I’m famished. Today is Christmas lunch day in the canteen which means they don’t serve anything else. This is free to staff, but alas as a contractor I am not included in this largesse. It’s also the day that the sandwich vending machine has broken down. So my option are : a) satify myself with Bounty bars and crisps. Ack. b) Go through the palaver of leaving the compound and travelling to the nearest town c) Go ahead and starve.

I doubt it’ll do me any harm though irritatingly being hungry is not one of those things you can ‘turn off’ like a twisted ankle or a sore throat. You keep thinking “I’m hungry.” It probably would have helped if my total food consumption yesterday hadn’t been :

2 x packet crisps
1 x kit kat
3 x pints lager
1 x tandoori chicken breast
2 x crispy duck rolls
1 x slice of bread with taramasalata

Actually I’m being a tad disingenuous. I know full well that if I just went down there and explained the situation I would be given Christmas lunch along with everyone else – it’s not like 1 more would make any difference. I guess I’m standing on ceremony because I’m a twat. And anyway I’ve got a bag of cheesy Doritos now. That was scary – Word automatically capitalizes the word Doritos . . . nice.

The reason I didn’t eat properly last night was because I was locked in prison, sorry the cinema, watching The Return of the King. Actually I enjoyed it a hell of a lot more than The Two Towers which I thought was weak. Some of the battle scenes are just fantastic – really impressive and there were a couple of really emotive bits. It’s all a bit ho-hum though isn’t it? Plus at 3¼ hours, while my attention didn’t wander I was definitely ready to go by the end. So well worth seeing, but you don’t come out of the cinema going ‘Woo-hoo’ or anything.

Perhaps it’s because I already know what happens (having read the book at least 3 times). I don’t have any problem with Peter Jackson’s interpretation or treatment, I think it’s remarkably close to how I imagined things would be, it’s just that somehow the characterisation and feeling of mystery doesn’t come through. Without that you’re kinda left with what is undoubtedly a kick-ass action movie, but well, if you already know what happens next, it’s just not as exciting.