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Taking to the Streets
As a child, when I still imagined that television was interesting, I sent a great deal of my time ensuring I would not have to go to bed too early by watching the adult programmes; that is, those documentaries and news bulletins which I equated with being an adult, as opposed to what we now understand to be adult (sexual / violent) content. I gained, over several years, a very solid view of what the world was like: Thunderbirds was never going to be able to rescue us....
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The Crowded City
Every city is different, not just from its historical origins, but also the very manner in which it presents itself to the world. The people within are different too: subtle changes in fashion; accents and regional dialects; awareness of local history; acceptance of outsiders. The list might go on for several pages, if we put our minds to it, and not just from the things that we see as long-time residents or regular visitors, but also the characteristics which remain in the minds of those who come as tourists, no matter how briefly....
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It Isn’t All Tourism
When I visit a new town or city, I tend to spend hours just wandering round the streets randomly, looking at the people, the shops, the architecture, the little things which come together to make a community within a city centre. I note the people standing in front of churches and museums, town halls, ornate buildings with a long history which contribute to the whole atmosphere, posing with their cameras or, more often, their mobile telephones to either capture memories, or to prove they were there. I see people consulting maps and tourist guides, going from one well-worn area to another, queuing up at museums, pushing heavy doors open to…
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Appropriate Weather
I commented recently on weather perceptions at funerals, and the way many films seem to portray the moment when the remains of a loved, or unloved, person are laid in their final resting place. Here, over the last three days, I have not been disappointed. Aside from a brief period of relative warmth under clouded skies, rainwater has increased the flow of the river, cleaned the streets, soaked those coming out of the train station and walking through town. A fortnight earlier, I am told, the area was covered in snow....
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Closing A Chapter
All the best films starting with a scene set in a cemetery seem to go for rainy weather. A small group dressed in black, under umbrellas, gathered around an open hole in the ground as a pastor says a few words from the little black book, and the casket is lowered into the grave. Sobs and sympathy all round, flowers and earth on the wooden box, and off we all go. There follows the usual words as people walk off, or the detective in charge comments to the Sergeant, or the lover races up to the waiting limousine hoping that now the time has come....
