Sandra's Cafe, Paris Street bus station, Exeter

Sandra's has been at this site for at least 5 years as far as I can remember, integrated into the very structure of the awful, 1970s bus station at the side of Paris Street.

It is an ultra-modernist bus station, very functional yet always cold and grubby, long, cantilivered concrete roof beams projecting a good 30 feet onto the bus bays themselves and over the chewing gummed, shattered paving stoned floor. The local routes start at the western end, places like Newton St Cyres, Crediton, Chagford. As you go towards the other end, the destinations become further away, from Sidmouth and Lyme Regis, to the Jurassic Coast and then London and other places around whole of Britain.

There are various vending machines scattered around and lots of - about 25 - bus bays, each guarded by steel railings all painted yellow.

Paris Street bus station is also built on a rather steep slope so that it has two decks, one for the arrivals and departures at the top and one below for parking.

At the western, Paris Street end may be found Sandra's cafe, itself split over two decks. There is an upper, bus level entrance and a lower, pavement/street entrance. Yet, the interior is all on just one floor, not even a mezzanine level which could have been incorporated due to the 15 feet interior.

The staff wear yellow and red overalls, each with the Sandra's logo and apparantly women (mostly under 30, I'd say). There is one long counter running almost the entire length of the room, about 30 feet, a long steel tray rack at the front. These back onto the food counter which accommodates a whole series of see-through plastic/perspex food cupboards, each containing standard, non-fancy fare like scones, pies, cakes, crisps and so forth.

Behind is the kitchen, its smell of onions, baked pies, chips, eggs, ommlettes and so forth wafting through the place. You would imagine this to be an ideal, velvet, moulded case for the cliched greasy spoon; you would not be wrong. However, there is a certain charm about this place, not least the prices, which are very reasonable.

The walls are adored by several enormous murals, some, if I remember, showing exotic places around the world (not the sort you would reach directly from Exeter bus station - on the other hand, you might get a coach to Heathrow or Victoria and actually go on to see these places). Fruit machines cover the lower sections of wall.

The clientele are almost entirely old and poor. Lots of shabby people, the sort you would expect to find on Rab C Nesbitt - can they all be travellers/passengers? My theory is that they are here because they like it and probably not even going anywhere.

I would say, overall, the staff are polite and hard-working and offer some perfectly adequate food. In summer, you could even enjoy your drink and meal on the patio outside! (Watching the buses and cars and fumes travelling along Paris Street). Then again, why not the Honiton Inn, opposite?

Film: Joyeux Noel (Christian Carion, France 2005)

This is an incredibly well-scripted, fascinating and deeply emotional film about the Christmas Day, 1914 truce between the French and Scottish on the one side and the Germans on the other. It is based on historical events, only available due to a few letters that survive to this day.

The plot/script is superb, with each side having characters and developments that all come to fruition at the scene of the truce itself. The causality is brilliant. There is also a clever device of switching between English, French and German with various subtitles depending on the country where you bought the DVD. It helps suture the plot and the audience into the day's events.

There are the two brothers from the Scottish highlands, one played by Stephen Robertson, who leave for the war in a regiment headed by the brilliant Alex Ferns, formerly of EastEnders of all things. Ferns played the bad guy, Trevor, in that awful soap series, yet here plays a tough yet reasonable commander.

There is, on the German side, the lieutenant and the tenor, the latter from Berlin, not really in the army at all, yet sent over on Christmas Eve to cheer them all up. There is even a strange cameo appearance from Ian Richardson, of all people, as a war-mad militaristic Bishop who after the even makes a terrifying speech urging the Allies to kill as many Germans as they can and to give up any fraternisation (again, based on real-life events and a speech in Westminster Abbey at the time).

They fight each other, friends and brothers are killed, but on Christmas Eve (the first of the war) they've all had enough and settle in for the night. The German singer starts singing and then the whole affair starts, carried along by the great motif of music. The Scots start playing their bagpipes, eventually matching the famous German song Silent Night with their own equally enigmatic and talismanic Auld Langsyne. It has to be heard to be appreciated.

On the DVD, the special features section has an interview with the director, Christian Carion, who is himself from Cambrai, one of the most iconic battle scenes of World War I. He explains various parts of the film but I would also recommend the audio commentary (just toggle the Audio button 2 or 3 times on the remote). Carion explains how most of the plot is based on true events, even the arrest of the cat, Felix/Nestor for high treason.

If I ever get a cat I shall name it Felix or Nestor in honour of this great film.

Film Review: Sophie Scholl - Die letzen Tage (Germany, 2005)

This is an interesting foreign language film about Sophie Scholl (Julia Jentsch), a formidable member of the White Rose, anti-Nazi resistance group active in Munich during 1943. She and her brother Hans print and distribute what might be termed samizdat leaflets, an obviously exremely dangerous activity in what was the home town of Adolph Hitler.

The two are students in the university and that was where they placed many piles of leaflets in the hope of creating some sort of uprising. Unfortunately, they got caught which leads to an amazing duel between Sophie Scholl and Robert Mohr (Gerald Alexander Held), the chief investigating officer of the police. The stakes are enormous, of course (under a charge of high treason) and Julia Jentsch is outstanding as a determined, very clever Sophie Scholl, coming up with answer after answer to the unending barrage of questions and evidence from Mohr.

Mohr initially disbelieves Scholl but she persuades him she is innocent and then is on the brink of release when Mohr uncovers unchallengable evidence from Scholl's flat.

As you'd expect from a film about arrest and interrogation, most of the film is shot indoors. Initially, Scholl's flat is bright and airy and illuminated by lots of American music. Outside, on the streets of Munich, the contrast could not be greater as everything is grey, dull and austere, just the garish red, white and black of swastika flags adding any (sinister) colour.

This is a very sad and thought-provoking film and the sheer heroism of Scholl and her group is incredible, almost impossible to understand from any free country in the early 21st century.

The end is simply heartbreaking, not least the awful method of execution of such an attractive, clever young woman. This comes after the almost parody of a trial - one of the infamous 'showtrials' held by the chief prosecutor down from Berlin to the "People's Court". He is awful, like that Streicher bloke in real life. Then again, what about Lord Haw Haw? He got executed for nothing more than the broadcast of words over radio.

A must-see film.