Copycat Swimming

There's a film I've seen once, 29 years ago, and I want to see it again. I think I've been patient, don't you? The film is "Deep End" - not the fairly recent one of the same name, but from 1970. It was directed by Jerzy Skolimowski, and starring Jane Asher, Diana Dors and John Moulder-Brown. It may not be the greatest film, but who knows as I haven't seen it for so long. It caught my attention because it featured swimming, a swimming pool and music by Cat Stevens. I say it featured swimming, but I'm not sure much of that went on at all. I haven't seen it in the TV Listings for years, and I don't know if it's been on at the cinema. So, a little while ago I phoned the BBC, on a Saturday. I thought they would be closed, but a recorded message said something like 'choose one of the following 3 options'. I think the voice actually said if you pick option 3 they'll put you through to a 'real' person - and true to their word, there was a real person. She was very helpful and said the film was not on the schedules for the Winter, and was last shown in 1977. That's when I must have seen it. So, where do I go from here? I'm aiming to contact the Curzon cinema group in London to see if they will screen it. They recently put on a matinee of 'Blow Up' from the 60's, which in a way, is a similar genre. I tried to get it on DVD, but apparently it's not on DVD. Maybe, as with Stanley Kubrick with his film version of A Clockwork Orange, and violence, Deep End has been withdrawn to prevent copycat swimming?!

I was lucky enough to be in Venice a few days ago, and my companions and I went off the beaten track, to the slightly southern area of Giudecca. It wasn't touristy at all, and we settled in a cosy restaurant, where we had what I think was a genuine Italian meal. The cook was Luigi, and his wife Claudia served the food and ran all matters other than the cooking. We got talking, or rather the Italian speaker in our group, did the talking and Claudia told us about a story that ran in the local paper (something like 'Venice Today', but in Italian of course.) Anyway, she said that the story concerned a woman, called Gina, who had got out of the shower, and was drying herself, when the doorbell rang. She called out "Who's there" and a man answered "The Blind".
Consequently Gina, completely naked, ran down the stairs, and opened the door. The man said "Where do you want the venetian blind?"

Ties. Why do they exist? They perform no practical function: they don't hold anything up, they don't keep you warm, they don't keep anything together. You could get them caught in machinery. You could get strangled. They are archaic. They make me feel uncomfortable. They restrict my breathing. They are often a symbol of class, in a society where we should be classless. Here in the UK I'm proud to live in a fairly free society, so wear a tie if you want to, but let it be through choice. Actually I think ties can be really attractive, with their material, their patterns and designs, but consign them to history and let them be seen in museums.

Yusuf Islam (previously Cat Stevens) has a new album out in a few days. I've followed his life and career for many years. I think he is immensely talented, thoughtful and respectful person. Zooming on though, I am puzzled about this new album. 'Heaven/Where true love goes" is presented as a 'new' single, when in fact it appears to be based on the end section of "Foreigner Suite" from his Foreigner album of 1973. I'm also not convinced by the artwork: a single white cup on a white saucer. It looks remarkably like the cup I saw only today, in a picture on the wall at a cafe in Earls Court! I know there are all sorts of happenings with that new cup, such as different liquids, coloured or otherwise, rising or not, and steam rising, so maybe I'll just have to wait and see. I'm sure the project will be blessed with Yusuf's midas touch, and I'll come round to the idea.