They’re filming a movie in front of my house.

I can’t say which one it is because they might sue me or something but suffice it to say, that this is Vancouver and its July.

This is a new experience for me. The closest I’ve ever got to a film shoot has been travelling past long lines of trucks and long trailers for the actors and crew on my way to somewhere else.

Its an interesting process to watch from my balcony. A few hours after sunrise, heavily laden carts started trundling along the footpath. I suppose the trucks they came from were parked somewhere beyond my line of sight. And a small army of men of all shapes and sizes, all wearing the same style of baggy shorts and mismatched T-shirts trundled along with the carts and began unloading them.

An hour or two later women began arriving, slightly better dressed, with paper cups of coffee in their hands. Luckily for them there’s a Starbucks on a nearby corner. Lucky for the Starbucks, along with the wonderful array of specialty eateries along our little strip of street too, seeing as the HST (Harmonised Sales Tax for those who are not B.C.-ers and may not have an idea why we are so irate about it) came into force five days ago and sales are not looking healthy. I suspect the women are involved with something more than the mere grunt-work of the trundling carts.

Then more people arrive, also with coffee cups in hand, who don’t appear to be doing anything useful at the moment and have their cell phones permanently attached to their ears. These strange beings are the actors, who embody the phrase ‘hurry up and wait’.

Further up the street giant lights and cameras connected to fat strands of cables are turned on, and the words, “... and action!” echo back to me.

It appears that I’ve witnessed my first live ‘take’. How could this day get any better?


And now, for the Quote of the Post....

“Can’t act. Slightly bald. Also dances” – Anonymous studio official about Fred Astaire

Oddball Characters

Another thing I am is a writer, and as such I’ve been watching the Harry Potter series of movies again on DVD to reacquaint myself with them in anticipation of the last two movies arriving at a cinema near me somewhere in the near future. And here’s the connection between being a writer and those movies. Oddball characters.

In a series that’s full of them my favourite is Luna Lovegood.

Although not a main character, she, and all oddball characters (hereafter known as ObC’s) fulfill several unique requirements of any story.

a) They tend to be a manifestation of the author’s quirkier personality traits. These traits need to be exorcised regularly or the author might implode (or explode) and thereby depriving their readership of the next instalment of their trilogy or ten-ology.

b) The ObC’s true role is that of the Fool who points out that the Emperor really isn’t wearing any clothes and bursts bubbles of pomposity with clever humour.
Those who regard their dignity highly might laugh at or with the Fool, but later, alone, may reflect on why they laughed and find an ounce wisdom at the bottom of that well and change their perspective a little.
Luna is one of my favourites, both in the books and the movies because the tragedies of her life are so shallowly buried underneath her surface persona that they shine through so eloquently when she speaks.

There aren’t enough Fools in our polarised world and we can so easily dismiss the ones we have as eccentric or a comedic flash-in-the-pan, then swiftly move on to the next distraction. But that is a dangerous thing. Imagine the world where the Fool never spoke out about the Emperor …


Quote of the Blog (hereafter known as QotB!)

No-one went to their deathbed saying, “you know, I wish I’d eaten more rice cakes – Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Getting to Know Me

So ... Who am I? ....

Riddle me this! ... I am a wife and I have no husband. I am a grandmother and I have never given birth. I have lived in three countries and the sun has never set on any of them. I’ve reinvented myself many times and my name has stayed the same since I became an adult. And ... I am also a bicyclist.

Let’s begin with my bicycle. It’s not your everyday bicycle, a little top heavy, being rather high in the saddle and short in the shanks. This is because I can only bend my right knee so far, the result of a rather unfortunate three-way collision between myself, my motorcycle, and a very large truck, more than a quarter of a century ago.
I fell off my (brand new in the summer of 2008) green bicycle when standing still. (I recall I did exactly the same thing when I first rode my motorcycle way back in 1981!) Having got that out of the way I haven’t looked back since.

I don’t look like your everyday bicyclist either. I’m not the type to wear snug fitting, brightly coloured spandex, or any other fabric ending in ‘ex’. Give me something loose-fitting that flaps in the breeze so I can really feel as though I’m moving along. Going down the hills at least. My top is a cut down t-shirt, and my shorts used to be a pair of long trackpants. Nor do I race along the road as though my very life depended on it, and have muscles poised to jump out of the afore-mentioned tight clothes at a moments notice. I do have muscles, but they are discreetly covered by an abundance of other sorts of body tissue. I don’t speed along anywhere unless it’s downhill. I amble. And I amble along the scenic route wherever I can. There’s so much more to be seen that way. A lot like life really.

So, what is what this blog is all about: Personal observations about the scenic route. The journey itself, things one might see, and reflections that arise along the way.


And finally .... A bit about comments. All are welcome, however, those that contain excessive Profanity, Libel, Slander and Spam (sounds like a legal firm!) will be deleted. If you communicate like that, try writing a hard-boiled mystery novel.