A brace of birthdays

So this is about 2 weeks too late, but I suppose late blogging is bettter than no blogging. We had the lovely Matthew's birthday dinner at Tamesa the other night, then we went roller skating. Tres retro. I am not sure, but I think Matthew might be gay. Paul certainly hopes so.



Then the Saturday before last (yep, get your Kylie/Aussie Rules footballers calendars out to figure out which Saturday), we had Don's birthday - complete with Brazilian waiting staff. I thought they melded into the crowd quite well in their roman slave outfits. Not that I noticed them.






We've also seen some films! And they were both French (see - I can do highbrow, too!). The first was 'Tell No One (Ne le dis à person)', which I really enjoyed. It was different to see a non-hollywood action/thriller. It must have been good because Paul attempted to exceed his 3-question quota ('Why is he doing that?' etc etc). I wasn't having any of it though. If you let them exceed it once, they'll only try to raise to four and before you know it, you'll find yourself with a 7-question limit at movies. I gave it 8.5/10.

The very next night (two films in two nights, imgaine how much we spent on popcorn, enough to buy a small flat in Melbourne!), we saw 'La Vie en Rose' (apparently so good, it doesn't need to an English translation for it's title). I didn't really rate it, (6.5/10,purely for the acting of Marion Cottilard), but it was worth it for 'Non, je ne regrette rien'. It's a song that unfortunately will forever be associated with a Nescafe ad in Australia for me, but it's still fantastic. I remember studying the lyrics in my short-lived french classes. Here they are (thanks to this) and apologies for the apalling layout. Heres a clip of Edith Piaf singing it live:

Non, je ne regrette rien

Non, rien de rien Non, je ne regrette rien Ni le bien qu'on m'a fait, ni le mal Tout ca m'est bien egal Non, rien de rien Non, je ne regrette rien C'est paye, balaye, oublie Je me fous du passe Avec mes souvenirs J'ai allume le feu Mes chagrins, mes plaisirs Je n'ai plus besoin d'eux Balayes les amours Et tous leurs tremolos Balayes pour toujours Je repars a zero Non, rien de rien Non, je ne regrette rien Ni le bien, qu'on m'a fait, ni le mal Tout ca m'est bien egal Non, rien de rien Non, je ne regrette rien Car ma vie, car mes joies Aujourd'hui, ca commence avec toi

No, nothing. No, I regret nothing. Neither the good done to me, nor the bad; to me, they're all the same. No, nothing at all. No, I regret nothing. It's all paid for, swept away, forgotten; I don't care about the past. With my memories, I've lit a fire. My sorrows, my pleasures, I need them no more. Swept away are my loves and all their tremors. Swept away forever. I start from scratch. No, nothing really. No, I have no regrets. Neither the good done to me, nor the bad; to me, they're all the same. No, nothing. No, I regret nothing. Because my life, because my joys, today, begin with you.

And then this Saturday we saw Shrek 3 - it managed to keep my attention for the length of the film, and the kids seemed to like it. I'd give it a 7/10. We saw it in Ipswich, which provided possibly the best argument I've seen so far against first cousins marrying.