4/27/23

 Thursday, April 27, 2023

In bed at 9:30, up at 11:30 with GERD, on the bedroom recliner until 2:05, up at 6:05, 6 pss.  Mostly sunny day ahead, 35℉, high of 57℉, S wind at 8 mph, 4 to 13 mph during the day, gusts up to 20, current wind chill is 28℉.  Sun rose at 5:49, sunset at 7:48, 13+57.

Mum  Geri came upon this series on BritBox a couple of night ago after I had gone to bed.  We both really enjoy it.  The heroine is Cathy, a 59, then 60 year old widow who lost her husband less than 2 years ago.  She lives with her son Jason and his girlfriend Kelly and her mother-in-law Maureen and father-in-law Reg, and is frequently visited by her brother Derek and his divorced lady friend Pauline.  She is also visited by Michael, a long-term friend of hers and her late husband Dave.  Michael has secretly been in love with Cathy (played by Lesley Manville) since the day he met her, though she was married to his friend Dave.  The series focuses on Cathy's evolving love for Michael, despite opposition from her son Jason and despite some feelings of guilt because of her fairly recent widowhood.  Cathy and Michael are serious characters but they play their parts against a constant background of buffoonery by Cathy's family, especially by Kelly (played by Lisa McGrillis) who is the epitome of obtuseness, insensitivity, and an absence of filters in her comments to Cathy.  She represents these qualities too often found in young people dealing with elderly relatives.  Son Jason represents the adult son who continues to rely on, i.e., take advantage of, his mother for housing, housekeeping, and general care.  Derek is a bit of a dullard hopelessly in love with Pauline, a demanding snob and a master of down-putting comments to others, including Cathy and Derek.  Reg and Maureen round out the characters as cantankerous oldsters.  The series reminds me a bit of Schitt's Creek, with the comic characters (i.e., those other than Cathy and Michael) hilariously playing their over-the-top roles.

Sherwood.  I'm also watching this BBC series on BritBox, based on 2 murders in a Nottinghamshire coal mining village.  The villagers are still divided between the strikers who went out on strike in 1984-85 during the Margaret Thatcher regime and those who crossed the picket lines, the 'scabs.'  An important part of the plot is the belief among the villagers that during the strike, Thatcher's government placed a 'spy cop' in their village, a spy who integrated himself or herself into village life, and made regular reports to the government in London about the strikers and the scabs.  I've watched 4 or the 6 episodes and don't know how the mystery of the spy and the murders is resolved. . . . . . .  I watched the last two episodes today.  Feel good ending, but good rendition of the damage done to individuals and the community by the hatred between the strikers and the 'scabs.'  Terrific series, very serious.

VA Urology Clinic.  10 minute visit with the urologist.  Should have been handled by phone.  Interesting that he agreed with my decision not to take the med he had prescribed for me because of uncertainty re therapeutic benefit (pain relief) and side effects, especially for elderly.