running through my mind

today's 3 miles steady was too uneventful to write about, so you'll have to settle for the (true) story that was running through my mind while I ran.

Last night I went for dinner in one of my favourite gastropubs, the Anglesea Arms in Hammersmith. Even for a Friday night, it was really busy and all the tables were full twice over.

About halfway through our meal, the table next to us filled up for second time. Its occupants were a woman and two men. I couldn't see the woman's face but the two men were Michael Sheen - star of Oscar-nominated movies the Queen and Frost/Nixon and more recently, The Damned United. The other guy used to be Warren in This Life on BBC2 in the mid-90s and I've not seen him in a thing since. I was quite excited to see a movie star in the pub, even if he is homegrown. The two middle-aged couples on the table on the other side also seemed very excited to see them, even if they were being really indiscreet about it.

Anyway the actors seemed to be having a nice evening between Welsh friends. Sheen was taking the mick out of the other bloke for going to see Coco Before Chanel. Your average Friday night conversation between mates.

One of the men from the couples' group got up to go to the loo - clearly legless - and on his way back, decided to stop at their table. He doesn't even register Michael Sheen but instead turns round to the other guy and says
'weren't you in Midsomer Murders* recently?'

So there you go, any actors reading this blog. You really want to be famous, tell your agent to stick those Hollywood movies and those high-profile parts. You can play Tony Blair as many times as you want, but what really counts is those bit parts in a lousy ITV cop drama :)


LON

*for our American readers, Midsomer Murders is a dull, repetitive provincial English cop series. Midsomer is a small rural town in England where someone gets murdered every week. It's about as far from the Wire in quality and plotting as you're going to get.