Taste

I've spent the last couple of hours being entertained by a film on BBC4 called 'Le Goût Des Autres'. I always have a slight difficulty watching foreign films on television because I habitually read as I half-watch, when it needs all my concentration either to understand the language (if spoken s-l-o-w-l-y and clearly and French) and/or to read the subtitles. So it takes me a while to get into it. However, this one was worth it. Not the most subtle humour; fairly easy targets were chosen, but done gently and good-humouredly.

I might not have noticed it was on, but a friend, who also likes foreign films (I do, but I concentrate better at the cinema), recommended it. But now I've just found an email - it was not the one he thought it was. Well, thanks anyway, Ab, I sat on the floor drinking whisky and chuckling and it was a good way to finish the evening.

The programme has arrived for the Snape Proms in August. It comes hard for an impetuous and disorganised person like me to have to book for concerts over three months ahead. I was busy when the Aldeburgh Festival programme (same venue, same organisation but the Festival in June is the upmarket event - www.aldeburgh.co.uk) came in February and didn't get around to booking anything. I'll have to look it out and ring to see what's available.

For a long time it was not possible to go away on holiday because of commitments at home and so I regarded the Festival and the Proms as my holiday substitutes and cheerily booked all the concerts I fancied. Now I can go away if I wish, I still enjoy them but don't, as it were, 'need' them and find the 45 minute drive there more offputting than I used to. Well, no, it's not the drive there that is the problem, it's the return journey that can seem an effort.

I usually go on my own, but I don't mind that, nor the cinema. I am less willing to go to the theatre alone, though I'm not quite sure why. Maybe it's a little more formal? And that it's a more sociable occasion? Maybe I should take a book to read in the interval?

No, maybe not.