The Life of Riley.

I cannot remember the last time I struggled to get a disinfectant wipe out of its packet. I haven't seen a hoover in weeks. The washing machine has gone into hibernation and the dust pan and brush are gathering dust themselves without any intervention from me.I went for some retail therapy on Tuesday afternoon in the great shopping metropolis that is Garden City and ended up booking an appointment, for the following day, at the opticians. I have finally done something about getting some prescription sunglasses.Tuesday night Will and I went out to the cinema.......'Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation'. It was our first time at Hawthorne Cinemas and to be honest the screen in Cinema 4 was not much bigger than out new telly but we were out and about so it didn't matter. The film was OK. I did love Rebecca Ferguson (who?) though. She is Swedish and was in The White Queen on TV but here was a very British spy called Ilsa Faust. Such a British sounding name....scriptwriters are so clever.There were only 6 of us in the cinema but I wasn't exactly at ease as the two lads sat behind us appeared to have all the attributes needed to be lone wolf killer gunmen. The chunkier of the two, obviously not the brains, was as lithe as a Neanderthal and the thin one spent most of the film talking on his phone........"I do care," I heard him say at one point.......I didn't believe him.Perhaps the Neanderthal had forgotten to bring the guns but anyway we got out alive.I went back to Hawthorne Cinemas yesterday on my own......because I could........and watched 'Mr Holmes' with Sir Ian McKellen. It was in cinema 1 which turned out to be massive and quite a shock after cinema 4 the night before. The seats were faux leather and made a loud 'Pfffttttttttt' sighing sound as you sat down on them and the air escaped. I was the only one in at first but I was joined by a few other pensioners soon after.........'Pfffftttttt'........'Pfffftttttt'........'Pfffftttttt'. A young couple came in............'Pfffftttttt'.............'Pfffftttttt'.The film started and then three middle aged ladies tottered in...........'Pfffftttttt'......'Pfffftttttt'....'Pfffftttttt'........but they weren't happy with their seats so they moved three rows forward...........'Pfffftttttt'......'Pfffftttttt'....'Pfffftttttt'.......but then, you would not believe it, got up and moved back again!.......'Pfffftttttt'......'Pfffftttttt'....'Pfffftttttt'.......It was all I could do not to cry out "Oh, for Goodness sake!"So, Ian McKellan was an elderly Sherlock Holmes, in his 90's, facing death...........it was, I decided, not the best choice of film under the circumstances. It was a bit slow, tottering along as fast as Ian McKellen did.......but it passed a few hours.I returned unto Garden City in the afternoon for my opticians appointment. I was a bit early. There was a smartly dressed gentleman behind the desk and I assumed he was the optician.He asked if he could help and I told him I had an appointment but was a bit early. He called over a small, giggly Asian girl who laughing, said something that I did not understand but took to mean 'follow me please."Ah, she is going to puff air in my eyes I thought before I see the man later......but no, it turned that out she was the optician!She looked 12.I have to say she was very thorough and turned out to be very professional. The smart man was just the 'till boy'.....but following my eye examination he took $750 off me for my new thin varifocal lenses with anti scratch coating and my new Ray Ban polarised sunglasses.I do need them....he writes, as he sits looking out at the dull, grey, rain laden sky today.