The problem with Colin Firth is…

If yesterday was bad, today was perhaps even worse. I am struggling to be productive. I’m used to a rigid framework in which I can produce consistently brilliant work. But take away the framework and I am like an Evertonian, endlessly walking in circles remembering the glories of yesteryear. It’s crap, and it needs to stop.
 
Actually, the problem is that I have so many things I want to do that I am essentially continually disappointed in what I do. I spent 4 hours working on photos today – four hours. Among the accomplishments was a series of around 75 photos of a trip to Lyme Park, in 2015. Lyme Park, for those who don’t know, is where they filmed (inter alia) Pride and Prejudice, (the one where Colin Firth come out of the lake, which causes every woman who has seen the film to look at her husband and say, “yeah, you, not so much”). Mrs. Ottawacker loved Pride and Prejudice, and because I am a good person (or was) I took her along in 2015 to visit the place and see where CF emerged from the lake. So, what did I get when I showed Mrs. Ottawacker the series of 75 photos, which I had spent around four hours cropping and sharpening, improving colour and light balance, etc. etc.? “Oh,” she said, “have we been there?” I give up. You can take the girl out of northern Ontario, but you can’t… etc. etc.
 
I also managed to remember to call my stepsister for her birthday. She was either high or drunk – or perhaps jus happy. She had just sent her 8-year-old, rather precocious daughter (who is the spitting image of her) away for a four-day camp. She has four days of relative peace and quiet and hadn’t got a clue what to do with them. “I might sleep,” she said. “Or read. Or watch a film. Or read.” She was going round in circles and it was lovely to see.
 
She’s only slightly younger than me – but has just got her big break in acting. She is the stand-in for Toni Collette in her new film. I initially thought it meant she was her understudy – and if something untoward happened to TC, then she would be in the limelight. I spend a good five minutes asking her how she was going to bump the illustrious Ms. C off before she told me, in rather a patronising way, I thought, that what she was doing entailed standing in similar clothes so that Ms. C’s back could be filmed and light readings taken. Well excuse me for dreaming big. Muriel’s Wedding is one of my favourite films – and anything Toni Collette does tends to be touched with greatness. My sister didn’t take it too well when I said I hope some of her presence brushed off on her… Honestly, some people are so touchy.
 
Evening spent happily in the bosom of my family. This despite a major thunderstorm rolling through, which seems to have stayed for most of the night.