Monday 2 March 2015

50 Shades of loneliness

February always flies by! It seems it only started a week ago and now it's over.

Over the weekend a woman I didn't know excitedly shared the news that she had just been to the movies: all by herself. I was chatting to a friend in a shop and this woman came in and started talking. She seemed to be well into her sixties and very excited at the realisation that it was possible to do things alone and enjoy the experience.

She was so excited and appeared in good humour so I asked her if the film she saw was "Fifty Shades of Grey".  It seemed possible, given she was dressed from head to toe in several shades of grey.

"Oh no! I wouldn't go and see THAT! I'd go home all thingy!" she proclaimed.

We all knew what "thingy" meant in this context. I imagined her husband observing her upon arrival at home and asking what the bloody hell was wrong with her.

"What did you go and see?"

"The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," she beamed. "It was really good. Really enjoyable. Funny, but there were things that made you think about things, you know?"

We all nodded sagely.

I confirmed my suspicion that Richard Gere is a feature in the film.

Her enthusiasm went up a notch.

"Oh yes. I tell you what, there's a man that makes my toes curl."

It seemed that more than one of the current crop of films could send a girl home feeling thingy.

"But you know, I got sick of waiting for my girlfriends to be ready before I could go out and do anything. I'm glad I just went and now I know I can go to the movies on my own."

Underneath the bravado, there seemed to be some social isolation. She walked out of the shop smiling and laughing and so did we.

I can't stop noticing my toes.

(According to IMDB, Richard Gere's middle name is "Tiffany".)


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