30 January 2011

Not My Average Saturday Night

Dinner and a movie...the classic Saturday night combination... I don't think a Burger King Chicken Royale and a Jason Statham movie really count but laughs were had...

After an action-packed 24 hours in The Shire, involving burgers and caipirinhas at Quod, dress alterations in a garden shed, party plans in the Covered Market and a good deal of life laundry in my old bedroom, I headed into Oxford to meet L, one of my oldest friends. We were supposed to go for dinner at a nice Thai restaurant and then head to the cinema, along with her boyfriend and their housemate. Unfortunately, the restaurant had a power problem in the kitchen and the other places we tried on this section of the Cowley Road and St Clements were either fully booked or power deprived. This was true even of the few dingy looking places we tried in Cowley proper. We had joked about going to the Frankie and Bennys at the multiplex... Little did we know...

I suggested we ditch the cinema and go for dinner at Jamie's in the city centre but the cinema tickets were already booked -- and for The Mechanic. Error. Anyway, we got to the multiplex and were amazed to find there was an hour-long queue at F and Bs and a 30-minute wait at the Indian next door. We were then left with a choice between a sandwich from Sainsbury's or a trip to Burger King, several miles away. I'd have preferred the sarnie but BK it was--my first visit in about 10 years.

The film itself was, well, a Jason Stathan film--silly, action-packed, script-lite and predictable. Pretty crap, in other words, although I suppose it's good for me to see films I wouldn't ordinarily watch from time to time. To feel sorry for poor Donald Sutherland if nothing else. Meanwhile every teenage/20-something male chav in The Shire seemed to be there, several of whom spent the film laughing in inappropriate moments and looking as though they were going to steal L and her boyfriend's coats.

Still, it was good to catch up with L and to be grateful that I don't have to spend most Saturday nights in The Shire with its decidedly limited charms.