Picnic and Movie Night

It's the first day of a week-long Easter vacation! And the weather was gorgeous, sunny and warm, perfect t-shirt and picnic weather.

Just to get out of the house, I went to Holland Park, and while I was there got a buzz from my friend Will Hall, encouraging me to join his crew for a picnic in the Kensington Palace Gardens. So I made my way over to where he said they would be, and joined the crowd for some strawberries, baguette and brie. Chatted to Will's friend who was an opera singer, which is among the more unusual careers I've heard of people having. We were joined after a while by Lewis, a chap who always amuses us by never seeming to have a hair out of place, and indeed he showed up impeccably turned out in a jacket and chinos, bringing with him ice creams from Fortnum and Mason. Overall, just a perfect afternoon out in the sun.


After a few hours however, we decided to pack it in, and upon discovering that the opera singer lived in my general direction, I walked with her as we made our way home. I felt my phone buzz as we walked, but chose not to interrupt the conversation while we were walking and talking. Yet as soon as we said our good-byes at Holland Park, I checked my missed calls, and saw that the Young Dutchman had called. So I called him back, whereupon he asked me if I might be free to go to a movie with him that night.

Of course, why not? My first day of vacation and I wasn't doing anything, so I agreed that I would meet him at the Lansdowne after I'd gone home and changed.

When I arrived at the Lansdowne, the whole place was absolutely dead, and there was only the Young Dutchman and four other people at a table. Upon seeing me, the Young Dutchman greeted me with a kiss and said, "Love the dress, darling!" Gosh, just made me remember why I like him so much, as that compliment was just what I needed. (And yes, the dress is perhaps a tad low-cut, which all boys seem to like!)

When it came time for us to leave for the movie, the Young Dutchman invited everyone else to come along, but nobody was crazy enough to want to go to a movie south of the river. So it was just going to be the two of us, which was fine with me.

We got to Southwark and then walked for ages to find this theatre, while the Young Dutchman took a call from a girl, and then complained to me about some of these girls he casually "dates" who he feels take advantage of his good nature a bit. To me, the problem is incredibly simple, in that he dates young simpletons (easy to impress), but then gets bored with them because they're simpletons. That's where I come in, as the one girl who paces him (and sometimes out-paces him) intellectually.

We arrived at the movie theatre, which was actually a bar with a theatre in the back. The Young Dutchman introduced me to the director and lead actor of the film we were about to see, and we chatted to them for a bit until they called us in to be seated for the film. Such a gent too, as once we were seated, he went back out to buy us drinks, so I got to sit back with a G&T for the entire film.

The movie was surprisingly well-acted, even if I didn't totally agree with the storyline. (It required too much suspension of disbelief, if you ask me). But mostly it was fun as the two of us cuddled up for the film, sharing popcorn, and pointing out the funniest bits to each other as we laughed along. And that was one of the things I actually noticed most, was how the seats were so small that we were pretty much on top of each other to avoid being inappropriately close to our neighbours, but how nice it was just to have that physical closeness with someone.

After the movie, we went outside and had a few drinks with the director and lead actor, and I found it to be a fascinating experience, to watch this film and be totally bought into this character, and then have a few drinks with him and realise that he was actually a totally different guy. Which made me all that much more impressed with his acting ability. Seriously, I have no idea why this guy isn't more famous, because his acting was really superb.

Mostly we just had fun with the Young Dutchman and I trading thoughts on XKCD cartoons, funny web videos, and the nature of the internet. I think the actor guy was more bemused with the two of us in our rapid-fire exchanges, as we obviously are somewhat simpatico when it comes to being on the same wavelength.

As it approached midnight (and then went past it), I tried not to be nervous as it was obvious that we were going to miss the last Tube home, and we would be stuck in South London. Finally, I managed to get the Young Dutchman to leave with me, but at this hour in South London there were no cabs to be found. Nothing to do but walk towards London Bridge and hope we passed a cab along the way.

Although my feet didn't hurt, I wasn't as quick as the Young Dutchman, until he finally sighed, "Ah, girls in heels! Here, take my arm." And I had to smile at how he so instinctively knew why girls occasionally need a gentleman to proffer his arm, so I took it and we made much quicker progress towards the train station, chatting all the way about the ending of the movie. I argued that while all movies don't have to have happy endings, you still go to movies for a bit of escapism, and so a movie that leaves you feeling disconcerted doesn't really feel like a good movie. And then I made the comment, "It's not like I go to see Shindler's List thinking, 'Oh, I really hope the Holocaust doesn't happen in this film!'" to which the Young Dutchman just burst out laughing so hard he had to stop walking, and insisted on writing that phrase down in his Blackberry. I always like that, how I so seem to get the Young Dutchman's sense of humour that I can make him laugh until he pees his pants.

Finally, we caught a cab the short remaining distance to London Bridge station, and then parted with a kiss on each cheek, so delighted to have seen each other that evening. In the end, I only made it to Bond Street before having to get the rest of the way home on a night bus, but at least I wasn't stuck in South London!