The online diary of Caroline Westbrook following her marriage on September 6 1998 to Leslie Bunder.
Monday March 1 1999
It is very weird not having the awards to focus on after all these weeks. Still, only another 51 and a half weeks until the next one. And of course March is Oscars month so if I truly feel I am lacking in the awards department I can concentrate on that one instead.
Tuesday March 2 1999
If we’re lucky the photos will actually arrive this week. Although I’m suspecting we won’t be. We will see what happens.
Wednesday March 3 1999
Have just remembered that Pesach starts at the end of March, coinciding this year with Easter in fact. This is much better because that ‘s two less days I have to worry about taking my Matzo sandwiches and the like to work. At least the selection of available food is a lot better than when I was younger, when you took what was available and put up with it. And of course if you ran out of something you ran out.
Which of course is why we always stocked up with large amounts of potato flour, after all you never know when you might need it. The fact that there were always around six bags of unused potato flour from six consecutive Pesachs always sitting in the larder was never a deterrent. There will be none in my larder this year. The American food is, it has to be said, a good deal better.
Thursday March 4 1999
Did the Thursday night sushi thing tonight, haven’t done it for a while so it seemed like a good thing to do. Weird, though – I went out without glasses tonight, which I am prone to do now I have been instructed not to wear them all the time, and almost walked past Harvey Nichols in my resultant blurriness. I always thought it was next door to Harrods! Someone has clearly put some shops in between the two. Life takes on a very funny perspective when you are walking around without good eyesight. I must remember to actually wear them next time. After all, I was only meant to dispense with them for close-up work and reading, not for crossing busy London thoroughfares.
Friday March 5 1999
Finally, a Friday night in for once. Did the decent thing, watched loads of TV and had an early night. Makes a change for us.
Saturday March 6 1999
Leslie was toying with the idea of doing a practice run to Farnborough but it turns out he actually brought work home from the office, so we decided in the end he could probably find his way there (after all he did when he went for the interview). Went parent-visiting in the afternoon then went and hung out at Whiteleys Shopping Centre, just outside Central London. They’ve improved the place a lot, put in more exciting shops and what’s better most of them stay open till ten.
There are very few other places in London you can shop late (apart from Borders of course), and there are even fewer places open late you actually want to shop at. Went for Mexican at a very nice restaurant there, then sorted Leslie out with some ties for his new job (it’s a suit and tie place). Got back pretty late, having gone up to King’s Cross to buy the Sunday papers.
Sunday March 7 1999
Pretty busy with housework and the like all day. Not too much to report, except to point out that the photos are still a non-arrival.
Monday March 8 1999
Leslie’s last week at Teletext. Lots to do, of course, but the thought of the new job looming is an exciting one. At least we now have the suits and ties sorted. Can’t believe it’s come around so quickly – it seems like only five minutes ago he was having the interview!
Tuesday March 9 1999
No photos!
Finally cracked and rang David as to the non-appearance of the pics that were supposed to be sent last Monday. Apparently they’re still a no-show because the colour was still a little dodgy on one of the videos and they’re redoing it. Let’s hope they’ve managed to get the date right this time, I really don’t want to have to show people a video which says The Wedding Of Caroline And Leslie, December 4 1982.
Wednesday March 10 1999
Was compelled to go and see the new Adam Sandler film The Waterboy. I am apparently supposed to have a good understanding of Adam Sandler but I didn’t get half of this. Actually it wasn’t quite as bad as some people have made it out to be and you still get to see Henry Winkler (aka The Fonz) hamming it up as a football coach, but I still can’t see how it made so much money in the US. Or, for that matter, who is going to see it over here given that it is about American football. That’s like sending the Americans a film about soccer or something. But we shall see.
Thursday March 11 1999
Sushi was very disappointing tonight, given that our usual place (Yo Sushi at Harvey Nichols) tried to fob us off with watery wasabi. (i.e the Japanese horseradish) Have discovered I really can’t consume sushi unless it has that hot green stuff clinging to it somewhere, it is far more addictive than I gave it credit for. It may well be some time before we return there.
Friday March 12 1999
Leslie got taken to a frightfully posh restaurant for his leaving lunch called The Canteen – owned by one Michael Caine before heading off to the pub with his (soon to be ex) colleagues in the evening. When I went down to join them he showed me the gorgeous leather card wallet (from Harrods, no less) and cufflinks he had as a leaving present. There was some chocolate too, which of course will go down very well.
Went home and watched a bit of the Comic Relief telethon but I was too tired to stick with it until the bitter end (and besides I already gave). I’m sure they used to show a lot more classic comedy. I must be getting old if I’d rather watch that.
Saturday March 13 1999
Went out for a meal with my brother and sister-in-law to celebrate Leslie’s new found employment, to this great little vegetarian Chinese restaurant called Chai that we stumbled upon in Edgware High Street (that’s just down the road from Golders Green for those of you who are rubbish on London geography). Its menu is exactly like a normal Chinese restaurant except everything (right down to the sweet and sour pork balls) is tofu and gluten based.
Didn’t rate their mock beef too highly but the lemon chicken and the plum duck were splendid, as indeed was their mock chicken and sweetcorn soup. Had to round off the evening with an ice-cream at Baskin Robbins – yes, we had to, it is right opposite the restaurant!
Sunday March 14 1999
Can’t believe after last night’s blowout I agreed to more Chinese but we had both our mums over for Mothers Day and decided to order from Kaifeng (the slightly posher of the Kosher Chinese places, also the much nicer). By the time we had worked our way through real chicken and sweetcorn soup, real sweet and sour chicken, genuine beef and, um, lots of vegetables I was fit to burst. As, indeed, were our respective parents no doubt.
Leslie insisted on putting everything in bowls in the fridge, saying we would get a good supper out of it – as it was, we had already eaten so much of the Oriental stuff that we pretty much ate nothing for the rest of the weekend. Still, at least the mothers went home well fed. Which is the main thing. But I think spring rolls are a no go for at least the next month!
Monday March 15 1999
Nothing much to report today, except suffice to say I came home and
didn’t feel a bit like eating Chinese (and yes, there was a fridge
full of the stuff). Shame to throw it all out, but it was getting all
congealed and nasty.
Wonder if the photos actually got sent today?
Tuesday March 16 1999
Worked late in the run-up to press day. Tomorrow may be even worse.
Wednesday March 17 1999
Felt pretty rotten for most of today, but convinced myself that it was
a bit of tummy trouble and I could flush out my system quite easily
within a few hours. Not quite, as it happens. Wound up being violently
sick (and I do mean violently), a bout of toilet redecoration that was
sufficient to send me home.
Got home, headed straight for a hot bath and bed, which to be honest
is where I should have stayed this morning. I am eating nothing, just
about managing to keep down liquids, but at the moment pretty much
incapable of standing up without feeling nauseous. Plus I think I have
a temperature, but with no themometer in the house it’s hard to tell.
Oh well, at least I missed press day (ha ha!) I am not going into work
tomorrow and I may have to seriously consider Friday as well.
Thursday March 18 1999
Spent most of the day in bed listening to the radio and reading
magazines – very relaxing! Still feeling nauseous but managed to
successfully digest some basic food. Called in sick this morning, only
for one of my colleagues to helpfully reveal that he had had stomach
flu over the weekend (and had quite probably passed it on to me –
thank YOU!)
Anyway, Leslie showed up from work with flowers, convalescence food
and a talking Cartman from South Park doll! Fantastic! I have been
wanting one of these for ages and now we have one! It looks all cute
n’fuzzy like Cartman off South Park, until you press its hand and it
spouts all manner of abuse! Great present! Feel much better now.
Friday March 19 1999
Better but still not sufficiently to work. Spent the day on the sofa
watching the superb Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, Grosse Pointe
Blank and anything else that came to hand. Managed my first meal since
Tuesday night – mozzarella and tomato salad, completely delicious,
successfully digested.
Have realised that a glorious period of being able to eat anything I
want, in order to make up for the fat units I have lost, is honing
into view. This quite obviously means I can snack through the whole of
the Oscars on Sunday night.
And miracle of miracles – the photos and videos arrived from David
today! The quality is better this time around, although the Jiffy bag
they arrived in had rather inconveniently burst, scattering dust all
over the tapes. Fortunately the quality was still intact, and the
photos were fine. I will send them off to the Jewish Chronicle and
London Jewish News on Monday.
Saturday March 20 1999
Am eating but am sticking to very plain food (and lots of it). Went
for pasta with Karen and Edward tonight – not something we’d normally
make an effort to go for, but we went to a (non-kosher) place in
Golders Green that turned out to be quite delightful. Maybe we should
go Italian more often in future.
It is Oscars night tomorrow night and I am sitting up to watch it. I
have to do this as I am due to do a report on CNN International at
7.15 the following morning, thus meaning I can’t tape it, get up early
and watch it (for one thing, it would probably still be going on when
I got up). It’s live or nothing. However, Judy will be coming over to
keep me company, keep me awake etc. Hopefully it will all be over by
about 4 am so I can grab a couple of hours sleep pre-CNN. This may be
optimism.
Sunday March 21 1999
Got up at 9 am but attempted to nap, somewhat unsuccessfully, during
the day. The all-nighter is looming.
Judy arrived about 10.30, Barbecue Pringles, Jaffa Cakes and Maltesers
in tow (I can assure you, there is nothing better to get you back into
normal eating patterns that Barbecue Pringles). Leslie went off to bed
about midnight, leaving us to it.
The Oscars itself was lengthy, way too lengthy, dipping between the
deadly dull and the hugely entertaining (although to be honest, I
quite enjoyed it because Shakespeare In Love won Best Picture, (over
Elizabeth, Life Is Beautiful Saving Private Ryan, and The Thin Red
Line), a much better decision than giving it to boring old Saving
Private Ryan, I’m not suggesting there was any bias towards Life Is
Beautiful or Roberto Benigni, but we did snack on Italian biscuits for
the first half of proceedings – right up until the point that he won
Best Foreign Film and leapt up on the back of Steven Spielberg’s seat
to celebrate.
Yes, I know it sounds old new but his two speeches, to
say nothing of his Olympic dash round the auditorium, were truly the
highlight of the evening (try getting Gwyneth Paltrow to leap on to a
seat back in her high heels and frilly frock).
Then again, Gwyneth’s weepy speech was a bit of a highlight (or
lowlight), given that it was about 5 in the morning by the time we saw
it here and all we could really focus on was finishing up the
Maltesers and diving under the duvet (no chance of that now, I guess).
So long was the ceremony that it was pretty much getting light by the
time Harrison Ford came on to present Best Picture.
This will be all over the papers in the morning – another declaration of The British
Are Coming! Well, I have news for you – the British are already here,
if this decade’s nominees are anything to go by – The Full Monty,
Secrets And Lies, Howard’s End, Remains Of The Day, My Left Foot, In
The Name Of The Father and Sense And Sensibility, anyone? For heaven’s
sake, what about The English Patient! The British have long since
arrived as far as I am concerned. Mind you, if people really want to
debate their homegrown talent they ought to take a look at how many of
those movies were financed with American money.
Monday March 22 1999
I am on the post-Oscar comedown. The worst moment was going into the
bedroom just before six to get towels for a shower, and seeing Leslie
all snuggled up under the duvet looking ever so cosy. I was half
tempted to slip into slumber myself, except I would have slept all the
way through my cab call and my telly appearance. Which went well in
the end.
Having been totally fired up for the TV, but realising that going to
the gym would use up what little energy I had left, I opted to head to
the office, arriving at 7.30 – a new record early for me! Hardly
anyone even showed up till after lunch though – they had been to the
Oscar party at Planet Hollywood the night before.
Myself and one colleague who made it in yawned all the way through the day, although
I tanked myself up with about five cups of coffee and basically
mutated into a kind of English, female equivalent of Roberto Benigni,
running around madly babbling incomprehensible nonsense at anyone who
would listen. Bless him. Who’d have ever thought that a guy whose
English language movie appearances amounted to, er, Son Of The Pink
Panther would one day win an Oscar? It is too cool!
Anyway, went through phases of being really alert and awake, to
practically falling asleep at my desk (or in the toilet, depending
where I was). Had to keep awake to go to a screening of Forces Of
Nature, the new Sandra Bullock/Ben Affleck comedy, tonight, which I
cleverly did by giving myself a kind of mental countdown of how many
hours it was until I could go to bed. Amazingly, this helped me to
wake up, although it didn’t help the fact that the film was one of the
worst I hadseen for many a month. I am officially ashamed to share a
birthday with Ben Affleck. Who’d have ever thought that a guy who won
an Oscar for screenwriting last year could possibly think that such
nonsense was a good thing to do?
Anyway, got to bed about 10.30, having been up for around 38 hours.
Good effort! Same time next year!
Tuesday March 23 1999
Spent the day on a film set in Waterlow Park, North London. The film
was called The Criminal and sounds jolly good, but as well as spending
the whole day watching them film a scene in which someone is shot), I
was quite struck by the park. Imagine living so close to North London
all this time and never knowing it was there! It’s beautiful and
there’s acres of it! A very nice day out of the office; I had
forgotten how much fun film sets can be. Yes, lots of waiting around
for something interesting to happen, but there are always interesting
people to talk to, and when you do get to see the filming it’s always
pretty compelling stuff.
Wednesday March 24 1999
Rushed home from work early as our replacement chest of drawers was
arriving. We had it delivered a few weeks back but a sticky patch on
the top is making it a little difficult to use fully. Got home just in
time for the delivery van who – surprise! – was carrying the wrong
chest of drawers, one with drawers in a beechwood finished as opposed
to the vanilla finish we have now!
We are not happy! Quickly dashed off a letter of complaint to John Lewis to emphasise how not happy we are about this. Why can’t we just buy an item of furniture and have no
problems with it? Ah well, I suppose we have come to expect problems.
Thursday March 25 1999
Seems like ages since the Oscars already. People think that that’s the
end of the awards season, and I suppose in a way it is, although
obviously there are the British Academy Awards in a couple of weeks to
truly round things off. Thing is, the whole process starts again
within about six weeks with the Cannes Film Festival, which also gives
our awards and gives you the first idea of what movies might be in the
running for next year’s Oscars. So it’s pretty much a year-long
process. I should imagine the folks at the Academy are already
planning next year’s ceremony. Well, maybe they had a couple of days
off.
Friday March 26 1999
Went for a drink with some of my radio contacts who are about to lose
their contract on one of the national stations. It was a shame to see
them go, as I have done quite a lot for them in the past (the last
interview took place in the reception of my gym prior to my
thrice-weekly 70 flight step climb!), but bigger and better things
beckon, so who knows where it’ll lead?
Saturday March 27 1999
Full advantage needs to be taken of this Saturday night, as it is the
last one for a couple of weeks when we can go out for something to eat
(Pesach makes these things a tad difficult, you understand). Went for
fresh sushi at our favourite place just down the road. Our car is
having its lock repaired, so we have been gadding about town all day
in a Fiat identical to ours, except it is a lovely golden copper
colour and is only six weeks old (about 60 miles on the clock). In
fact it’s so new it even has that new car smell to it.
Sunday March 28 1999
Not a great deal to report today, spent a good deal of time trying to
get the place ready for Pesach. We seem to buy a lot less Pesach food
than we did when I was living at home, but then again there are less
of us to feed and I will just live on salads and fruit like I did last
year. Hence the bag of potato flour, which has always been on my
parents list and every year at the end of Pesach goes into the
cupboard untouched to join its potato flour ancestors (I think most of
them have gone by now) will not be joining our household this year.
We are going to Jacki’s on the first night and then to Barnet for my aunt
and uncle’s Seder on the second night, as per usual. Will be nice to
go to Jacki’s, however, as after years of doing Pesach with my family
it’s challenging to get the Seder from someone else's point of view.
Monday March 29 1999
Glad I got the Pesach stuff sorted, as I had to go to a screening of
the new Hugh Grant movie Notting Hill tonight. It’s sort of a sequel
to Four Weddings And A Funeral in that it has the same star, writer
and producer, but that’s where the similarity ends (unless you count
all the plot points and the supporting characters which are pretty
much identical to the ones in Four Weddings). I have to say it was a
good deal better than I had feared, actually very entertaining. And
will make a small fortune.
Tuesday March 30 1999
24 hours in which to eat everything I won’t be able to touch for a
week. Never quite works that way though, does it?
Wednesday March 31 1999
Made a point of rushing out early for breakfast, so I could get my
toast and Marmite before Pesach actually started. Am now officially on
the salad diet for the next week, which suits me just fine as that was
how I managed to kickstart my diet last year and lose all this weight!
Seder was good fun, as I said very nice to view it from someone else’s
perspective after all these years. Forgot the salads for a few minutes
and feasted on turkey, stuffing and assorted other trimmings. Well, it
has to be done.
