I bought a new notebook/diary to start the new year and suffered for a week from the usual inhibition a brand new book of virgin pages brings.  Anything I put down has to be in my best handwriting and worthy of the space. No drivel. No mundane meanderings. Maybe just quotes and worthy thoughts from others more qualified than I? This has happened so many times and I find the notebooks a year later with two stilted entries then a wodge of blankness.

I’m over it. I can write stuff like the following:

Losing 4 inches round the area I laughingly call my waist is all well and good but has the inevitable dark side. To reach that goal I’ve had to eat so few calories that the surrounding fat has melted, leaving me scrawny and as bony as a toolkit. The fleshy bits above the diminishing mound, parts of me that were once firm, enticing, causes for pride, now look like the photos of native women in famine areas, and with less under them for them to rest on the sight is quite hideous. I need a trip to the local lingerie shop very urgently.

Sanders and I went to see The Hobbit yesterday, 3D version. Very enjoyable. The technology used for the 3D effect was less satisfactory than whatever Avatar was filmed in; occasionally the figures and surrounding set looked like cardboard cut-outs, but it didn’t bother me much, I was too happy with the great acting, the nice touches of  humour (far more than in the Lord of the Rings which gets a bit turgid), the excitement of the wargs and high action drama. Sandy enjoyed it, especially the trolls who he imitated all the way home.

I did understand why my daughter said she kept waiting for the well-remembered lines we listened to so often on car journeys when they were young. That was an abridged text read by Nicol Williamson, who cut all the ‘he said’ bits and relied on his voice changes to mark the characters. It’s the best production I have ever heard and I kick myself frequently for selling the tapes at a car boot sale long ago. I’ve been looking for them for years, only seeing them at exorbitant prices. Yesterday I found  CD versions on ebay. Hopefully they will be exactly the same...