An afternoon without the

For a while we’ve been promising ourselves that, when the is in the nursery five days a week, we’d take some leave and go and do grown-up things without him. We finally got around to doing yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon, since ‘s sister was visiting.

First off, the cinema. If any of you haven’t yet seen Zodiac, and if you still have the chance, do so. It’s a true-crime police procedural/investigative journalism cross, and owes a certain amount to All the President’s Men. Good performances, and excellent art direction (even if the Volkswagen Golf never seems to get dirty). Very effective and naturalistic use of CGI, particularly the time-lapse of the Transamerica Tower and some of the aerial follow shots.

Of course, this was all at the Harbour Lights, so we watched the film with pints in hand. In retrospect, this was perhaps not such a good idea; the film was about 2h30m but felt much longer with a full bladder.

That evening, we left the with his auntie and headed out for a grown-up meal in a restaurant, specifically at Yalda, just off Commercial Street. For the Sotonites amongst you, it’s a rather good Persian restaurant, and reasonably priced (just under £40 for two, not including alcohol).