More Visitors

I suppose it isn't such a bad thing having more people to visit but when you have lots of people in succession, the "what have you been up to then?" story starts to seem very repetitive and even if I've told the same stories over and over again for the past few days, I still forget what I've done in the year. It's much easier if you have a hobby / interest that keeps you full of stories so that you can tell of the sporting achievements for example. For me, most of my life is spent programming (which no one is interested in, fact) or watching the telly, something that only really works if the other person has seen the same programme. Otherwise you end up with the awkward succession of "did you see xxx?" "no" "oh" and after a few of those, you tend to give up that line of questioning for fear of embarrassment, not only of yourself for being a TV hoar but for making the other person fell like they are missing out.

I wish there was some way to transfer the memories of the last period so that they could understand them instantly rather than you trying to explain them and remember them. At least that way they would understand that what I consider to be entertainment isn't a boring and pointless waste of time and more frequently, the other way around. I'm sure people do enjoy visiting museums and art galleries but I have very little interest in that sort of thing and anything based in history really which often results in me trying to act interested or knowledgeable about something just to be polite. The only benefit I suppose is that it passes the time and without which the place would be very silent and awkward until the food comes out and gives everyone something new to make small talk about.

Since the guests only came for the afternoon, we ended up watching District 9. I had heard some good reviews about this film but after watching it am very glad that I didn't see it at the cinema. I don't know what all the fuss was about. It was based in Johannesburg so the accents were annoying all the way thorough, coupled with the fact that the aliens spoke in 'clicks' and so had to be constantly subtitled made it a pretty dull film. I was expecting a lot more from Peter Jackson despite not liking any of his previous films, I have attributed that to disliking the subject - Lord of the Rings for example, not interested and I fell asleep during the first film. He is a very highly rated director though and I know he didn't write the thing but there was something profoundly dull about it. It does however win the award for most frequent use of the f-word and the main character was Gordon Ramseyesque in his use of foul language which is just unnecessary.

A better end to the day was Top Gear's Bolivian special that we watched afterwards. An extended 75 minute episode for this special seasonal episode and in a twist to the usual format of cheap car falling to pieces, there seemed to be a genuine element of danger to the expedition. How they cleared everything with the health and safety people I have no idea unless that's why they keep going out of the country! I can safely say that I would have died had I have been a member of that team, firstly for not having a clue about the inner workings of cars - between Hammond and May, they managed to fix a prop shaft and re wire the car from four to two wheel drive. I also saw a Facebook campaign recently to save Top Gear from cancellation. I have no idea where this rumour came from but I am pretty confident it is a load of rubbish. Not only is it BBC2's most popular programme but it was the most downloaded programme on the iPlayer this year which makes it one of the BBC's most successful programmes and unless the presenters themselves are giving up I see no logical reason for it to be cancelled. James May even said in a recent interview with Greg James on Radio 1 that Top Gear would probably continue long after the presenters which makes perfect sense.