I never thought I would watch a whole series of tv programmes but I did in 'Hinterland', believe it is called binge watching but there we are. What has captured it for me is the wonderful northern Welsh landscape. The sheer miserable tone of every episode, the two protagonists never smiled, locked in the misery of their own lives. The ruinous cottages with skulking scary people inside and frightening moments as we went up decrepit stairs. How the production team managed to find such farmhouses I don't know, but as the murders unfold, the settings were beautiful.
I am often moved by landscape, Cornwall moors haunt me, Wales, have been in love with the hills since childhood, I think it is the sheer loneliness of the countryside so different from our English hotch potch of villages.
But the weekend went well, the traveller returned complaining bitterly of overcrowded trains and what a terrible place London was. But his joy in his grandson who calls him grandpa cannot be taken away. This little family are very busy in their world trying to survive the calamities of jobs that are not as secure as they could be.
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| Leo and Paul |
Leo's mum. Yuki is Japanese, and she oftens goes back to Japan to see her family, there is talk of them moving to Japan which would be sad, but Leo has both languages. Ken, Paul's son has a job with the Telegraph, but with all the newspapers going online who knows.....
Leo is apparently a whirling dervish of energy, but then it has been a long time since Paul has met any toddlers. I hope they make the effort to come and see us down North, Paul would love to show Leo the countryside (something he has only just fallen in love with himself!) and the sheep, chickens and of course Lucy.
So the Joy of Sake party went off well, in typical London fashion of course, you were handed a little Japanese sake cup, and then tried the different wines, drawing them from the bottles with pipettes.
And something Cro said about grandchildren being artists in the new life, well Aethan, Pauls' other son is an artist and sells his work, but his main work is handling exhibitions for galleries so there is a living to be had.
Such a delicate time for our children. I wonder if our job searches and job settles were the same and we are just seeing through other eyes.
ReplyDeleteWhen our world was much younger it was easy to find jobs. Now there is a different handle to it all. Accomodation, eg; buying one's own home is expensive and in an insecure job market hazardous. Then of course we are in the middle of Brexit and the traumas of that on the job market.
DeleteI love Hinterland for the landscapes. I think that part of Wales is much underrated. I'm glad Paul enjoyed his trip - Leo looks adorable. x
ReplyDeleteThank you and welcome. Exploring Netflix takes a long time, but it is rather good that you can catch up with these past tv programmes. I just love (must have a morbid streak!) the grimness of all the places they shoot, but then the beautiful landscape suddenly comes into the picture and you realise this has coloured the outlook of Welsh people.
DeleteThis made me smile Thelma. My grand daughter and my great grand daughter came at the week end (my grand daughter's husband was away). Ula is almost two and I saw that at last my son - her grandpa - is besotted. He took her for toddles (too slow to be called walks) - he held her hand and she held Tess's lead. He was enchanted and it was a delight to see.
ReplyDeletelittle ones are always gorgeous, innocent and wicked at the same time. I am glad your son has fallen in love with his grand daughter, Paul always wished for a daughter or grand daughter, though he has my two girls around at times.
DeletePaul looks very happy with his adorable grandson. I do hope that he gets to enjoy more time with him and the move to Japan can be put off. Time spent with grandchildren is priceless because the years go by so quickly.
ReplyDeleteI admit to binge watching - but only during times of bad weather.
As you say they grow up too quickly, school, university and then job. Glad someone else binge watches, I do the same with books, will try to read from beginning to end in only a short time.
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