Category: GOING OUT

This week I have been…

On By samanthaIn GOING OUTLeave a comment

Reading – Manhattan Nocturne by Colin Harrison.

Do you ever think back to a book that you really enjoyed reading years ago but no longer have? You’d love to repurchase it or borrow it from the library but you can’t remember its name. This happens to me ALL the time. I first read Manhattan Nocturne on holiday in Florida in 2000. Because it is such a doorstep of a book and our luggage upon returning home was already overweight, I left in in the hotel room. Anyway, I was recently purchasing from World of Books on eBay and decided to have a browse and what was on the second page of scrolling but this long lost thriller, I immediately recognised the cover. 99p and a few days later I was able to begin re-reading this fantastic thriller.

Porter Wren, a tabloid columnist has a lovely life with his surgeon wife and two children living in their quirky “Apple Tree House” in New York. He meets a beautiful and mysterious young widow at a party who asks him to investigate the bizarre death of her film director husband. Unfortunately for Wren, somebody powerful is watching him very carefully and he soon finds himself in trouble way over his head. This is one of the most gripping thrillers I have read, or re-read, in long time. The author, Colin Harrison, is a former Editor of Harpers magazine and wrote a series of thrillers, all based around money and sex and set in New York. Bodies Electric being the next one I plan to revisit.

Watching-Six Years Gone on Amazon Prime Video

Not what you would call a cheerer-upper, this bleak but very compelling drama directed by Warren Dudley tells the story of Carrie, played by Veronica Jane Trickett. Pretty, young and carefree Carrie has a day off work so, after sending Lolly, her eleven year old daughter off to school, has a nap then a bit of afternoon delight with the local estate agent then pops in for a coffee and catch up with her friend. Carrie is relaxed knowing that her Mum, Mary, is going to pick up Lolly from school. Except that Mary forgets, nobody has realised that she has early onset dementia . Three hours pass before Carrie finds out that her daughter appears to have vanished off the face of the earth.

Suddenly it is six years later and Carrie looks absolutely ravaged by grief and desperation. She and Lolly had previously been living in a big house in Brighton paid for by her her ex-husband but he stops the money and she and Mary, now incontinent and needing constant care, live on a rough estate. Carrie is now working as cleaner and struggling to make ends meet. The men in her life, her ex husband and brother are noticeably absent when she needs assistance, and the police have been totally ineffective in finding missing Lolly.

What struck me most about the film is how, when spotting a young woman having the most miserable time, so many vulture-like people were circling to take advantage. From the manageress at the social club where Carrie cleans to the men who smell her desperation and take whatever they want from her, people are just out for themselves. The only kindness is from a bailiff who shows a little bit of compassion towards Carrie having recognised her name from the news. Be warned, Six Years Gone is a tough watch, there is one particularly harrowing scene, but utterly engrossing with fantastic performances, especially from Trickett and Sarah Priddy who plays Mary.

Listening to – Real Survival Stories Podcast

This is an absolutely addictive podcast and I have been known to drive around the block just to reach the end of a particular story. My favourite so far has been the two part tale Pacific Castaways . Douglas Robertson tells us how, in 1971, his family decided to embark on a trip around the globe in their yacht, The Lucette. After the vessel is attacked by a school of killer whales the seafarer’s dream trip becomes the stuff of nightmares and things just go from bad to worse. I think I would have abandoned all hope within the first ten minutes but not the Robertsons. This is absolutely compelling listening and, even after five decades have passed, Douglas still becomes emotional when recounting the events. This podcast is a Noiser production, I listened on Itunes.

Thank you for reading

Samantha

Cover Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Christmas Lunch at The Ivy, Tunbridge Wells

On By samanthaIn GOING OUTLeave a comment

Every Christmas my good friend Helen and I have a pre-Christmas lunch at the beautiful Ivy restaurant in Tunbridge Wells,  It is rather an extravagant treat but we both work hard all year and agree that we deserve the occasional expensive cocktail.  Today didn’t get off to a very good start as my boiler was broken and we had no hot water or central heating.  British Gas came out surprisingly quickly and managed to fix the issue but I was half-frozen by the time I left home. Helen and I were catching the train and she waiting was at the station wearing the most beautiful pair of caramel coloured knee-length suede boots from Sosander. “Did you spray those with water repellent” I asked Helen. “No”, she replied, “they’ll be fine”. Cut to a couple of hours later when I am blotting an enormous water stain on the toe of her brand new boots with a tissue.

We had booked a table for twelve thirty and The Ivy confirmed that the table was reserved for an hour and a half. I understand that it is their busiest time of year and it must be somewhat tricky to tactfully move patrons along without appearing rude but the constant, not so subtle nudges, were just too much. We arrived about five minutes early and had barely sat down and had not even opened our menus when we were asked what we wanted to eat. We asked to be left for five minutes but about a minute later we were asked again. We both ordered the aforementioned pricey cocktails, mine was some sort of candy-floss confection and Helen’s was gin and cranberry, both wonderful and very strong. As we had to speed-eat we didn’t bother with a starter and both had the goose and turkey shepherds pie with a side order of broccoli, absolutely delicious and a chocolate bombe for desert which tastes like a melted Crunchie bar, a little sickly and it made me very thirsty. The plates were whisked away within a millisecond of us taking the last mouthful and the waiter told us they needed the table, this was an hour and twenty minutes after we’d arrived. The bill was brought over without us asking, clearly a very efficient system. The waiter proffering the card machine did not utter a word or make any eye contact whatsoever, it was really quite rude. I think next year we will go somewhere a little more relaxed. One cocktail, the shepherd’s pie, broccoli and chocolate bombe came to £51 each so certainly not cheap but not ridiculously expensive either.

After lunch we visited Hooper’s department store as Helen wanted to browse their Christmas shop. Instead of being on the ground floor it took a bit of detective work to find and it was a little disappointing. They had a lot of fabric decorations which had been overstuffed and were split at the seams, clearly some quality control issues on the part of the manufacturer, and some feathered things that looked like roadkill. Despite this, I did manage to spend £25 on some beautiful Gisela Graham ornaments which I didn’t really need.

So, back home now the heating is on and I need to think about getting the tree down from the loft, we can’t have a real tree because they make my husband and son sneeze, and decorating it with my new purchases.

Thank you for reading,

Samantha

Header photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash