Highlights of the past week include ...

First of all going to see the Juliette Binoche film Paris
last Tuesday, which Mrs C and I thought was great. It’s
a bitter-sweet look at Parisienne life, with the plot
centred around a brother and sister and what's happening
in their lives. The brother is a man in his 30s who has
just been diagnosed with a terminal heart disease, and so
is put on the waiting list for a heart transplant. His
sister (played by JB) comes to live with him with her
children to support him. There are several other characters
interwoven into the script to make it more interesting.
A lovely film for which I award a five star rating.

I was interested to read the reviews of the film
beforehand, on the IMDB site, which gave me some useful
insights about the film. I thought the reviews also gave
some interesting insights as regards the reviewers
themselves.

Those of you who live in the UK will be dismayed by
British Gas’ announcement to raise energy prices by a
further 30/35% this year … while at the same time as
announcing a massive profit … £140 million of this is
to be given to their shareholders … great news for the
directors and the shareholders, but appalling news for
more and more people finding themselves in fuel poverty.
Good news possibly for the environment, as rising prices
will encourage us to use fuel more sensibly (& to
insulate our houses more). We will be keeping our house
cooler this coming winter and we'll wear more layers of
clothing.

I recall some years ago when one of our nieces stayed
with us a few months one wintertime. She wandered
around our house, wearing only a T-shirt and jeans, and
insisted that we keep the house warmer for her. She’s
now in her own house, paying her own fuel bills, and
dresses more sensibly.

As some of you will know, I’m keen to save money when
I can, and thanks to reading Martin Lewis’
Moneysavingexpert website, I’ve found a cheaper way of
getting car breakdown cover. I’ve been with Green Flag
for many years, and have had excellent service from them
on the rare occasion I’ve had to call them out. The
renewal premium this coming month is £82 (the same as
last year) for comprehensive cover.

This coming year I’ll go with AutoAid Breakdown Cover,
which works in a different way to Green Flag, but which
is a lot cheaper at £36 a year.

This weekend, Mrs C and I are in London, staying with
one of our daughters (L) and her partner and Little Mini.
Mini is as delightful as ever, and is acquiring more vocab
as you’d expect. She’s very good at copying words and
actions ... last week she refused to give the TV remote
control to her mum, until L said the word please.
Mini is now 18 months old.

The exciting thing that’s happened today is that L has gone
for implantation of a five day old embryo (which was created
at the same time as Mini, but which has been frozen all this
time). The chances of success are low unfortunately even in
the best hands. L has been told that her success rate is only 25%
(for implanting just one embryo of this age) … so we’re
keeping our fingers doubly crossed that Little Frosty-Ponk
will make it.