Wet walls and Not Very Well

Hall wall, February 2015

It's been busy, but when is it ever not busy? There was the 3rd Annual Gulloebl Film Festival (Random Chairs in a Darkened Room) - 1 screen, in 1 venue, across Europe. There has been badminton club, a badminton match, three different health-related issues, car stuff, a trip to the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham to look at tents, and an evening out with work people. And work, of course, except I had the day off on Thursday for the NEC tent thing and to sit on the sofa feeling poorly watching Seven Psychopaths on DVD (confusing, odd, violent, but ultimately a film worth watching).

Health issue no. 1 is tennis elbow, which is new to me but many badminton players and the Interwebs gave me advice and suggestions which seem to have worked - ibuprofen, strapping, a bigger grip on my racquet, changing my computer mouse to the other hand, and resting the arm (guess which one I didn't do?) I'm about to have a week off badminton, so that may give it a chance to improve some more.

Health issue no. 2 is a small cold or flu which seems to be going around - it was quite bad for about 24 hours but is now just niggling in the background. I thought I was going to be proper ill for my skiing holiday, but with luck it will be gone in a couple of days.

Health issue no. 3 happened at the restaurant where we celebrated a work colleague's 65th birthday. The chair I sat on was broken, and when I pulled it towards the table I found the seat wasn't attached to the frame. I trapped my little finger which is now going purple and giving me problems typing the letter a (and q and z but I don't use them as much. I haven't been to any quizzes. Ouch).

On the bright side, Lola II and Mr M's film festival was a hit - I attended four screenings this time, and the previews, trailers and adverts before each film were of the usual high standard. I even helped to create several of the Chinema classics featured on the two 'Now That's What I Call Chinema' albums. My few moments of stardom are showcased here and here.

Most of the rest of the week was a bit less delightful, what with the elbow, and we lost the badminton match quite convincingly, and the cold/flu, and the finger, and I had to have the car windscreen replaced because of a long and growing crack, and the car is making a new rattling noise, and the burglar alarm has gone wrong so we can't turn it on, and the NEC show wasn't as good as I'd hoped. The show occupied 5 halls of the massive venue, but only one was showing tents and it was geared at the large family and glamping market so there was hardly anything in the smaller scale I was looking for. Sprayway Hood River 3 and Vango Aura 300 are the most likely contenders from the companies that were represented, but I'm going to have to do much more research because there's a lot more out there that wasn't at the show.

And my biggest achievement of the week - I've had the hall roof fixed! The blessed Alf is busy elsewhere, so I have found a substitute whom I shall call Elf. He came and had a look and diagnosed rotten felt, which he has replaced with a rubber membrane. He even provided pictures:

I think that Elf has done a good job, and there is plenty more for him to get stuck into. One of the ideas I have is for him to spend a day as my personal slave, fixing all the indoor things that are wrong, like re-hanging a door, fitting a pane of glass, that sort of thing.

Now it's time for me to get packing - I'll be back in about a week!