Thursday

The plan had been to go for a swim this evening, what with the new healthy regime in full swing and all, but after K has had a bit of a crappy day at work and the rain starts to fall at around 5pm, we make the considered decision to sack off the swimming and go to the cinema instead.

We have a quick dinner when K gets home then head up Wood Green High Street towards the Cineword cinema in Shopping City. I've lived in this area for over two years now, but have never tried out the local Cineworld - ridiculous, really, given its proximity to my house and the fact that it's £3 a ticket cheaper than the Vue in Islington that we usually prefer - but I'd always feared it would be pretty horrible, and had heard testament to that effect. However, tonight we had a complimentary ticket obtained from K's sister, meaning that we'd only pay for one adult ticket between us.

We headed for the 8.45pm screening of Toy Story 3 (in 2D, of course; not being fans of the gimmicky cash-in fad of 3D cinema - much to the surprise of the guy behind the counter), meaning that we got the smallest screen in the place with the bare minimum of children. Perfect for watching a kid's film in peace, really. I've been a huge fan of the Toy Story series since the beginning (and even now it's hard to imagine that I was only 10 when the first one came out) and am a bit obsessive about Pixar in general, building my Blu-Ray collection around them exclusively - so I'm plainly excited about seeing the third and final instalment as we take our seats in the front row.

Much like the opening scene of Toy Story 2, the beginning is almost tongue-in-cheek epic, visually, suggesting the vast leaps the animation technology has taken since 1995. In fifteen years, CGI animation has moved from the charming if uncomplicated designs of Woody and Buzz to a world where every texture and every object looks and feels exactly right - the different weights of the materials represented in the Toy Story world have clearly been obsessively researched and calculated. This all creates an immensely satisfying realism to the way things move - but also adds to the knowing humour of the complex and downright clever situations Pixar create for their characters to deal with. Much like Up and Wall-E, the last two "original" Pixar movies, Toy Story 3 absolutely oozes class, charm and elegance - never patronising its young audience or making its older audience cringe with embarrassment. This is not an easy thing to accomplish.

By the end I have a huge smile on my face, reflecting on the fact that I have literally grown up with this series - aged 10 for the first one, 16 for the second and 25 for the third - and its nice to see a 15-year story arc put to bed. I think I want the Blu-Ray already.