What I Did On My Holidays. Day 1 - Evening.

We have acquired a bargain box set of twenty Woody Allen films so happily watched Manhattan again. I say again but I don't think I had actually watched this since seeing it at the cinema back in 1979. It had not inspired affection in me whereas many other Allen films have done so. I think I've detected the problem - it's not Annie Hall, a film which has massive emotional resonance because Sharon and I saw it on our first date.

Anyway, I suspect I enjoyed it more this time around. It still isn't Annie Hall but it doesn't set out to be. It is not Woody Allen's fault that you only go on one first date. Less whimsical, it is Allen's paean to a city he loves and the conflicted people who live there. It is funny but not as pressingly so - mind you it has several treasurable Allenisms - at one point he credits Diane Keaton's character with winning the Zelda Fitzgerald award for emotional stability. The black and white cinematography is stunning and the insistent score is key. Not one for the top fifty (which I promised to foist on you ages ago and still haven't done) but definitely worth catching.

We had pasta and garlic bread for tea washed down with cava. I recommend this as well.