"The Iron Lady"

When you can't do all the normal things that you used to do like, going to pubs, smoking the odd growler, occasionally chowing down on a dirty Noodle Express from the top of the road, it doesn't leave one many options to occupy ones time. So thank goodness again for the new cinema. I love films, having studied Film at Brunel University (*cough*), but even I have never been to the cinema 3 times in 3 weeks before. Until now.

Last night The Wig and I trotted back up to Mare Street to the Hackney Picture House, and what a juicy trip it turned out to be! Not only did we see our first celebrity of the year, Rupert Friend, (Google him) we also discovered that Michael Fassbender (might need to Google him too) is going to be there in a week or two for a Q+A session AND we got to watch "The Iron Lady".

I'd been really looking forward to seeing this film and it was great watching it from a lovely soft reclining seat, especially with my strides being a bit tight these days. Having grown up during the Thatcher era I was fascinated to learn a bit more about her from an adults perspective. I mean 'adult' in the loosest possible way. The film was based around Thatcher's struggle to deal with the death of her husband, Denis (magnificently played by Jim Broadbent) and comprised a mixture of imagined conversations with him and flashbacks of her life before and during her time as Prime Minister of the UK.

The Iron Lady Trailer

The late 70's and majority of the 80's was a pretty hectic time to say the least for British Politics. I must have watched a lot of John Cravens Newsround as a kid as I recalled all of the footage the film used in its flashback sequences (the Miners Strikes, Poll Tax Riots, The Brighton Bombing, the IRA bombings, The Falklands War). They certainly dealt with rioters differently in those days! To say it was brutal would be somewhat of an understatement I think. It's often easy to look back at the past through rose tinted spectacles but those were pretty dark days, and even though times are tough now, I think they were a lot tougher for a lot of the country back then. Although I did used to enjoy the odd power cut every now and then.

Not only were the performances marvelous and totally believable, the hair and make up was outstanding and the film takes you through a whole range of emotions. Parts of it are very funny, other parts are shocking and other parts were so moving I cried like a big damn baby. Since its not solely about Politics, but also Thatchers deterioration into old age, I still feel that I don't know much about her policies etc but I left the Cinema thinking that I definitely want to read more about her. Even if you don't agree with how she ran the country for eleven and a half years I think you have to admit that she is an amazing woman, I'm not sure if inspiration is the right word but definitely someone to be admired for her ambition and tenacity.

I was thinking about her again this morning and growing up in an environment where traditional gender roles were a bit mixed up must have had an effect on those of us who grew up in that era without us even realising it. The head of the Monarchy was and still is female, we had a female Prime Minister. Not to mention that fact that I was brought up by a male, in a male household which at the time was very unusual, particularly in the village where I grew up. I have never felt that my gender would be a reason for me not to do something or that I wouldn't have the same opportunities as the boys. I know this is a very lucky position to be in when so many women still live in a world where they are persecuted for just being female.  So despite all the political unrest perhaps growing up in the Thatcher years wasn't such a bad thing after all and perhaps I should be thankful to her in some small part for the way that I see the world in terms of being a girl.

And thats why I never talk about Politics. I don't really have a clue what I'm talking about. However, I know about March Hare ratings and I am going to rate this film 10 handbags out of a possible 10! I know thats a very high score indeed, but I really did enjoy this film particularly as I am still thinking about it today. The Wig however, only gave it 7 out of a possible 10 handbags. Not enough robots in it for him.

It's not all about the Cinema over in E8 at the moment though. Other, more productive pursuits are being under taken, more specifically 'Operation Baby Corner'. Until we can move, the baby will need to live in the corner of our bedroom so over the last few days we have been considering the (limited) options available.  We didn't really want to go too far down the line with buying too many things yet but we are already over the half way mark and really do need to start making decisions. I don't want to leave it until the last minute but I also didn't want to jinx anything. Its a very tricky business it seems!

Nevertheless, a change is gonna come, and its coming in the form of a new carpet to cover the lovely floorboards (sob). We have also ordered a chest of drawers as it takes 2 months to be made and are in the process of deciding what needs to be put into storage. Sadly it seems that a lot of my very important and essential things need to go . . .

Baby Corner Before.

Carpet to be fitted.

Desk, Chair, book and bookshelf to go into storage.

New chest of drawers to go into fireplace.

Bed to be moved over.

Crib to be bought and put in corner.

Lead toy collection to go into storage. I don't think lead is very good for modern babies. 

Goodbye Old Pelham Puppet. I shall miss you.

Adios Stationary kit. All correspondence will have to be shop bought from now on.

See you around Dressmakers dummy we found in the street 8 years ago. Yes, in the street. I'll miss the way I used to load you up with necklaces that I never wore.  Although the hats do come in handy on holidays.

I'm very much looking forward to the 'Baby Corner After' as I too am struggling too see how we are all going to fit in, but I do like a challenge and this is certainly going to be one of those.