Le shopping
If there’s one place in the world that’s made for window shopping, that place is Paris! I had every intention in the world today of doing actual shopping, but walking down quaint Parisian streets looking in one window, and then the next, then the next… all decked out with their Christmas finest, was ever-so-much more tempting! Maybe it has to do with letting your imagination run wild as an imaginary shopper - thinking of gifts perfect for people you don’t even know, pricing items that are well beyond your budget, being a connoisseur about a product you know nothing about, etc. But, alas, tomorrow I must do some real Christmas shopping.
Glaswegian, sweet Glaswegian!
When I was out doing my “shopping,” I happened to walk past a movie theatre showing Ken Loach’s new film, Sweet Sixteen. The film is set in Greenock, just down the River Clyde from Glasgow. It won a best screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival, and reportedly had to have English subtitles for the judges. (I had the aid of French subtitles, and yes, often they were a lot easier to follow than the thick Glaswegian!) It is the occasionally funny but ultimately tragic tale of a 15-year old boy trying to better his own life and that of his mother, who is soon to be released from prison. The film’s title is ironic in that the boy’s life ends, not physically but certainly to all intents and purposes, on his 16th birthday.
I definitely recommend the film, but if you’re not from the greater Glasgow metropolitan area, see it with English subtitles!