Film Noir; The Portugese connection

Film noir (/fɪlm nwɑr/; French pronunciation: ​[film nwaʁ]) is a cinematicterm used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classical film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key black-and-white visual style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography. Many of the prototypical stories and much of the attitude of classic noir derive from the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Great Depression.

Norman Tebbit Fan?

Cyclical. Life is cyclical. And, if you only live twice it´s bicyclical. Film Noir is really Greek tragedy. Dry humour, dramatic irony, a pinch of farce and fate. The important thing is that you know what is going to happen before it does. Only the details retain any importance. And that's life in a nutshell. 

I am, of course, a little sad because Jacob is back with his mother for the month of August.

This has been a long, short, long month. Trips and tropes and tripe and tropes. Jacky now knows he has a real grandpa.

A Strange look

 Well, as luck would have it, we arrived in Portugal two hours early. I say, "as luck would have it" but what I should say is, "incompetence" rather than luck. Nevertheless we stopped in rather a nice mountain village with a rather presuming mansion or palace which we explored after cakes and coffee.

Can't resist a framing opportunity

We managed to play a bit of football eat sandwiches and pose stoically for photos.

Photo and sustenance supplied by old Gargoyle;

 The drinking fountain was pretty too. 

Young Lord of the Manor 

 Well there you go. He certainly looks to the manor born. Comfortable in role of young squire, soon to take on the mantle of responsibility (heaven forbid).

Ever fixéd mark

 Oh yea. That piercing interrogative gaze again. Healthy that, right to the core.

And Flowers

And the gobstopper in your gob?

In the airport in Porto, this was when the photo was taken. Little do we know at this stage that all will go well and smoothly. We weren't going to be arrested for absconding even though the authorities in Spain now have a protocol in place whereby both parents must go to the police station with the child in unison before they let you out of Spain via the airport. It's the same if you leave in a car or fly from a different a European country. Just as well.

Today's poem:

The flight found us homeward falling
Engines stalling, rain appalling. 
"The Fall" - Our descent, screamed unending
Your will unbending, impending.
I`m just pretending.

Skyward climbing through seamless blue
To fading memories of you
To another future pending
Suppurating wounds unmending.
I´m just pretending.

No longer anchored in the past
Floating incorporeal at last,
Where the garden waits our tending,
To you our love are sending
Unpretending.