It’s always a risk going to the Harlow Cineworld, particularly on a Saturday and especially in the evening. At best the film will be spoilt by incessant chattering, rattling popcorn, coke slurping and the stench of sneaked in hot takeaway food. At worse, full scale war.
I had a premonition of evil as soon as I pressed through the glass doors and fell into the foyer and it wasn’t because The Last Exorcism was being shown on Screen One. I was instantly dazzled by the brightness of gold chains resting on bare chests, with gelled back hair and testosterone dripping from the ceiling. There was plenty of bare nubile flesh on view as well, sprayed generously with fake tan, and wearing glittering skirts akin to belts and makeup trowelled on to excess. When one apprentice slut approached me and said ‘mate, me boyfriend wants to fight you’ I rapidly came to two conclusions, first, a contingent of travellers had invaded Harlow, and second, they were to join me in watching The Last Exorcism.
I escaped a fight with the Rambo-like monster by offering him a puny smile. With pride buried I sneaked into a brimming Screen One. The safe option was to sit near the back where I could observe the hostility as the travellers arrived in small groups, bouncing along the aisles with bling in full tow. They quickly took up several rows, chaos followed.
The play-fighting, mock arguing and cackling into mobiles spilled into the commercials and eventually into the start of the film. The inevitable complaints came and security guards were called in but they were hopeless. I spotted Rambo squaring up to one of the guards, if he missed out on his chance of murdering me then he would seek vengeance on this undernourished Somalia security guard. Rambo took the first step by nudging the guard’s shoulder, alarmed, he then snarled and responded by calling Rambo a ‘gypsy shit’. I heard it clearly, as did the couple in front and so did the 30-odd gypsy shits. Clearly panicked, the guard mumbled something into his shoulder before two further guards promptly arrived. The film had been running for 20 minutes but the live entertainment was more gripping. I was expecting a riot. Within minutes the lights were switched on and several police officers had stormed Screen One. Rambo was arrested, a popular decision greeted with plenty of applause. There was one further arrest, the fake tan confirmed it was Rambo’s girlfriend, and the rest of the travellers were given centre stage and a police escort away from the cinema.
The film was restarted, with no further incident, however I couldn’t help imagining Rambo, knife in mouth, flesh camouflaged, stalking my car and seeking revenge on an evening spoilt. I half-contemplated leaving the car behind and taking the train home, such was my paranoia.
Sneaking off early from work with the promise of finishing the writing that report at home, and then making a detour to the cinema will always be a treat. It wasn’t long before I settled in to one side of the front row, with a sack of economy chocolate covered peanuts. When I say front row I mean the row of seats in front of that wide gangway and beyond that the row of seats reserved for freaks with triple-jointed necks. However, Harry Brown beckoned and apart from a depressed sixty-year old sitting on the back row, I was alone.
The most incredible scene then happened. A barely-conscious man, I’d say in his 70s, was wheel-chaired into the auditorium. I say he was barely conscious because he was wearing an oxygen mask whilst clawing onto a gas cylinder. A complicated process then followed where, I presume his son, managed to excavate him out from the wheelchair before dropping him on a seat in the front row, with gas cylinder placed carefully on his lap. The wheelchair was then folded and tucked away out of reach. Now there were four of us, sitting comfortably, waiting for the commercials to begin.
With seconds to go in walked a chubby little man, sadly dressed like Vincent Vega from Pulp Fiction, greased back black hair, dark suit, black tie and white shirt. Walking by his side, a fairly attractive blonde–haired woman, they were probably both in their early thirties. Vincent Vega then stopped in front of the wheelchair man, squinted several times at his cinema tickets, then barked out: ‘these are my seats’. There were a further 230 odd seats in the auditorium for fuck’s sake! I couldn’t quite follow the son’s response but I clearly caught Vega’s reply: ‘I paid for these particular seats so I can sit in the middle of the front row so I can enjoy the film, so if you don’t mind’. Incredibly the girlfriend, who didn’t look anything like Uma Thurman, appeared not to be embarrassed, I could only assume she was familiar with the routine.
At the risk of being slashed across the face, I felt I had to intervene. I took a deep breath and approached Vega: ‘Man, you can’t expect this guy to shift, it’s just not fair’, I agree, pretty tame. Vega ignored me, the battle was between the son & Vega. The son looked at me with raised eyebrows, I backed off and prayed the son would produce a machete and lop off Vega’s shoulder. As I sat back the son started the complicated process of lifting his father back onto the wheelchair, with gas cylinder in tow before moving several seats along into the corner of the front row. Moments later Vega and girlfriend were sitting comfortably, in their purchased seats, slap bang in the middle of the front row, chomping on popcorn and slurping on coke. There were no further incidents, although I would have stabbed Vega.
Harry Brown was a top movie with Michael Caine in great form. Vega and girlfriend left first, followed by the old man with depression. As I left I approached the wheelchair man, shrugged my shoulders, wrinkled both eyebrows and lips and quickly disappeared.
Another trip to Brighton, another ride on National Express, an inability to resist a Funfare bargain, ok so I’m cheap! I’d earlier left London Victoria station and entered Buckingham Palace Road when it was pelting it down. Japanese tourists were being blasted against walls in their cagoules such was the ferocity of the gale force winds. Soaked and steaming I just about made it safely to the coach station to slid into a window seat midway along the coach. Estimated time of arrival in Brighton was just over 2 hours and 10 minutes, in this weather, realistically it was going to be nearer to 3 hours. I Prepared myself for a stiff arse and an uneasy sleep.
With 5 minutes left to departure the coach was hijacked by a works outing. I discovered later, by carers and admin support staff from a residential care home in South London. I was honoured to have, wedged in behind me, Hettie who had a compulsive eating disorder, along with a talking disorder, and who hyperventilated for the entire journey to Brighton. Hettie’s best friend was called Marjorie who was equally as obese and was pressed in beside Hettie, she was also sitting immediately behind my rucksack. They had known each other since primary school, and last year Marjorie had a corn removed from her foot, which was painful, perhaps not painful enough. They proceeded to prattle on for the next 3 hours in a dialect reminiscent of West Indian cricket commentators from the 1970s.
The first startling revelation was that Marjorie’s husband was losing his sex drive, something to do with his “lavido” going down hill. Hettie suggested that he would benefit from eating spicy food, apparently that’s what her mum would have recommended. How would that conversation ever have come about? Would Hettie’s mum have confided in her about her own father or perhaps she had already spoken to her mother about her own husband?
Hettie then gave a monologue on the history of her menstrual cycles for the past 5 years. It was gruesome especially in the knowledge that Hettie was currently experiencing the back end of a typical period from hell and wondered whether she had brought enough pads for the journey and wouldn’t have been half surprised if she leaked onto the seat. I thought perhaps she could ask the coach driver for a fire blanket to double up for a pad, this would have seen her safely through to Brighton, she could then have freshened up in the sea.
I had little choice but to listen to these exchanges, which were indispersed with belly laughs, which in turn shook the rivets of my seat. My Iphone was down to its last 10% of battery life, so listening to AC/DC was not an option to drown out their interference. Collectively they soon tore apart Kelly, a work colleague, who was not only eating excessively at work, ha, that’s rich, she was also spending too much time on her mobile and, wore no “undies” to work! I cannot even begin to imagine how they worked this one out.
After what seemed like 3 days we eventually approached Gatwick Airport in a deluge. I anticipated an announcement condemning me to several more hours of misery in the coach due to the weather, however the coach driver took pity on me and decided to continue with his journey and even made an amusing reference to Noah and racing him to Brighton’s seafront. Soon Hettie and Marjorie couldn’t resist breaking into their lunch boxes, it was barely 11 in the morning. I could hear Hettie ripping into smoked chicken thighs whilst Marjorie slurped down a rice dish overdosed with garlic. They also shared an enormous loaf and a large bottle of Diet Coke. Although I couldn’t be certain, I suspected it was Marjorie who was belching the loudest. In my desperation I was the first to scramble out of the coach, I wanted to get as far away as possible from the fearsome Hettie and Marjorie.
There are times when I feel like escaping to Brighton for a night or two, The intention is never sexual, you must understand that, it’s more to do with escapism, to get away from the stress of work and the senseless mayhem of home life, and there’s plenty of that. I relish that moment when I’ve negotiated a decent B&B rate, climbed the creaking staircase before I can stretch out on a foreign mattress, breathing in the recent streak of cleanliness, adequately undertaken by an underpaid Armenian student. That’s when I drop into a catnap for an hour a so and wash away a layer of tiredness, yesterday (13 May) was no different.
Showered and refreshed I left Kemp Town and headed for the tidier part of Brighton, with the cooler bars and restaurants. I felt quite stylish for a change with a loose black shirt, tight skinny jeans, jacket and a new pair of leather boots that needed breaking in, I need to be careful not to kid myself too much, I mean about the attire.
The Cricketers beckoned, apparently the oldest public house in Brighton, they were serving Carlsberg so that was good enough for me. I stood at a wide bar with lots of brass and soon got chatting to a local psychopath, I did wonder if he had done time in my local library but this line of inquiry would have been lost on him. He was an ex-hippy sort with a grey ponytail and with the red-veined nose of a raging alcoholic. There was something alarming about him; I suppose it was the eyes, the way they stared through me, little like Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lecter. He insisted on repeating the same story about having “done” the gardens for a local ex-MP who happened to be in the pub, drinking with his “bird”. Grinning, he would raise his thumbs up at an embarrassed looking guy called Tony. The psychopath later introduced himself as Dave and confided in me that Tony had fiddled his expenses and that there was always plenty of cash lying around. I do pick them I realise that. Dave was convinced that Tony was still in the illegal arms business, more realistically, Dave was on hallucinogenics. He kept threatening to leave and go back to his pad, but this never materialised, instead he made a beeline for the ex-MP, patted him on the head like a true psychopath and said “I know who you are Tony mate”, Tony choked on his red wine but Dave continued nevertheless, “I used to do your gardens, and I know all your little fucking secrets.” I doubted whether these two people had ever met, but this was gripping stuff. At this point Dave tapped his nose, turned and winked at me, leaving an embarrassed ex-MP cowering.
I’d finished my Carlsberg and had prepared my excuse, I had to leave this madman behind, but Dave had other ideas. He managed to scrounge half a Stella off me. He thought my black leather wallet which was hooked to my jeans with a chain was rather cool then asked if I was gay, I was mortified, it never occurred to me that Dave could be a psychopathic homosexual and this spectacular performance was simply foreplay designed to impress me. Fearful of being picked up I said something lame like “no way man.” He then moved too close, I could smell the stench on his breath, and then he looked down and said “nice boots man’. I acknowledged the compliment and then the conversation became really weird when a now perspiring Dave said “take them off mate, I wanna try them on.” What little moisture was left in my mouth and throat instantly evaporated, I whispered something ridiculous like “my feet stink man”, why I said that I’ve no idea, perhaps just a pathetic attempt to appear tough, macho or both. This seemed to encourage Dave, he shoved my shoulder before continuing with his foreplay “go on man, I wanna try on your fucking boots man.” I was now expecting the worst, the worst being the squealing pig scene in Deliverance but to my great surprise he turned his back to me, slurped back his Stella, and to my great relief called me a “fucking tosser” and speedily left the pub. I waited an agonizing five minutes, conscious that I was involved in a couple of scenes with a madman, albeit my association, and that people were watching me with caution, then, when normality resumed in the pub, I made my getaway into a darkening Brighton.
Roaming Brighton the other day (8 May) thought I would visit Harry Ramsden’s opposite the seafront, my grumbling stomach craved a meat pie and chips combo. It took so long for the food to arrive I wondered what sort of Fawlty Towers mayhem was taking place in the kitchen. I was left with little choice therefore to take in the ambience and eavesdrop on any interesting conversations. To my left sat a gay couple, sharing a plate of chips and I’m not kidding, a savaloy. There was plenty of knee slapping, head rocking back antics and hand clapping, attention seeking? Just a little.
An Australian couple in their 60s sat further to my right. With only three tables to serve it still astonished me that my meal was taking so long, it was now 25 minutes and counting, the ice cubes had already melted in my Diet Coke and I was beginning to palpitate. I was however intrigued by their conversation. The Aussie male was wearing khaki, matching tops & bottoms and had something ridiculous to say about nearly everything on the menu, the Aussie female would nod an occasional acknowledgement. The Polish waitress, exhausted, replied with a straight face every time.
Straining his eyes he began by questioning the pie section then looked at his partner and said “I dunno Carol, this steak & kidney pudding, is it a dessert? I just need to know.” His stupidity time warped me back to the 70s and a Dirty Harry scene, the well do you feel lucky punk scene, and as Callahan walks away, the shot black dude on the floor says “I gotsta know”, Harry obliges by firing on an empty chamber.
The Aussie male then went on to ask if the cutlery came warmed up! Astonishing remark, what a dick. Still waiting for my food I was reminded of Bernard Cribbins in the Fawlty Towers Spoon scene in “The Hotel Inspectors”. When The Aussie male’s dessert finally arrived, something and custard, he managed to hoof down the something pretty quickly. Bearing in mind that custard, once served in a bowl, tends to cool down after a while, and I’m sure this has been proven scientifically by greater minds than mine, but whilst still chewing the last of the something, he raised his hand and summoned the manager. As the Latvian manager stood over the Aussie male, beaming and waiting to please, he became aghast as the Aussie male stuck a finger in the custard and exclaimed it wasn’t warm enough. The manager, stunned I would have assumed, took the bowl of custard away, hopefully pissing in it before returning the microwaved dish (I heard the “ping” it was that quiet in Harry Ramsden’s) back to Aussie male.
He then proceeded to taste the custard like a wine connoisseur, nodding his approval before dismissing the Latvian with a wave of the hand, omitting any eye contact. Extraordinary! My food, when it finally arrived, was spectacularly delicious, but by then the gay couple and the Aussie pair had departed, leaving me alone in a great mausoleum.
A Japanese family appeared on the beach in Cannes today (14 May) and decided to join me. It was blisteringly hot and their two identical boys were not happy. They were stripped down to their trunks by their mother, who smothered them in a thick factor 400 cream then hurriedly covered them both up again in dressing gowns and sun hats. They sat on the sand, playing disinterestedly with some digger-type trucks and super hero figures. The father spent the next half an hour constructing an elaborate wind barrier, but there was no bloody wind, I just couldn’t see the point! He then sat down in jeans exhausted. The mother, quite attractive with a thin, gaunt face, fussed around bags of clothes and gallons of sun factor creams and oils. As a foursome they looked horrendously out of place, they were on the wrong holiday, and then there was the bombshell.
After a while the Japanese family settled and the father handed the mother a 20 euro note to go out and search for some food, she skipped away enthusiastically. Half an hour later she returned with a bag of food and the husband completely flipped. In these situations language barriers are not a problem, body language is all that counts. He ripped her apart because she returned with no change! Crime of the century, she had squandered 20 euros on food, I’m surprised she avoided what must have been a temptation to stab him, or at the very least lift the nearest rock and smash his skull. His rant lasted a full ten minutes before he quietened down, but the damage had been done. The mother remained calm throughout; she stiffened her lips, looked away and blanked him. He tried hard for the next hour to make up for his over reaction but she wasn’t interested in the least. He even offered her half of his sandwich. She did however take it off him, stared at it as if it was a bear turd before tossing it away into a rubbish bag. He later placed his hand on her shoulder but she shrugged it off as if was a tarantula. It wasn’t long before she packed her bag, ordered her boys to dress (they were very relieved to step out of their ridiculous dressing gowns), and headed off back to their hotel. The father grimaced at being left alone but soon he too packed up his considerable belongings and trudged off back to find his family, thinking along the way, I’m sure, that sex, of any sort, would be off the agenda for several months at the very least!
E
arlier today I took advantage of being single for the day and cut a return trip to Cannes, Cote D’Azur for the day (17 May). It was spectacularly hot and humid and the temperature on the train was stifling though I felt strangely exhilarated, perhaps it was the human closeness.
I found Cannes oddly lacking in soul and more bizarrely lacking in boulangeries. I marched for over an hour, getting my bearings, eventually returning to a small boulangerie right opposite the station; here I bought my petit dejeuner before heading to the beach.
The sea was calm and some sand was visible amongst the throngs that littered the beach. Soon found a reasonable spot, quickly made unreasonable by an invading extended Italian family dominated by a dark, hairy woman. She had amongst others, for company, 3 unruly children, ages ranged from 6 months to 3 years (one a year by my reckoning) and who typified everything I dislike about young children: loud, rude & spoilt. Her husband joined the outing then immediately complained about the lack of space. To my relief I spotted another gap on the beach and quickly moved in though I was still close enough to hear Gina (the man continually referred to her as “Gina”, unless Gina is Italian for dark and hairy, which I doubt) moan constantly for the next 3 hours, she barely paused for breath. She was getting more and more irate. Had she caught her husband with another woman? (She was so mad perhaps it was another man?). Several people close by started wrapping up their mats and moving away, eventually her defeated husband moved away, leaving a demented woman to continue yapping away at her deranged offspring.
