Taking the temperature

I woke up feeling a bit better but still coughing and sneezing. The question was whether we should go and see All Quiet on the Western Front at the Maltings? We had already bought tickets so we decided to risk it. I checked the booking plan and I could see that not many people had booked for the 11am screening and that our seats were well away from anyone else so that made me feel better. I put a bottle of water in my pocket and, on the way, I bought some cough sweets. We settled in for the two and a half hour ordeal.

It was definitely worth going to see, although harrowing and devastating are the only words that spring to mind. The cinematography was outstanding and it isn't hard to see why the film won so many prizes. Some critics have complained that the film doesn't adhere to the book closely enough, whilst other claim it is historically inaccurate.  My view is that the film presents the utter futility of war for all involved in stark unvarnished relief and that is good enough for me. My only complaint was about the occasionally Teutonically cacophonous music. It sounded like someone was having a problem with their tuba... either that or excessive wind.

Back home I went straight into my creative writing group meeting, which was probably a good thing as it stopped me dwelling on the scenes from the film. One of the gang is doing an MA in Creative Writing with the OU. It's fascinating to hear bits and pieces about it each week.  

By 6 pm I was back on the Zoom for a volunteering meeting.

All in all a busy day. I was glad of an early night.