Ma'am darling, if you please

Perhaps it is a sign of one’s ascent into one's 40's or is it society’s new found respect for me (ooh the St John’s Wort mixed with a touch of CBT just kicked in) but lately and very frequently, I’ve been getting addressed as ma’am by strangers . Not ma’am darling as I bask in the sun on the Isle of Mustique as these “strangers” obsequiously ply me with another gin and tonic, but Ma’am as in spam, as in when you’re in conversation with the Queen, not with the female D.I. or Super at your local Blighty nick. Generally it’s the kiddies or 20 something shop assistants who address me as Ma'am.

However, I was most perplexed when I was at the local Woolworths and a man around my age, said, “excuse me, ma’am” as he walked past me to reach the cash register. It was the third time I'd been called ma'am during that shopping expedition.

I really don’t know what it’s all about and I guess that it’s nice people are being polite. Still as it involves myself I find it all rather curious and I suspect that soon I will take umbrage if I’m not addressed as ma’am by all and sundry. So don't say you haven't been warned.

I saw the film “Capote” with the Lady Jo last night. It was pretty good but I was rather disturbed by it all. As a 60's US pop artist no doubt once sagaciously mused, "murder and manipulation are like total downers".

Anyway it rather pricked the love me bubble in which I had been floating for the past month or so. It was probably time for that to happen. Life, after all, cannot always be good time central.

I was aware that the film was not going to be about the life and times of Truman and was about his writing of In Cold Blood, am not mindless 60's pop cultural icon, after all, so was demi prepared for it not being non-stop carefree carry on with Capote. The film did feature a few martinis being sunk and several sugar coated but mostly vinegar laced barbs being uttered. However, I kept hoping there’d be mention of Gore Vidal’s disdain for Truman. And what I really wanted to see was a scene between Gore and the Bird, as Gore fondly called Tennessee Williams, in which the Bird would be raving to Gore about Truman’s public reading of excerpts from In Cold Blood at a theatre the night before. I then imagined Gore, who would be resplendent in his patrician glory sitting in some beautiful chair, perhaps with Jackie Kennedy to his left and Hughie Auchinchloss (sp?) to his right, coolly receiving the Bird’s rave, right eyebrow arched and grandly uttering his wonderful line “the last time I saw Truman Capote, I mistook him for an Ottoman chair”. Much laughter would ensue and Jackie’s pill, or pillar to post, box hat, (regardless, it would have sported a fascinator) toppling off her head and rolling to the floor, to be scooped up and returned to her crown with southern gallantry by the Bird.

Love Catherine Keener as Harper Lee. I just love Catherine Keener full stop. And loving Harper Lee is of course " a given". And really the film is good but I guess I should have waited to see Vidal.

Who would you cast to play Gore? Jude Law as a young Gore. That would be bad. Oh I can smell the potatoes that I’m roasting are burning. OH the chips.................