In the family

I went to see the movie "based on" Margaret Laurence's novel The Stone Angel last night about the implacable Hagar Shipley and her dysfunctional family and although well made and well acted by the two women playing the part of Hagar, I thought it a very toned down version of the book, where the implications, especially as regards the end of the story, are more powerfully left to the imagination. Of course this would have to be different in the film. Certain episodes are too shocking or shameful to be watched on screen (even these days) and perhaps they had box-office takings in mind as well. They wouldn't want their audience to leave the cinema too upset to recommend this! Interestingly the director had also brought the story up to date, with the characters saying things that wouldn't have been said in the 60s, the scenes in the retirement home and hospital being recognisably normal. It must have been quite a challenge to write the film script from a text so familiar to students of CanLit.

Members of our own family, meanwhile, are not having such an unhappy time of it. Chris has taken to cycling to work and back along the Ottawa River Parkway trail (40 km a day, with a Garmin Forerunner strapped to his wrist for encouragement) and, participating in the fitness craze, I have taken to jogging round our local parks. (Only 3km ... but without stopping, not bad for a beginner?) I had a proud and excited phone call from our nephew yesterday to tell us he has restored the "Matchless" motorbike he inherited from his grandfather (my father-in-law) and is now riding to his work in Cambridge on this bike. Chris' sister and her husband Phil are enjoying their peaceful surroundings in East Anglia as you can see from this blog-post of hers. Our son George has just spent a marvellous day on Rottnest Island near Fremantle and is about to take the Indian Pacific train back to Sydney (four days in transit). My sister has just finished the course that will make her a qualified Indexer. My mother has taken up chair dancing with an exercise ball, an activity that seems to be gaining popularity in the UK; she says she finds it frustratingly easy in comparison with the Grecian dancing she used to do as a young girl (eighty years ago). Our daughter and family recently spent such a happy weekend in London that they have made a little film about it that you can watch on YouTube.