The online diary of Caroline Westbrook following her marriage on September 6 1998 to Leslie Bunder.
Thursday April 1 1999
My favourite April Fools gag in the papers came in the form of a
five-stone chicken that someone had mocked up a picture of. I used it to such
great effect that I actually managed to fool someone in the office with it,
who squealed alarming things about genetic engineering before being
casually reminded what day it was (smirk!) Couldn't have been better if I'd come
up with the gag myself.
Went over to North London for the second Seder night, met up with
family, had nice dinner, went home again. Yup, the songs about goats and the like
are over for another year, as is my aunt's fabulous annual dose of
chocolate mousse. Best of all, I don't have to struggle off to work tomorrow
morning as it's Good Friday. Love Pesach when it falls during Easter, less lunches
to get up horribly early and make. 96 hours of overlong weekend bliss
stretches before me.
Friday April 2 1999
Took full advantage of the whole Good Friday thing, got up late and
divided time between lounging in front of TV (well, how often do I actually get
to do that), and baking cakes. So much for salad diet! I will be rationing my
cake intake, I can assure you. But then again the honey cake I made came out
so nicely, and the macaroons look so tempting, well . . . Got away from
all the food by going over to Lorraine's for dinner. Well, got away from the
food on the car journey over there.
Saturday April 3 1999
Had to return the charming copper-coloured car in exchange for our
mended own car, which has now been cleaned inside and out and looks like a
spanking new vehicle. Oh and of course the lock is mended.
Saw Nick and Louise tonight, popped off to the flicks with our
Pesach-friendly snacks in hand. Louise is expecting twins in August,
which came as a huge surprise to them as there are no twins in the family. It
happens. Delightful news! We saw Blast From The Past, a very charming
comedy with Brendan Fraser and Alicia Silverstone about a guy who has spent 35
years living in a bomb shelter, kind of Forrest Gump meets Back To the
Future.
The sad thing was that the cinema, which was pretty small, was barely half
full. Such a shame that really nice little movies like this one can get
totally ignored yet people will queue for ages to watch nonsense. Maybe it will
be rediscovered on video.
Sunday April 4 1999
Not much call to do anything today as everything seems to shut down for
Easter Sunday in the way it shuts down for Christmas Day. Took
advantage of the situation to take things easy.
Monday April 5 1999
Last day of extended weekend, used it to catch up on shopping and the
like. I am seriously considering campaigning for the four-day weekend, as the
more I think about it the more I like the idea. Not sure who I would campaign
to, exactly, but anyway . . .
Tuesday April 6 1999
Back to work, getting busy now with our tenth anniversary issue. Can't
believe it's 10 years since I bought my first ever issue of Empire (I
was just about to take my A'levels and go backpacking round Europe, in
fact)!
Even when I was trudging round Venice with my rucksack piled to the
roof I never missed an issue of Empire - such loyalty! Even more frightening
is thinking about the number of issues I have worked on - almost half of
them! Time flies!
Wednesday April 7 1999
Saw another overlooked gem of a movie tonight - Ed TV. Again, totally
ignored in the US, probably because it's a bit like the Truman Show (except the
guy knows he's being filmed because this giant camera crew follow him round
all day), but really clever and funny and sweet. So what are people going
to see, exactly, if they're not going to see smart movies like this one? Who
knows?
Thursday April 8 1999
The last day of Pesach, back to normal food as of this evening. Leslie
and I marked the occasion (even though it was horribly late by the time I got
home from work - our deadlines have unexpectedly come forward on this issue)
by ordering large amounts of pizza from our usual delivery place. Seems so
weird eating ordinary food again - you'd think I'd been off it for ever the
way I'm carrying on. Still, that pizza was damned good if I may say so. I am
still pondering over the Pesach-friendly pizza mixes that seem to have turned
up in the shops of late. How exactly is that achieved? Maybe next year we
will investigate further.
Friday April 9 1999
I have found out exactly what people are flocking to the pictures to
see instead of movies like Ed-TV - it's called The Matrix, and it is ever
so good! It stars Keanu Reeves (remember him?) and takes the whole Truman
Show weird concept even further, suggesting that this time life itself is
merely a facade controlled by some giant computer.
Don't ask me to explain any of it, because I really couldn't; but I do know it had supercool action
sequences, great costumes (check out those suits and shades, would-be snappy
dressers everywhere), and top special effects, including this funny old
technique where everything except the person in the immediate shot freezes and
they still move around. It is one cool movie, and has made so much money in
the US already that it's easy to see why nothing else is getting a look in.
Terrific!
Saturday April 10 1999
Typically, this is the first night for a week and a half we can go for
major league pig-out and none of the kosher places are open - in fact, now
that the clocks have gone forward kosher food on a Saturday night is out for a
few months, as none of them will even contemplate opening until about 10
pm.
Opted for a Harvey Nichols sushi blow-out instead, which suited us just
fine. Especially given that we had spent a tiring afternoon shopping.
Sunday April 11 1999
Lots of mad Sunday running around as usual, trying to rebuild the
contents of our freezer, which seem to have been depleted since Pesach (ate
everything, didn't replace it). Otherwise, tried to chill out a little more.
Monday April 12 1999
Weird situation at work this week in that it is press week but I am not
required to stay late and proof read. Actually, it suits me fine as it
leaves me free to get on with my writing. So I just stayed late doing that
instead.
Tuesday April 13 1999
Not too much else to report today either. Still on the vaguely late
shift trying to get everything finished.
Wednesday April 14 1999
Now I can take a breather. Which is always nice. Well, for about five
minutes anyway then start work on the next issue. Star Wars Episode One is
looming.
This time of year is too weird, because you know it's only a matter of
time before you're working on - eeeek! - the August issue and then you start
wondering why the year is going so quickly and you have to remind
yourself it's only April.
Thursday April 15 1999
Treated myself to a 9 pm screening which is not always a fun thing to
do as you don't get home until horribly late. Alas, Leslie couldn't make it,
so I did something I hadn't done for ages but which is always fun
occasionally - went and dined alone. The waiter at Pizza Express was very
accommodating and chatty, which helped, but there is of course an art form to dining alone - always make out you're off somewhere else afterwards which will involve social interaction, always take a book.
Finally, have your mobile phone on the table at all times and make sure either you call someone or someone calls you. Just so the rest of the restaurant realise you're not Billy No-Mates after all. Anyway the film, 10 Things I Hate About you, one of those teen comedies that are so popular at the mo, was good fun, well worth waiting around for. It was a high school set Taming Of The Shrew, a play I now like a lot more for having seen it done in a modern high school setting with rock music and the like, instead of properly on a stage with lutes and iambic pentameters.
Friday April 16 1999
Actually got home in time for the Simpsons' double bill tonight, which
always makes a nice change. Especially on a Friday evening - great way to
start the weekend!
Saturday April 17 1999
A pretty typical Saturday as it happens - a bit of shopping, a lot of
eating, the usual. Couldn't face doing another movie tonight so we opted for a
night instead (watching movies on TV instead, ho ho). Always nice to have a
weekend when you can sit around and do very little.
Sunday April 18 1999
Did the dreaded housework, caught up on other stuff which needed to be
done. At least I have a quiet week at work ahead of me on what I am terming
the 'Eve Of The Wars' - i.e Star Wars, that is - issue of Empire. The issue
we have just finished is our 10th birthday one, so it's a little bit
special. Still, because I haven't done as much proof reading this month I'm
looking forward to reading it as much as everybody.
Monday April 19 1999
Another quiet day. Still haven’t got around to choosing the photos we want for the wedding albums, which might be a good idea if we are planning to go and pick them up in October.
Tuesday April 20 1999
Seeing loads of teen movies at the moment – another one coming up tomorrow night and then more the week after! Must be a sign that I am getting old, in that I no longer want to rush out shopping after seeing any of these films. Either that, or the clothes in them are getting worse.
Emma came round tonight to look at the photos and watch the wedding video. She didn’t have hers with her, alas, but hey, there’s another excuse to get together soon. I have come to the conclusion that we don’t do enough entertaining from home – any reason to get out the low fat cookies is fine by me.
Wednesday April 21 1999
Anyway, this particular teenflick was called Cruel Intentions, and it was basically an adolescent rerun of Dangerous Liaisons, with a couple of New York step siblings being deviant towards each other. It was, essentially, rubbish (which the original wasn’t), but kind of fun with it. Anyway, the really fun part (aside from the fact that the stars of the film, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Philippe, were there to introduce it, was the fact that Catherine came up to London to see the film with me!
Yes, more entertaining – Leslie ordered some Chinese which had arrived by the time we got home, and we (surprise!) watched the wedding video. That is now roughly the fourth time I have watched it in the last week. Well, at least I know it’s good.
Thursday April 22 1999
Catherine had threatened to get up at about 6 am to head back to the Isle Of Wight, but luckily she didn’t have to in the end, which is just as well as we were up until about 1.30 this morning. No guests tonight. I am coming home for a well-earned rest.
Friday April 23 1999
Well-earned rest continues this evening, although I am now super-busy at work writing our summer preview – the 20 Films You Must See Between Now And Christmas. None too surprisingly, Star Wars Episode 1 heads the list. Is it just me, or is this film shaping up to be a disappointment? I ‘m sure it’ll look cool and it’ll play well and be enjoyable, but after all the build-up, can it be anything other than disappointing? Still, I’ll enjoy it regardless.
Saturday April 24 1999
Last quiet weekend for a while – after this we don’t have a free one until June 12.
Sunday April 25 1999
A Sunday evening screening for a change! Went with Leslie, Andy Levy and a couple of other friends to see The Mummy, the first summer blockbuster out of the starting gate. All the stars of the film showed up to the screening (not that I spotted any of them), but it didn’t matter, I was too busy getting into the movie (in which an old dead mummified priest comes back to life and sets about putting the Ten Plagues in motion) to care.
It was so much fun! Kind of like Indiana Jones without Harrison Ford really. I suspect this film will be a huge hit, even if it will lose valuable audience points on those who don’t want to see huge beetles running across screen en masse.
Monday April 26 1999
Short week this week as we are off to Edinburgh on Friday for the weekend (with out free first class tickets, as snapped up two months ago! The time has, indeed, flown!). My colleagues were suitably unimpressed by The Mummy, but I am sticking to my guns and insisting it will be a monster (sorry) hit.
Tuesday April 27 1999
Another teen movie! This one, She’s All That, annoyed me a little, with a basic storyline about a high school misfit who’s actually quite pretty underneath her glasses and weird hippy clothing; for one thing she was quite pretty, beautiful even, with the glasses (the folks behind this film didn’t go to great effort to make her look dowdy), and for another the hippy clothes were really quite cool. What’s more, halfway through the film one of her 15-year-old friends comes along and gives her a haircut in her bedroom.
Two minutes later, our heroine is walking down the stairs sporting the kind of ‘do’ that you normally have to go non a six-month waiting list and pay £400 to have the owner of a salon do for you, as opposed to a freebie by some cack-handed 15-year-old with a pair of kitchen scissors. This film really didn’t entice me to go shopping.
Wednesday April 28 1999
No films tonight, thankfully. The summer preview is, even more thankfully, finished – all I have to do now is sit back and wait for all the release dates to change so I have to write it all over again. Come to think of it, that usually happens after we’ve gone to press.
Thursday April 29 1999
Edinburgh tomorrow! Came home from work as quickly as I could, did packing (one small duffel bag – no point in taking more than I need to), did ironing and basically prepped flat as though we were leaving it for a fortnight rather than four days.
But you know how it is – I am convinced if I go away for 96 hours and leave something in the fridge it will have grown fur and teeth and stand there growling at us when we get back. So finally got to bed about 1.15 am even though we are getting up before seven. And how on earth am I supposed to sleep on the train when the excitement of First Class will inevitably prevent me from doing so?
Friday April 30 1999
Well, I wouldn't get too excited about the wonders of First Class. For
starters, we headed for the First Class Lounge (all excited, no less)
prior to departure, only to be ushered into a Portacabin (yes!) taking the
place of the real Lounge which was being refurbished. Free tea and shortbread weren't quite enough to improve the chipboard walls and wobbly floors, alas.
Fast-forward to the train itself. Now, when I upgraded to First Class
once on my way back from a business trip, it was wonderful - plush furnishings, waiter service, big comfy seats. This was, essentially, like economy only with slighter wider head space on the seats and (hey!) free tea, coffee and shortbread. Now much as I like it, there is only so much I can eat before it begins to get just a little tedious.
Still, there weren't too many people on board, so at least Leslie was able to do some filming of the scenery and we were able to get some leg room (the passengers who were supposed to be
sitting opposite us from Newcastle never materialised).
And the hotel turned out to be much better than the train up - nice,
big room, telephone in the toilet (always a good sign), great view,
complimentary
shortbread (aaghhhh!) Determined to make the most of this as an eating
weekend, we headed straight to Pizza Express before hitting the main
department store. Came out two frocks richer, loving the fact that
sometimes it's nice to go away to familiar surroundings for the weekend - House Of Fraser, Pizza Express and a mobile phone you can take with you which actually works.
Dined in the hotel tonight (disappointing) before heading out to
the Hard Rock café for dessert - it was the only place we could find open for dessert, even at 11 o'clock at night. Funny. I thought Edinburgh was a bit of a late-night town. I am clearly wrong.
