I should know better

I must be more careful in naming dogs. Fidget has really grown into his name. He is a total scatterbrain in the ring, spinning round at every new attraction, never still, and a total embarrassment. At home he is quiet, affectionate, given to jumping on my knee and solemnly touching noses, a strange ritual which seems to have deep meaning for him but simply leaves me cold (literally.) He is now over a year, and I have given him solemn lectures on the responsibilities of an adult male (which I think he simply sees as a duty to swagger, and pee a lot more when out).

Escaping from the demands of the dogs, (and especially the elderly pack, which I have recently come to describe as the Granny Farm) I have this year managed to see all the Oscars hopefuls. (Apart from the 2 animation categories, and I am working on that.)

The Black Swan - well, I think I wasn`t supposed to laugh, but it was hilariously OTT. It reminded me somehow of forties gothic noir, and I could see it in black and white, with a very young Vincent Price playing the Svengali director, the gratuitous sex just hinted at, and a lot more dancing. Anyway, The Red Shoes did this sort of thing better. I liked the part where Odile sprouted feathers, though.

As to The King`s Speech - my mum would have loved it. And so will most of America, for whom it has been carefully created. Nice - really nice, with royals and all. What more can you ask?

I was interested to see Wallis Simpson very unfavourably portrayed. I used to know the daughter of someone who worked for the Windsors, when they lived in France after the abdication. She said that he was an absolute darling, still very much in love, but that she was a hard, bitter woman - one who had gambled for everything and lost.

She could have taken lessons from Camilla, then.