Yesterday evening I went with some friends from CU to the cinema, and we watched A Very Long Engagement, the French film starring Audrey Tautou as Mathilde. She lives in hope that her fiancé Manech, who was sent to fight in the trenches of the First World War and has been reported dead, is alive.

It was very good – the mysteries of what happened unfolded in a pleasingly twisty turny way, it was visually dramatic, and quite an emotional rollercoaster. Hardly surprisingly given that a lot of the action took place in the trenches, there was quite a lot of blood and violence, and also a fair bit of sex, so it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but there were also many touches of warmth and humour. It’s very moving, and I’m glad I went to see it.

Lectures are starting again on Monday, so I’ll be back in the usual routine! Annoyingly, I got an email yesterday saying that the English lecturer has swapped around the order of the books we’ll be reading. I’ve read Dracula, which was going to be the first one, but now we’ll be looking at The French Lieutenant’s Woman first, which I’m only a short way in to. Probably a cunning ploy to get us to read them all at the start of the term…

Today is the birthday of Phil, the leader of the Navigators group here in Cardiff – a Christian group who meet for Bible study and so on. Happy Birthday Phil! Later on I’ll be going round to his house to celebrate his birthday while watching the rugby game between Wales and England.

Well, I better be off – I’m typing this at the public library and only have a couple of minutes left. I seem to have dropped my mobile in the cinema last night but the security people who handle lost property aren’t there until midday, so I popped into the library across the road! I pray I’ll get it back!