Monday this week was the first day I had where I had nothing to do. I haven't been given any TV work since before the Pennsylvania/Tess & Bob/4th July week and don't even have any errands to run! So that afternoon, after lunch with Maxy at Dupont Circle, I sat and watched 'Gone Baby Gone' - another of the NetFlix DVDs we've ignored for weeks.
It's Ben Affleck's directorial debut and I had no idea it was based on a Dennis Lehane novel (I really like him. He's one of the writers on 'The Wire' and 'Mystic River' is an adaptation of one of his other books). It didn't get a theatrical release in the UK because of its similarities with the Madeleine McCann case. And sure enough, the little girl who gets abducted does look eerily like Madeleine McCann and she's taken after her mother leaves her sleeping to go to a bar. So I thought it was going to be all about the distress of parents who lose their child. But it totally isn't - it's a really twisty tense thriller in which the abduction of the child - or at least her mother's distress - is really secondary to what else is going on.
I couldn't work out if it's a good film independent of Lehane's excellent story and writing, so couldn't really discern whether Ben Affleck is much cop as a director. But I really like Casey Affleck, who plays the lead guy and Amy Ryan (also Beadie from 'The Wire') is terrific as the crackwhore mother and totally deserved her Oscar nomination (take note, Saoirse Ronan).
That evening, we went for a really nice dinner with Anne at an Eritrean restaurant, just down the road. Well, the meal was actually horrible, but the company was great and the three of us had a really fun evening. We were tempted to go to the Belgian restaurant at the end of our street, because it was having an enormous Bastille Day celebration (I'm not sure anyone had the heart to point out France and Belgium are different...) but it was a little hectic, with men running around in French maid outfits and others in big powdery wigs.
So we opted for Eritrean and, in typical sod's law fashion, I decided to come off the wagon that evening as I fancied a glass of wine for the first time in weeks. But I forgot to take my ID so was denied! Gnaaah.
The food was a little grody. I didn't like the big pancakey things that you wrap the meat up in, because I don't like pancakes and these ones expand in your stomach and make you feel gross by the end of the meal (Max and I both had upset tummies the next day). But as is becoming something of a habit, we spotted Max's friend Oliver as we were finishing up supper! He was wandering past with some other girl from The Guardian this time.
That same day, Max had finally managed to get to the doctors to get a prescription for the asthma medicine he really needs, having run out of it ages ago. He got a prescription for 10 inhalers, to last him the whole of the rest of our time here, and went to the pharmacy to pick it up, only to be asked for $200!!! Our insurance will pay him back, but not until 3 weeks from the date of his claim, so he has to stump up the money in advance. Who can afford to do that?!
But WAY more astonishing is that once Max had handed over the money, he only got one inhaler back, not 10! I was exasperated when he told me, convinced he'd made a mistake and that the pharmacy owe him a further 9 inhalers. It's not revolutionary medicine, it's taken on a daily basis and half the world has asthma, so how could it possibly be practical for the medication to be so extortionate? And how come it only costs £6 back home? Surely $200 for 10 makes more sense - $20 each and all that...
So Max duly went back to the pharmacy while I researched his medication on the internet and sure enough, we both discovered almost simultaneously that it is indeed $200 per inhaler! Have you ever heard anything so outrageous?!? It only made me more desperate for Obama to win the election so he can introduce his healthcare plan. Aye carumba.
On Tuesday I played tennis with Caroline, who was the one I had that amazing game with a few weeks ago. We went back to the same courts as before (no sign of the omnipresent Micah this time - it was softball night), but there was a really long queue and people were really aggressive towards me when I asked when they'd be finishing, so we ended up having to drive to different courts, in the north east of DC, in Caroline's lovely new swanky convertible car.
Unfortunately, after all that hassle, I then proceeded to play like a monkey with limited motor skills. It was so awful - I think I'd have been better off at softball! - especially as I'd been looking forward to playing with Caroline again for ages. There are few things that make me more grumpy than playing tennis badly.
Last night was much more fun - we went to hear the Marine Corps band 
play a free concert of dixieland jazz on the steps of the Capitol! We went with Alison, whose downstairs neighbour plays in the band. Alison had heard him practising the night before and asked what he was up to and he invited her along. It was so much fun and such a classic example of why I like DC. It was a really nice balmy summer's evening, we had a picnic (featuring chicken nuggets and little else) and listened to this fantastic, Jeeves & Wooster-esque music as the sun went down over the Capitol in one direction and Washington monument in the other. No-one was really dancing, but I enjoyed jigging about and just wish Max and I knew how to do swing dancing, because we could've busted out our moves. There was a really cute little boy who was totally possessed by the music and flailing about all over the place in rapture.
Alison's neighbour was really good and was playing a most curious trombone - it had valves like a trumpet, rather than the traditional slide. Makes much more sense to me.
When we got home, the moment we always knew was coming finally arrived. We finished 'The West Wing'!! We finally have a life again and our NetFlix subscription will no longer go to waste! (we've been borrowing the WW DVDs off Anne and Megan). It took us until 1am, but we finally did it. To be honest, I haven't much enjoyed it since season 5 and though I love Santos like he is my husband and even have a soft spot for Arnold Vinick, I was the tiniest bit relieved when it was over. It had just been getting a bit too random lately - too many storylines introduced and then inexplicably abandoned and a bit too much pandering to the audience, I reckon. Still, I've learned a massive amount about American politics, so the election should be a blast!
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