April 2014

[Sweder]

Why do apparently semi-intelligent people sit up half the night to watch a film they've never heard of hoping for an unexoected slice of something rare and tasty before hurrumphing off to bed having been dealt a rather unsatisfying slab of mild cheddar?

There's a reason I hadn't heard of Two For The Money, a movie featuring currently-hotter-than-the-sun Matthew McConnaughy (Dallas Buyers Club, True Detective) opposite the timeless tour-de-force that is Al Pacino. That reason is it's cheesy crap. I guess I'd hoped for a little more of the magic that Newman and Cruise conjoured in the Colour Of Money. They both have 'money' in the title, they both have bankable stars from past and present, they both feature a femme fatale (a delightfully sultry Rene Russo in this case) and they both circle around the shady world of gambling in sport. An hour before the inefitable end I sat, blinking against sleep, certain of what was going to unfold. When it did, delivered like a wet kipper slapped gently across my hagard face, I felt like I'd been mugged.

Anyway ... this explains today's tired, truncated slog through dew-heavy grass and mud-slick trails. Twenty five minutes of honest sweat along my 'new' up-down-up circuit. At least I kept going to the top of the long climb this time, albeit it gingerly on a slightly delicate right groin (nothing to do with Ms russo's sultriness, I assure you). I gave the earlier flinty drop due respect. I did start to drift off, thinking about the workday ahead, but snapped back into full focus when the trail drops off the world. You need all your senses pointed forward and fully awake just to stay upright, especially when the footing features mini-ravines and ubiquitous jags of part-submerged flint.

Late as I was setting off (it was well past seven) I assumed I'd missed the Great Nature Show, but I was wrong. On the climb onto the Downs I passed Landport Bottom, historical site of the soon-to-be-commemorated Battle of Lewes. Skylarks were making a proper racket, levitating out of the clumped grass, twittering their tiny heads off before darting across my path and into the hedgerows. Ah, home-builders. The shrubs and trees are Nature's Home Depot. The avian couples dashed back and forth, beaks stuffed with fallen flora, still managing to chirp away to each other.
'Ooh, that's a nice twig, dear. That'll look lovely in the incubation area'

Build on, little friends.