Tuesday 5 April 2011

Mooo-vie Night

We have a cup that sits on our bookshelf, and we fill it with any loose change from our pockets or money from selling eggs. It's our 'entertainment fund'. Our entertainment consists of two things: 1) buying bird seed so we can attract little birds into our garden and watch them while we do the dishes, and 2) going to the movies.

I'm not a great movie-goer, mainly because sitting in a dark, warm theatre immediately causes me to fall asleep. I rarely make it through a whole movie, and Mike has to tell me how it ends. I've seen 3/4ths of lots of films.

After we bought a bag of birdseed, there was enough money left over for me to go see a movie with some ladies from the village - Helen the dairy farmer, and Jilly and Lynn my riding partners. We went to see Tamara Drewe because it had been filmed around here. The director used some farms and houses of people we knew. Tamara's cottage is our friend Colin the gamekeeper's house.

Yes, we paid to watch a film of places we see every day.

In my defense, if I fell asleep, I figured I wouldn't be missing out. And I knew how it ended, as I had followed the original serialised comic when it first appeared in The Guardian newspaper. In the end, I managed to stay awake for the whole film.

The highlight of the film, for me, was sitting next to Helen. In the final scene, a herd of black and white cows came stampeding down a hill. Helen whispered to me, "I recognise those cows. Those are Bernard's cows!" Bernard is a farmer a few villages away who keeps Holstein-Friesian dairy cattle, the same type of cattle kept by every commercial dairy in this area.  Helen actually recognised individual cattle in someone else's herd. In a film. Running down a hill.

It amazes me what people know.

image from allposters.com

5 comments:

Karen Thomason/Gordon Setter Crossing said...

Funny, funny post Jennifer. I could imagine it all in my head and it made me laugh pretty good! Yea, I know, scary. Thanks for the morning chuckle.

murphyfish said...

Ah the gift of humour, certainly raised a smile here me dear.
Regards,
John

Softie said...

Hi Jennifer. I have been following your blog for a little while but never posted a comment before. I always enjoy your posts. Your sense of humor is quite entertaining and I learn so much I would never ever know about living my ordinary life in central Illinois! I have tried to read as many of your older posts as I can but somehow I missed how you ended up living this life in England. Have you explained that and I missed the post or have you not chosen to share how you chose to live overseas? Well anyhow, you have quite an admirable life. I just wanted to say hello.
Take care~Jan

Paula said...

I think that recognizing someone else's cattle in a film running down a hill would the the proof positive of an intimate relationship (of sorts) with said cattle. Which to my mind, isn't a bad thing.

In my last working incarnation, I worked for the animation company that brought the world the movie 'Coraline'. When it was done, the company rented a local cinema plex, and threw us a bash with dinner and a movie- the movie being Coraline, of course. At the end of the film, when the credits started to roll, nobody moved a muscle. It was the first time (and probably the last) where I've watched the credits with an entire theater full of people. Really a singular experience.

So I understand the need to go see this movie filmed around your home. I'd have done the same thing.

By the way, love your post title...

Maria said...

Hi Jen,

Been thinking of seeing this on DVD... Now I suspect if I do I'll be anticipating the stampeding cow scene... Recognising individual cows made me think of James Herriot's account of how shepherds could always tell individual sheep apart - I'm sure it's the same for you with yours.