Fresh Air

It's surprising how doing nothing much of anything for a week or so, except letting various medicos jab and poke and pull and scan at you, and ingesting most of everything that goes on the little table they wheel over you, can leave you more weary than you realise. Yesterday afternoon we popped along to a little celebration for the cutting of the hair of Yati and Nahar's latest cutie, having being picked up by Boon and Mei, with Steve along, who's still in Singapore until early May. Whilst more than glad to be there I was utterly pooped by 6.00 and Noi and I foreswore a further cup of tea just to go back and rest.

By late evening we were intending to enjoy to enjoy a good murder, only to discover we have now watched all our recordings of the Midsomer's we've got. The back up plan, on the missus's suggestion, was to spin an iffy DVD I picked up of Mamma Mia - The Movie on the trip to Medan. I'd bought it for her than me, as it had mega-chic-flick written all over it, but I think we enjoyed it in equal measures.

First of all, it's fun. It tries a bit too hard at times for sun-drenched Mediterranean glamour, but then sweet sun-drenched Greek islands are glamorous. (Actually what I think it misses is the genuine camaraderie that Branagh magicked in Much Ado About Nothing, but we're talking about a different league here.)

Secondly, it's got Meryl Streep, singing at length. This is of itself a good thing and makes one even more bewildered as to why Parker didn't cast her in Evita years ago.

Thirdly, it's chock full of Abba classics used intelligently, with a sense of the untouchable cheesy pop genius of the original arrangements. (One small, but telling, example - they keep that bubbling rising synthesiser line in SOS, just before the main chorus.) It's so good they even miss out on the greatest one of all, The Name of the Game, and I didn't notice until the final credits ran.

Prior to watching the film I'd read that Pierce Brosnan's singing was terrible. It's not. I mean, you wouldn't want to listen to it over and over on a sound track (with Ms Streep you gladly would) but that's not the point. It's perfectly okay in the context of a stage show type performance.

So really, no bad marks: the perfect weary-day end of evening show with the missus and bonding and all that lark.