I am in Newtown to go to the market, but of course also for a coffee and French patisserie, this time a 'Royale', a choux pastry stuffed with custard and even chocolate, a bit of an indulgence I must say. But the weather is fantastic and I need to alleviate the sadness of hearing of the passing of my Sydney friend, a very sad end brought about by her condition of anoxeria nervosa. She died from not eating and her body rebelled, leaving her Mum, my good friend, distraught but in some way relieved as the long, long suffering was now over. Helen was not meant to be of this world and she let everyone know.
She was a brilliant doctoral mathematician and she had just embarked on another degree in Law. Her plan would have hopefully to be able to save the starving nations of the world with whom she totally identified, to the point where she refused to eat any more than they would eat, resulting in the need to eat nothing, and her body eventually just shut down. My Sydney trip now will be one of a funereal nature, with my excursion north to Soldiers Point to see Jean no longer happening. I will instead be at Jean's side at the crematorium at Chatswood.
Life steps in when one can only think about making plans. Vale Helen and may your next life be a more fulfilling one for you.
Frontal view with coffee
Waiting to cross..
Last night I had a Friday night film hit at the Cuba Lighthouse seeing a new English movie called 'Pride', a fictionalised true story about a group of gays and lesbians who helped the Welsh miners when they were on strike in 1985 during the Thatcher reign in England. The film culminated with the miners arriving in London a few years later to lead the Gay Pride March, thanking the gays and lesbians who helped them in their fight.
It was a melodramatic, schmalzy movie made to make you feel good, with several stereotypical gays and lesbians throughout, and the showing of the awful ignorance and homophobia which still existed in parts of the UK in the mid-eighties. The law had changed in the mid-seventies about being gay, but society took a while to catch up, a bit the same way it is here in NZ at the moment. There is now a very progressive law but in many parts of the country an ignorant and homophobic atmosphere still exists. Bill Nighy gave a great controlled performance as a Welshman who only at a very late age declared to his wife that he too was gay. A nice touch but one of the very few in an otherwise heavy handed and a tad patronising approach to the whole affair. The arrival of AIDS was touched upon, and one character (not very well drawn) was observed to be still alive at the ripe age of 65 years. Where does that put me, at seventy next year!
More local colour...
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