Sunday 30th July 2023
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
My first trip to the cinema in a long time! From before 2019 at least, I’d been thinking about it for a while and thought a relaxing change of scenery doing what I already do. I thought with starting to watch more films again that it would be good to get the Omniplex film pass, the Omnipass. Pretty much if you go to watch two films a month, you’re saving money and generally I watch more than two films a month. And would feel like I’m doing something.
The only thing that was putting me off was my health, will my legs be good enough to get there, will I be comfortable in the seats, can I manage on the steps in the screen? The risk of infection also but if I go to showings that will be quiet will reduce that risk, I think it will be a worth while risk though so long as I’m cautious enough about the whole thing.
The first showing I went to see was Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, I really enjoyed the whole experience. I booked my ticket before leaving the house, there were only four other people in the screen and to avoid having to go up too many steps I booked row B. I generally prefer being closer to the screen to get the larger screen experience, the only problem can be the angle and having to look up.
This happened to be the issue a little in this screen when I got in but it wasn’t bad enough that I had to move and was comfortable enough and could still take in the whole screen but I think the next time I will sit a little further back.
When I got there I decided that I’d try some of the food and went to get a medium combo, apparently now you have to go to a machine order it and then go back to the person that told you that to give them the print out of what you’re after so they know what to get you. Although despite ordering a salted popcorn and the guy saying “the salted popcorn is very salted” and me being okay with that, I waited till the film was starting before actually trying any and it turned out to be sweet. I really didn’t mind this though as I wasn’t quite sure which to go for initially.
The film itself was very good, the best film I’ve seen in the cinema all year! It was fast paced and plenty of action and Indy showing that you can bring a whip to a gunfight, it was your typical Indiana Jones film, well the original ones rather than the alien one, unless I made that one up in my head.
When I was leaving there was no one around and got to the car, it was the first time I’d drove the new car in the dark and had to change the internal light settings as they were so bright, but it works at night time too which is handy, especially in the winter when it’s darker, longer.
Anyway there you go, more a review on my experience than the film, it was nice to be back in a cinema again.Thursday 6th July 2023
Tripping
Hi all, hope everyone is doing well. I’m just sort of popping up to make sure you know that I’m still here. It’s been a VERY quiet few weeks. After the last blog I had the appointment with Orthopaedics who said I needed two new hips and the day before I had hurt my left leg badly. That slowly and gradually improved until about two weeks ago I woke up and my right leg was playing up really bad. I could barely move it and I couldn’t put any weight on the leg, if both were to go at the same time I’d be pretty buggered. But I’ve got a few things sorted so if that was the case, I have a plan.
A couple of days of it gradually getting worse it started to gradually improve and on Monday the left leg was back to being more painful than the left. I really haven’t been able to do too much because of this every movement is sore and sitting about is uncomfortable and nothing is pleasant to do as you’re either waiting on the next sharp pain or you’re in agony. The thought of even just shifting in the seat puts a bit of dread into you, at least now it has improved and I am able to be a bit more comfortable.
The only thing of note that I have done and why this post is in the photography section is with a drive that I done on Monday, I took the long way home from my parents after picking up tablets and went around Ard’s Peninsula, down the East side and up the West. I stopped a few times but just sat in the car for a bit of a break and when I got to Kearney I stayed there a bit longer, it was nice and quiet and no one else about, after a while a large isolated shower came in and I got a pic of it as it was directly in line with the windmill.
After the shower past I went on round the coast and stopped in Portaferry for a while at the top of the hill there at the windmill just having a look around. It was probably as busy as I have ever seen Portaferry and there were a few people with telephoto lenses and I remembered there had been a few dolphins spotted a few days before. I wasn’t going to wait around just to look for them and after a few minutes of taking a break and admiring the view around I headed back down to the shore and followed the lough road onward.
I noticed the guys with the telephoto lenses again and they were pointing up the direction that I was going, so I kept an eye on the water and there popped up a fin, and another. The next two bays there were cars in so I couldn’t stop and went on up and the next one was free, I was probably about 2-300m away but I was able to see them bobbing up out of the water. My phone camera was really annoying me and wouldn’t keep a steady focus so the video didn’t turn out well and haven’t bothered to see if I can get a still from it but im pretty sure it wouldn’t be worth while with the distance they were from me. Nice to see though.
I went on round and started heading on home and stopped at the Windy Gap to take in the view there too, it was nice as always and then there came a red kite too, not very far away, maybe only 50m is even and took a video but again the focus was playing up and kept on going in and out of focus and then it went behind the hill, I was so annoyed with the phone. The whole day it kept freezing, not unlocking, over heating and not focusing. When you need it to work you need it to work fast and it just wasn’t doing that, it was the first time I’ve used it where I need it to work like that. Everything else day to day it was great but not for taking a quick picture when you only have a few seconds before it’s too late. So I dunno what I’m gonna do about that, cause if I don’t do something soon I’ll end up smashing it off a wall.
Anyhoo, it was a lovely day and a proper adventure, the first one like that In a long time, but I did suffer for it, I was shattered that evening and went to bed early, the next day I don’t particularly remember much of it at all, all of a sudden it was 7 and I had to go to the one social event I have each month, bookclub.
The next day I was even worse my head was just not there and added to that were aches and pains, nothing as bad as the week before but still sore. Today I got up early for some reason but I’m not feeling as bad, aches aren’t as bad and head is a little bit more focused, certainly more than Tuesday.
I hope you are all doing well and enjoy your holidays if you’re going anywhere or not!