Enjoyment, crying and being (Les) miserable.

I am contemplating a change in schedule.  The fact that I write my bloggage of a Sunday evening may be giving them the slight tinge of melancholy.  I know this will come as a surprise to you, as no doubt I hide my sarcasm, cynicism and moaning well.

I have given it some thought but I can’t think of another time of the week when I have the time, energy or inclination.  We’ll see.

So how was the first proper week back after xmas?  It is a strange time.  Everyone is trying to lose weight yet the cupboards still groan with half a dozen selection boxes, some posh cheese crackers and a Luxury Christmas Pud.  In my case I also had a bumper size Toblerone to deal with.  I did the sensible thing and took it to the pictures with me on Saturday night.  For any normal person that would mean that they need not buy any over priced Pick n Mix from said cinema, but you will know by now that was not how it went down.

I jump ahead a little.  That was Saturday evening and an event of note took place that afternoon that I should share with you.

Having procured (at last) some almost affordable insurance that would allow Emily to drive the 1.0 litre beast that lurks in our garage, purchased some magnetic L Plates and girded my loins, we went out for the first time.

It felt a little surreal to be honest.  I sat next to her with a fifty-fifty mix of pride and absolute terror as she pulled away from the kerb, to her credit, not stalling.  For the next hour she drove around the local area on the roads on which over the years I have taken to her to –

• Playgroup
• Nursery
• Infant School
• Parties
• Ballet Lessons
• Junior School
• Guides
• Guitar Lessons
• A&E
• Secondary School
• Drama Workshop
• Drum Lessons
• Gigs
• College

Plus a million other journeys I have forgotten.  All of sudden there she is operating an actual car, and being pretty good at it too.  I remained calm at all times, with only a last-minute mild panic as she turned the final corner at about forty miles an hour in third gear.  How we laughed!

We spent about twenty minutes practising her reversing, and its safe to say that is where we will be concentrating our efforts.  Her theory is booked for early February, so it is time to give her as much practice as possible.  Beyond the incentive of being able to drive, and of course actually being insured on a car to do so, losing the crushing expense of weekly lessons will be one I shall celebrate almost as much as when she finally passes her test.

So onto the evening activities.  We had all been looking forward to watching Les Miserables since we first saw a trailer months ago.  So Louise, Emily, Louise’s Mum and I were booked for the 7pm show.  Rebecca had a prior arrangement at a friend’s party so she missed out.

We arrived early anticipating large crowds.  We had pre booked our tickets but wanted to bag some seats that meant we were not on the front row looking up Russel Crowe’s nostril for the entire film.

As you know, a 7pm film will only actually start about forty minutes later, so I patted myself on the back for having the foresight to get some Pick n Mix as well as my enormous slab of Swiss chocolate.  By the time it actually started a large dent had been made and I felt suitably sick.

The film itself was, in our view, fantastic.  We already loved the music and the stage version so were probably highly likely to like a film version, but it was superbly done.  Even Russell Crowe’s less than perfect singing voice could not detract from the enjoyment.  I sat next to Emily, and heard a fair amount of excessive sniffing at various points in the film, but as the final rousing chorus was in full swing she pretty much lost it.  This wasn’t just a dewy-eyed glimpse of emotion, but rather uncontrollable and full on sobbing that lasted all the way out of the cinema and most of the drive home.

This probably isn’t a reaction that would be commonly seen, but you have to bear in mind that Emily cries each and every time the WDW advert comes on.  You know, the one about the teenager going there and spending time with her parents.

She cries at Glee (every episode) Up….and Toy Story 3, every single time she watches them.  Personally, I think this is a lovely trait for a 17-year-old in this cynical day and age.

So if you are going to watch this film, you may get a little emotional, and you may not.  I suppose it depends on your emotional state and make up, and I don’t mean whether your mascara is waterproof or not.  Emily is going to watch it again on Wednesday with her friends.  This time she tells me she won’t wear eye make up and will take more tissues.  The small amount we took with us, knowing she may tear up were nowhere near sufficient!

It’s a long time since I watched a film that I needed tissues for, but that’s a different story.

Mind you if she takes another corner like she did on Saturday afternoon when I’m in the car with her I might cry a little, and need some clean underwear too.

Till the next time…..