Diary 27th And 28th February 2017

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Diary Monday 27th February 2017 I looked forward to today as the first full meeting of the film festival movie selection committee I am a volunteer for. We are preparing the One In Four film screenings for October, which involves showing 8 movies in two towns over a week. We have about 24 films to choose from, and each of us has to watch and vote on each to evaluate it for entertainment, education and relevance to mental health issues worth. I have already seen quite a few of the movies, having suggested some myself. Now we are to sign out a few films from the box in a room in the university, watch them and return them before picking more. Occasionally we will meet for group viewings too, as we did today with I Daniel Blake, which I have reviewed right here on Mylot too. Diary Tuesday 28th February 2017 I started the day with a shock, as my much needed money from the welfare people has not been transferred to my account. Ironic that I watched a movie on this kind of problem just yesterday. I phoned them, got the long listen to Vivaldi, as seen in the I Daniel Blake film, and got told that as February is such a short month, money is on hold until March 1st, this despite direct debit payments going out on set monthly dates and their own contract with me states that money is paid on the last day of the month, or earlier if the last day of the month falls on weekends. In other words they pay on the 28th of any month that date lands on a Friday but not just when it is in a shorter month. Such bare faced piracy really grinds my gears. I went to the community centre despite the rain and hail to watch a talk on local landmarks which was very enjoyable. We were shown slides of various Lancastrian sites ranging from the obvious, Blackpool Tower, to our own city’s eyesore bus station, seen by many as a classic example of Brutalism art, but to others including myself as a waste of concrete. Thanks to Helen Dixon for a lovely talk – just what I needed after such a rotten start to the day. Arthur Chappell