Play with those toys!

I love toyshops. Walk in, sigh, feel right at home. And the best ones have all sorts of strange, odd, funny-looking things you can't figure out. My daughter and I say, "Look at this", "Try this" and we press buttons and play with things. I know it may irritate some store owners, but the most successful stores have their employees playing with the demonstration model of the toy - for very good reason! In any toystore, at any time of day, you will see parents and grandparents staring blankly at the box of an airplane, helicopter, robot, transformer etc and they look up, catch your eye and say "I don't know what this is. How does it work?" We chat about the toy and if they are brave enough, they collar a member of staff who also usually looks at the toy and turns the box over to find the brief English description among all the other languages on the back.

My sister and I walked through all the floors of Hamleys in London, watching all the toy testers playing with toys, enticing Christmas shoppers. Who doesn't revert to childhood in a toystore? Was it you pressing the buttons on the dinosaurs as you walked past? Then hearing the roars? Woah, cool! Now about the helicopter-speedboat-transformer - what does it really do? Can we find a 10-year old and ask?

Alice in Wonder-why-land?

The Mad Hatter asks the riddle "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" But in regard to the latest film version of "Alice in Wonderland" starring Johnny Depp, one might just as easily ask "Why turn a funny children's classic into a dark, coming-of-age drama?" It is a pity when film-makers continue to re-work old classics, perhaps hoping to draw on the established fan base rather than creating a unique work.

In the process, this version of "Alice" turns into more of a computer game than a story and the eccentric humour of both Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass is totally lost. The plot becomes boringly predictable and the glorious costuming, make-up and set design are purposeless without the twists and turns of the original writing.

If nothing else, this film proves that a seemingly limitless budget covering special effects and creative departments cannot buy the original impact of the story and a child's imagination.

Unfortunately this raven is not like a writing desk - but more like a lead balloon.

The Great Goons

Our great joy this school holiday has been to listen to the Goon Show in the evenings, with dogs snoring at our feet, playing Mancala. My daughter has become so good at this game that she now beats me every time, and I feel like whining - rather like Bluebottle - "I'm not playing with you."

The Goon appeal lasts over generations. I found them hilarious and my daughter squeals with merriment at the sound effects. And with show titles like: "The Macreekie Rising of '74", "The Histories of Pliny the Elder" and "The Chinese Legs" you can imagine the impossible stories. As Miss Snut (?) says in "1985", "I have loved you from afar" and Neddy replies, "My favourite distance!"

For anyone new to the Goons, imagine Peter Sellers of The Pink Panther fame x3. My daughter wanted to find out more and so we rented the Pink Panther movies. I found them so funny as a child, was pleased to find my daughter also enjoyed them very much.

Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and "Neddy"/Harry Secombe. Brilliant!

If moms ruled the world

At the store this morning, the shelf packer was whistling Andrea Boccelli's "Time to say Goodbye" in perfect pitch. I thought of all those who have opportunities and make no use of them, and all those who never had any.

The cashier was asking about my daughter: is she ready to go back to school after the holidays (is anyone, ever?) did she wish she had a sister or brother (every day) and why was it that children never have enough pencils? (the eternal enigma)

If moms ruled the world, wouldn't it be a more compassionate place?

A Disobedient Girl by Ru Freeman


The cover review on this novel by Margaret Foster says "I read it at a gallop desperate to discover what had happened" and this is inevitable when you pick up this novel focusing on relationships between women set in Sri Lanka.

Although the main focus is on an employer and her employee, the parallel narrative of a mother and her children compels the reader forward. As this family travels by train, the reader chugs, speeds and grinds along with them, feeling every step of their precarious journey.

It is also interesting that while the novel may be interpreted as a critique of the relationship that exists between mistress and servant, it is also a commentary on so many different levels of relationships between women - including friends, mothers and daughters, wives and mistresses, caregivers and those within their care.

And it is a heartbreaking reminder of how very important such little things can be to those who have absolutely nothing; a stick of chewing gum, an offered seat, a kind smile, a pair of sandals. What kind of a difference people are making in each others' lives every day - contributing tragedy or salvation.

This is a wonderfully thought-provoking read.