Surprisingly, after the good buzz I had the night before at the Man of Ross, I felt quite well when I woke up. I hopped in the shower, got dressed, and headed downstairs where Colin and Mark were already preparing the traditional English breakfast for all of us...minus the black pudding, because Colin assumed I wouldn’t like it!
We ate up, and then we all headed down across the estate to the bank of the river. It was a pleasant walk on a beautiful, sunny morning, past a horse stable, across a lush pasture with sheep in the distance, down a rutted cart path to another meadow beside the river.
It was the walk back up that was the killer! SHEESH!
After another coffee(?) we piled into the Defender and headed to a place called Symonds Yat, a gelological formation where the river Wye, over the eons, has cut a gorge out of a hillside and created a breathtaking view of the valley below. We met an ornithology buff who appealed to both Colin and me for different reasons. Colin, an ornithology buff himself, was intrigued by this man’s — his name was Tony, by the way — interest; I was interested in talking to Tony because he was using a Canon XL-H1 HD video camera with a Canon 28-300mm zoom lens to record nesting falcons on the craggy rock wall about a half-mile away!
We stopped for a drink of water at the kiosk there, and then back into the Defender to return to Colin’s place. Once there, we had to say good-bye to Stu, who was eager to return to Bristol and, I recall, a meeting with another friend.
Very soon after, Mark and I also said our good-byes to Colin, as he was expecting another overnight guest — a birdwatching friend — very shortly.
More driving and more chatting got us home in what seemed like no time.
I don’t remember dinner that evening, though I’m sure we ate something. Then it was time for some more wine, telly and chat. Sue was still off at Holly’s, so Mark and I had the telly, the wine, and the stash of movies all to ourselves. It became somewhat of a movie marathon. I had never seen Bowfinger, so we watched that. It was as quirky as I thought any film written by Steve Martin would be. And just as clever! Then I indulged Mark by letting him expose me to Withnail & I a very British film about two out of work actors who “escape” London for a few days in the countryside. Next was About a Boy, a cute movie starring Hugh Grant as, guess what... a charming ladies’ man ...who hits on a great idea for picking up chicks: tell them he’s a single father. Awkward hilarity ensues.
Just when we both thought we were finished, I mentioned to Mark that I thought one of the co-stars of Withnail & I had appeared in The Max Headroom Story back in the 1980s. Though he remembered Max Headroom, he had never known of a film about the “origins” of Max Headroom. Strictly only to find the actor I thought was in the movie, I found it on YouTube in four parts. Mark was thoroughly intrigued, and we wound up watching the whole thing! OOF! Was I tired! And the actor wasn't the same guy! As I was leaving the next day, we just didn’t want to stop. But fatigue won out, and we retired.
No comments:
Post a Comment