Moving Pictures
I have to confess to being a bit of a cry-baby. The strangest things will cause my eyes to leak like an Alaskan oil pipe. Today, for instance, I was wandering around Glasgow city centre when I cames across the vandalised hulk of the in Renfield Street. It earlier this year, evidently unable to complete with the big Cineworld tower just up the hill. But it was the sign over the graffiti-splashed doorway that brought a lump to my throat.
31 DEC 34 - 7 JAN 06 THANKYOU AND GOODNIGHT
Hogmanay 1934 - what kind of world was that? What kind of films did Glaswegians go to see? How many of back-row romances? How many of them survived the second world war?
And there were personal memories too. I rememeber going to see Bambi in that very cinema and, in my teenage years, all the James Bond movies. It brought to mind all the other lost cinemas that were such a big part of my youth. There was the State in Shettleston when I saw Funny Girl and the Parade in Dennistoun where I saw Kelly's Heroes. So many memories. Sniff.
Of course you have to understand that, as a family, we're at the start of a very emotional week. Four days from now we'll be following the big removal truck up to Inverness and starting a new chapter in the north. Tonight we concluded a bit of a family ritual when the children stood against the kitchen door so I could mark their heights. We do this every few months or so but tonight it dawned on us that this would be the last time we'd be able to compare the marks with those of the past few years. Not unless we take the kitchen door with us to Inverness.
More watery eyes later as we gathered around the TV to watch a DVD copy of Finding Neverland. Mrs Z is on a bit of a Johnny Depp kick at the moment and I had been sent into town earlier in the day to find a copy of Sleepy Hollow. I failed but brought home Finding Neverland instead. It's the one where Johnny plays J.M. Barrie , the Scottish author of Peter Pan. It's a real tear-jerker with it's theme of love, death and lost childhoods.
Excuse me while I open another box of tissues. Meanwhile, does anyone have a spare copy of Sleepy Hollow?
