Just For Lookin' Thru

Instructions are to take our shoes off before we go inside the house, to turn all the lights off after we have left and to make sure that the cats stay outside. If they get in we must make sure to shut them in the breakfast room. If I have any questions about these instructions then I am given a mobile number to ring. I hope that I can manage these things. In the event the couple arrive outside and don’t really want to go in, not having done a drive-by, and only now realizing that it is on a busy main road. This should go on the details. It would save a lot of time. We have a look anyway, dutifully take off our shoes in the porch and pad cautiously over the new carpets. It’s a nice place but who wants to pay 300K to listen to traffic all day and night? What else do we have today? A couple of nasty little modern boxes going for 186K and 194K, both nicely done out and freshly painted but still nasty little modern boxes. I try to imagine a whole family sharing the tiny sitting room. W...

Wartime Comedy with Swing Band Classics. Great Fun. A glamorous Northern all-girl swing band keeps losing members, particularly when American GIs are stationed nearby. Band leader Betty needs to recruit fresh talent for a BBC broadcast and she gets a schoolgirl, a nun, an upper-class tart and a draft dodger. Alan Plater has written a very funny script and the comic timing is spot on. The versatile cast astonish and delight; switching with ease from acting, to a wide range of instruments, then singing. The cool bluesy songs are all beautifully delivered; they’re sultry and sexy, moody and touching. Rosie Jenkins stands out as Miranda, the upper-class tart; she has great lines to deliver and her entire performance is bright and funny. She’s a joy to watch and, while she sings ‘Body and Soul’, the audience becomes very still. Pam Jolley executes ‘Ribbon Bow’ very well but disappoints as Elizabeth, the sixth former, instead coming across as an over-excited ten to twelve year old but, apart...

A novel beautifully written from the perspective of a teenage girl in rural Devon. Observations of the people around her, the farm and the countryside during one long, hot summer, are perceptive, intuitive, acute and touching and Pears captures the subtleties and sensitivities of a range of characters with apparent effortlessness. To read about them is to know them. He describes the forebearance of disappointed women, gives them the dignity of acceptance, and elicits understanding rather than sympathy. To pity these women would be to diminish their resolution and fortitude. He writes the Rector particularly well; gets inside his head, and gives the reader a wonderful sense of the man’s thoughts and his wisdom. He achieves this by writing the narrative about simple scenes and straightforward people with a mature eloquence, and peppering the narrative with short pieces of dialect which brings life and expression to the characters. The reader sees the story unfold through Alison’s unsophi...

Screened in sepia tint, the battle of Iwo Jima is recreated with particular focus on the famous photograph US soldiers raising the American flag on the island, and how it became a symbol for victory and patriotism. The story is told by a writer who is trying to uncover the truth of the flag raising because of rumours that the photograph was set up. Two flags were raised; the second raising was photographed, so there were different soldiers in the picture than those who originally shoved the thing up the pole a few days previously. It seems a flimsy reason to make an entire film but it’s a way of saying ‘the medium is the message’; the photograph meant victory to the US, and raised the hopes of a nation. The historical accuracy of knowing the identities of the first flag raisers doesn’t mean diddley-squat to me but I’m not a patriotic American. Eastwood paints a realistic picture of battle but also aims a cynical lens at the political use made of the young men who were ...

There is local firm unaffectionately known as Fullocrap and Bullshit, headed by an unpopular partnership, the least loved member of which is known to have amassed a portfolio of over 20 properties, the majority of which he has bought for himself at below-value prices. Some of these he has been known to sell on three months later for a profit and the wonder is that no-one in authority has noticed this unprofessional and suspect financial manoeuvring. Estate agents can of course buy property, and naturally they have an interest or they wouldn’t have gone into that line of business. The price and intention are the issue. These rumours circulate the city and yet no-one appears to have reported this man to any authority which seems a shame as I don’t like pockets being lined at the expense of innocents. The firm in question are also notorious for overpricing everything they sell, and for not caring whether they sell any properties or not. I can only imagine that their commission is so hig...

The matinee performance fills 850 seats in the theatre with almost exclusively school trips for GCSE sufferers and a smattering of unsuspecting individuals who each look somewhat crestfallen to be confronted with a venue full of over-excited young people released from the confines of the classroom for an afternoon, some of whom have never been out of their own localities into the city. They shove and giggle and squeal and, most delightful of all, every time they are frightened they scream with the effect of a Mexican wave, started off by one pre-emptive female and taken up in relay throughout the entire auditorium. This prolonged screaming is followed by a similar wave of laughter which relieves the tension in the dark. There is a significant element of heightened drama here, and it’s not on the stage. On stage, however, the performance is robust and engaging, led by Dominic Marsh, a tall, impassioned thesp who delivers his lines with force, clarity and precision. Michael Burrell plays...

Jack Nicholson, Leonardo di Caprio and Matt Damon star in this gripping thriller. Nicholson is an Irish mafia crime boss controlling Matt Damon as his plant in the State Troopers, and Leonardo di Caprio plays the undercover policeman placed inside the Irish mafia, but without full and legal membership of the police, and without protection. It's a tense, edgy drama, and becomes a race against time for each agent to unmask the other before being unmasked himself. It is also very violent. Matt Damon is successful and smooth, and seems in control all the way through while Leonardo di Caprio is alone, at risk, and playing a dangerous game. The acting is superb, and the ending clever and surprising; Jack Nicholson is menacing and strong, without any of his frequent maniacal eccentricities; di Caprio is impressive and on fine form, while Matt Damon recaptures some of the uncomfortable, chilling characteristics he used in The Talented Mr Ripley. It's an edge of the seat experience...

Billed as an ‘evergreen performer’ Digance refers a lot to his age, and to that of the audience. His gentle humour and songs are delivered in a relaxed, intimate way, which makes relaxed and comfortable in his company within half a minute of his being on stage. He says he has his bus pass, and makes fun of our age worries, lifting any personal concerns into the public arena of this friendly gathering, and managing to make his audience feel affectionately towards the dreaded decline. One song is a scamper through a cornucopia of childhood memories, including every kind of sweet imaginable, and some toys and games which, to his surprise, most of those watching him tonight know too well, causing much laughter. His guitar playing is a delight, and his skills are varied, running through a variety of playing styles whilst giving each piece a ragtime feel. The music, and the humour, trips along with a laid back, quirky rhythm, and the warmth of the audience is evident. Richard Digance and his...

One shouldn’t complain. It’s paid work. £6 per hour is better than £0 per hour and no work. Even so. Following the usual race to gather together the list of viewings for the day, the sets of keys, the names of viewers, and rapid briefing on directions to the property I hare off again to my favourite place to meet two sets of people. I arrive to find a Volvo estate blocking the parking area for two cars; there is nowhere to go for the first people, or for me. The Volvo belongs to the neighbour who parks it in the empty property as a burglar deterrent and he hasn’t been told we are coming out here today. To save him trouble I say to leave it there and I park in his place. This is a mistake. What seems the easiest solution is often a mistake. The viewers squeeze through the tiny lane, inching between the old stone walls, in an enormous Jaguar, and leave it in the lane. We go ahead with inspection of the property. To my disappointment the owner has still not had the steps and path pressu...

Billed as a comedy, but a bit of a black one, this film is quirky and interesting. Emma Thompson is the writer who is controlling Will Ferrell's destiny by what she writes, and he has to race to reach her and persuade her to stop writing his death as the climax. For a tragedy, he has to die of course, but this is a comedy. Will Ferrell remains deadpan throughout, only breaking into a slight smile once or twice. It's fun as a writer's film, playing with the idea of storylines and outcomes, and Dustin Hoffman plays the Professor of English who helps to clarify the plot devices and explain how Emma Thompson's narrator is pulling the strings. Described as a playful and eccentric postmodern movie, it is thoroughly enjoyable to people who love story, or have studied English; we can congratulate ourselves on recognising familiar themes, but will it please a wider audience? Maybe there are enough English students out there. It's a clever plot, and well done.

A full day's viewings thank heaven, and out of the office where the phone never stops. I start with an open house at the seaside house with Mundic foundations so I am doomed to an hour in the stinking damp and dirt with the great hole cut in the floor exposing the true horror. It occurs to me that I could market this as an ideal opportunity to create a subterranean indoor pond with koi carp as a feature. With strengthened glass, this could be a striking feature of the hallway, and most fitting for a house with breathtaking sea views. Five parties come to look round and most are faint hearted but two are more game, and I tell them their minimum spend will be £40,000 to secure the foundations with top grade concrete, and to add a kitchen extension. After that, the expense will all be cosmetic and optional. The brave will make money here, but it's a big project. My next call is to my favourite property and the couple meet me outside and annoy me instantly. They park in someone e...

I loved this beautifully paced, insightful and wise Russian tale about the arrogance and disrespect of youth towards the older generation, contrasted with the dignity, good manners, liberalism and respect of the country estate ‘little aristocrats’. Turgenev writes with great sensitivity, evoking the profound social change and conveying characters’ deep emotion without ever stating it; such understated writing and unhurried pace comforts and absorbs. He leaves the reader to infer what goes unsaid and, in this short novel, puts across a gently ironic overview of the social structure of the time; the liberal enlightened landowners are caught between trying, on the one hand, to give ‘their’ peasants autonomy, while on the other hand, they have the peasants mocking them and not seeming to want responsibility for their own living. The blurring of the old boundaries and systems is disquieting to everyone. He does kill off the dangerous young student scientist nihilist, who is a threat to ever...

Inadvertently get off to a very unprofessional start because I get sidetracked by Tracey who is being quite rude, and she rather brings out the worst in me, so our talk becomes absolutely filthy, with hideous bursts of maniacal female laughter shrieking out in the office, at which point Andy appears in the doorway looking a bit tense and says he will get the keys for me for my 10 o’ clock appointment. I am abashed. I apologize and say I lost track of time, to which he replies, tensely I feel, 'Well, you have to have a laugh at work.' Yes, I say, but not so that I forget why I am there. Awful. The poor man’s paying me to behave like a fishwife. I must make sure I don’t sit next to Tracey at the Christmas dinner because I will certainly disgrace myself again. I have only three appointments; the first is at a neglected 1930s house which, strangely, for all its stink of damp and its pitiable state of repair, I absolutely love. The ceilings are high, the rooms spacious, and it is ...

It's quiet now. The crazy pre-Christmas house-buying spree has ended. The phone hardly rings. We drink coffee and eat chocolate to pass the time. I get a call from a desperate purchaser whose own sale has fallen through; their buyer has pulled out, causing them to lose the house they were going for. What can I say? It's sad, and annoying, but there's nothing to be done. People always get angry with estate agents for this sort of mishap, or blame the solicitors, yet its always some fickle punter who either backs out of a sale or withdraws their property from the market. Everyone wants to shoot the messenger. This woman on the phone is saying they have found another purchaser and are prepared to sell at a lower price in order to continue with the purchase that had to be stopped, providing the seller will agree to continue at the same price he agreed two months ago. There's the rub. The owner has put the place back on the market for another £15,000, part of which he feel...

We’re seated around four sides of a square stage, set up as a wood planked drawing room, and only two feet above the floor of the hall. In the front row we are so close to the actors we could reach out and touch them, and this intimacy creates a wonderful sense of sharing the room with them, listening and observing this Russian family. There is no need for projection, and the actors’ and voices are set at normal speech level which adds to the atmosphere of inclusion. This play is deeply ironic, and a masterful observation of human emotion and character. The actors are staggeringly well-rehearsed, and their facial expressions are natural throughout. Beecham has directed this play in such a way as to make the doctor likeable, Michel quite melodramatic, and Natalya more hysterical than I pictured from my reading of the paper text. There is more spirit on show. There is much laughter from the audience at the irony, even, most inappropriately when it is tragic, as much of it is. On paper, t...

An intriguing young woman escapes from post-Revolutionary France without money or assistance. Nameless, she has to rely on herself or charity. Another lengthy novel from Burney, to try a modern reader, but illuminating with regard to the overwhelming importance of name and connections – not personal worth, similar in that regard to Cecilia. The unnamed heroine frustrates because she does not defend herself, and is pursued from pillar to post, and because she self-sacrifices again and again. She repels Harleigh, who is surely her destined mate. Initially this is because she gave her word, in honour, to prevent the dramatic suicide of another woman, Elinor, who is in love with him, that she would not marry Harleigh. Elinor is a bizarre and fascinating character, melodramatic and constantly seeking death, inspired by what she perceives as the glorious deaths during and after the French Revolution, so Ellis (as our heroine comes to be called) seems really wet in comparison to the impassion...

There are about twenty members of this really good band, who deliver with panache all the swing standards, so much loved by all age groups. There’s a new, growing audience of 20 year olds who are really getting into swing, and learning to dance, encouraged by ‘Strictly Come Dancing’. How wonderful for them to have discovered the romance of dance. Could this mean the next generation will be unafraid to act like women again, to dance, be escorted home, and treated with respect (we can all be like Bette Davis et al) ie intelligent and confident, whilst wearing lovely clothes and perfume. This swing sound and atmosphere wouldn’t encourage ladettes to swill down pints, show their bottoms in public, bare their breasts and shout, swear, or throw up in the street, before dragging some Chlamydia-ridden bloke to give them a quick shag up against the dustbins round the back of the nightclub. Maybe I’m just old-fashioned.

That’s more like it. Out and about in the car, rushing from one property to another. I’m out at the old barn conversion again and my first punter seems keen. She’s delighted to find a field at the back where she can exercise her dogs and fly her falcons. She says the owl doesn’t need much exercise. I suppose not, as they only go out hunting for food and, if she’s providing that, monsieur owl can just perch and decorate the living room. She stays so long I think she’s moved in but, she still wants to think about it, because she was bumped into her last offer, only to find there was woodworm and a £30,000 bill to sort it out. Not our agents of course. Seeing her desire for the property makes me want it even though I know I need three bedrooms, although it really appeals to me because I love the garden and the curtains. Not reason enough. Later I have to meet my old boss, the consultant paediatrician, who is considering investing in a buy-to-let property. I have seen him once since I wa...

Wow! This Bond film is intelligent and has real integrity. Daniel Craig is spot on as Bond, and gets a believable character across on screen, even – dare I say it – overtaking Connery, the ultimate Bond. He fits the role perfectly, and is tough and tender, the perfect combination for manhood... Where Craig has the advantage is in an updated, well-written script by Purvis and Wade, incorporating current themes of terrorism and attempted spy poisoning. The bad guy, Le Chiffre, is strange without being ludicrous, and the screenplay does without the usual schoolboy humour, and without the naughty schoolboy antics with Q, who does not appear at all in this film. Miss Moneypenny is also absent. She is unnecessary because this Bond gets to develop a real emotional response to a believable woman, with whom he has a meaningful relationship. Bond does not have to contend with ridiculous gadgets, like exploding pens and wristwatches, yes I know they are really used by the secret service,...

I love live music. It’s that breadbasket-as-the-bass drum, pounding in the chest thrill. Okay, they’re a bit loud, but it’s fun. For a moment there I came over a bit nostalgic, with the whole 70’s soft California rock scenario - their lead guitarist with long hair, a clipped beard, and wearing flared jeans. This is unfortunately accompanied by an unwelcome emotional response – wistful and, oh dear, a bit resentful. I actually heard the thought, ‘when anything felt possible.’ Teenagers do think this, and I suppose it’s true, if circumstances are favourable. At times like that, I feel like I’m in the Indiana Jones film where he seeks the Holy Grail, and the old knight says to the first guy, “You chose poorly.” It’s that simple. There’s still time to have some fun though, just not in a spring fresh body – and not with the wide eyes of innocence. Dear old Eagles, with their romantic ballads and coupledom songs, sweet. Great to hear Peaceful Easy Feeling, Take It to the Limit, One of Those ...