>We bought a new DVD player for £30. The old one (the ‘Tesco clockwork DVD chewer’) was fine, except that it took exception to several of our discs. This was nothing to do with region 1 or region 2 – just petulance. The new machine is much more accommodating – in the last couple of days we have watched Napoleon Dynamite and The Squid and The Whale. Both films were good nights in – I can’t see what the old player had against them. We checked our shelves and we reckon we have about 20 films to catch up on. These include Bicycle Thieves, The Seventh Seal, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, The Werner Herzog boxed set, High Hopes and many more. I bet we haven’t watched them all by next Christmas.
“You need some of those outdoor screws. You know the ones. Tapenade screws – that’s it. Not tapenade. No. It definitely begins with a ‘T’ though… Tee, Tee, Tee, Tee… Japanned Screws!” This from the same wonderful person who once confused the words rutabega and winnebago, as in “Why don’t we hire a rutabega and drive around America in it?”. It’s just a pity they’re not a Hollywood agent – “Good news, Mr Cruise, I’ve negotiated the biggest rutabega on the lot for you…”
Two out of three plumbers have been. Still waiting for the quotes to come in. Neither of those who turned up wanted to do the full job – “you need someone special for that bit”…
Lance Woodman 
>Herzog box set – snap! We’ll compare notes in – oh – however long it takes to get through. Happy New year! Been on an extended break. I’ll be back on the blog later. Nice to catch up on yours! em
>Look forward to the notes. It might take a long time tho’ – P’s not fond of Kinski.