Going out
It was a glorious day yesterday. Bitterly cold, but the sunshine made it worth wrapping up for. For the first time in ages, we’d planned to go out; to meet friends and go to the cinema. It’s not that we don’t go out at all, but the CV means we’ve become used to only going on essential routine errands, or for regular commitments like swimming. The idea of just deciding to buzz off somewhere on a whim just doesn’t happen these days.
Last Saturday, we’d had an errand to run in Cheltenham. We chose to go early, before there would be crowds of people and, typically, arrived well before the shops opened. We hung around in the shopping centre entrance, taking shelter from the rain until opening time. It happened that we were standing outside the town’s newest cinema, The Tivoli and we stood reading the Whats On screen and peering through the windows, curious to know what it’s like inside.
There on the list of films showing right now was the Spielberg West Side Story, showing at 1pm and 6pm every day this week. We’d like to see that and maybe our friends would too…we noted the details and decided to sort something out.
That’s how the four of us and six other people were sitting comfortably on sofas in Cheltenham yesterday afternoon, waiting for the film to begin. Coincidentally, it was five years to the very day that we’d sat in similar surroundings awaiting LaLaLand in a cinema in The City of Stars!
We met our friends for lunch in the cafe-bar yesterday before the programme was due to begin and settled into our seats for the 1pm showing, watching the adverts and trailers for the next 35 minutes as the other couples had their food and drinks brought to their seats. Hmmm. Something to know for next time - though I can’t say the aroma added to the experience, or that I fancied eating pizza on my knee.
image from the West Side Story website
We loved the film and found the magnificent dance scenes reminiscent of that film we’d watched five years ago. The cinematography was superb and the fact that we all stayed awake in spite of sitting on comfy sofas in the dark after lunch says a great deal!!
There are so many film clips and the whole soundtrack on the website it’s easy to get a feel of why we enjoyed it so. As for the new cinema, there in the shopping centre, directly beneath the car park, it couldn’t have been more convenient or easier to access.
I think we’ll be back.
