the irony is in there somewhere

If you’ve just joined us, welcome along. I’ve only been killing time ‘til you got here anyway.

Last weekend, the weather was absolutely stunning. It was hot, but there was a nice cooling sea breeze blowing. It shows how bad the weather has been recently when a nice weekend comes as such a surprise; but I digress. This perfect summer’s day presented me with an unexpected problem: I couldn’t decide what to do. I had a powerful compulsion to make the absolute most of the day, but I couldn’t think of how I could do that. This happens to me sometimes. I get so caught up in wanting to do something that I end up doing nothing at all.

I ended up going for a cycle, visiting my parents, and going to see Coffee and Cigarettes by Jim Jarmusch at the open-air cinema at the viaduct. The atmosphere was fantastic at the movie – such a change from the impersonal multiplex boxes I’ve become used to. I felt much more of a connection with the people around me, and there was so much more interaction amongst the moviegoers. The eccentric preamble by the projectionist/organiser helped a lot, I’m sure. Before the movie you could wander up to the front and buy a (good) coffee, food, or wine, but mostly we just sat there, munching on blueberries and watching a dramatic sunset. The movie itself was good fun – it was a series of almost unconnected vignettes all revolving around coffee and/or cigarettes. The scene with Meg and Jack White was almost worth the admission price on its own; it was absolutely hilarious. Jack’s deadpan delivery was inspired. Steve Coogan and Alfred Molina were very good, as were Iggy Pop and Tom Waits.