time next week.  So I went back to the drawing board and found a film starting at 2.15 pm, much better, called The Wizard of the Kremlin.  I had never heard of it and the Odeon were giving it only two showings and with Kremlin in the title it was a must for me.  I mean, me, lover of all things Russian.   It was advertised as a thriller/drama and satire.  Even better.  And nominated for the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival.    Well the long and the short of it is that I loved it.  It is a satire indeed, but not much of a thriller at all, but a good bit of dark humour.    And it fitted very nicely into my way of thinking as expressed in my Sunday post this week and the comments that followed.  Very coincidental.   So perfect I am seeing it again today as the only other screening is the one at 2.15 today.  Jude Law plays Putin, and Paul Dano a fictional political adviser to Putin, Baranor.  It is set in the final years of the Soviet Union and brings in nicely my point about US interference in Ukraine in 2004/2014 as discussed in my comments on Sunday.   The film must be of limited interest I would think and it certainly helps to have some knowledge of Russia besides just "I hate Putin" type of facts, in order to recognise the satire and comedic slant of the film and understand it.   

Today, before seeing the film for the second time, I am going for lunch with my friends who I meet every four to six weeks. This is my birthday lunch a bit late.  We waited so as to avoid the school holidays.  Fortunately the restaurant we ae going to is two minutes walk from the cinema and we are meeting for an early lunch.    

I rang the travel company yesterday just to touch base with them really.  I also rang the insurance company to check that they consider Azerbaijan in Europe because my annual policy is a Europe policy.  They confirmed that it does.   

All is well and it is a nice, small group of 6.  That means that there must be at least one other person travelling alone for there to be a neat even number of 6.  Couples are ok but they can get a bit clingy to each other to the exclusion of singletons although this is by far not always the case.  6 is a very small group although I think Moldova was only 7 and great fun .   Group tours can be of all shapes and sizes.  Readers of Joy, Diary of a Retired Teacher will see that she is currently in a group of 40 visiting Crete, and it sounds like a treat.  So Addy, if you are reading this and still wondering about going on holiday alone, take it on board that group tours are great for those travelling without a partner and you can always choose to spend time alone even when in a group including being as unsociable as you like over breakfast as I sometimes do when I can't face talking to anybody when I have just got up.  A nod and a smile is often about all I can muster at 7am.