GETTING CHRISTMASSY

We went to our second roller derby yesterday, but unfortunately it was not as fun as the first. It was absolutely packed - which was weird, as there had been hardly anyone there the first time we went - so the atmosphere was good, but we discovered that the fun of the bout depends entirely on the quality of the MC.

Without a fast-talking, funny person on the microphone, keeping things exciting and whipping the crowd into a frenzy, the roller derby is a kind of lame spectacle of girls whizzing around a track on roller skates.

There were small mercies for which to be grateful for, though - this time we didn't see David and boring Jackie. But we did have to move seats because a kid was having great fun kicking my back incessantly. Aaahh.

There were two bouts - one with a visiting team from Philadelphia(?) - but we left halfway through the second one, in time to see 'Four Christmasses' in Chinatown. We'd been really looking forward to the movie - Witherspoon! Vaughn! Favreau! Chenoweth! - but unfortunately it was a little disappointing. Put it this way - it ain't no 'Role Models'. I wonder if anything ever could be...

I helped out at Sunday School this morning and was then grumpy to find that the church service marking the beginning of Advent was in the Taizé style. I don't much enjoy kooky ways of worshipping, but this ended up being a revelation. The mode of worship takes its name from a region of France where the tradition first started and is the most beautiful combination of stunningly simple chants and silence that is very moving and conducive to reflection. The form of worship evolved in WWII, as a way of bridging the divides between faiths and uniting religious people with a simple, lowest-common-denomiator kind of approach. It was a really amazing service.

I spent most of this afternoon toiling away on our Christmas cards, suddenly feeling an affinity with small children forced to do fiddly manual labour that is seemingly endless. Fie on you, PaperSource!

The memory of 'Four Christmasses' was roundly dispelled this evening, when we watched the wonderful 'Sabrina', which I've never seen before but absolutely loved. I'd never 'got' Humphrey Bogart before, having only seen him in 'Casablanca', but he was so great in this movie! And obviously Audrey Hepburn is incredible. It's a very close-run race for my favourite director ever: Frank Capra or Billy Wilder...