A grand day out

As well as some belated birthday celebrations, the weekend past also featured, as I mentioned before, a family trip to the cinema to see Spider-man 2. Needless to say I don't think I've looked forward to a film more in quite some time, and consequently I spent the whole day hopping around with excitement, working myself into something of a fervour. Picture Calvin after spending a day feasting on chocolate frosted sugar bombs (and considering the amount of birthday chocolate I'd scoffed that day, it's a terrifyingly accurate portrait). I tried to convince my brother Nicky to sneak off in the middle of the day to catch an earlier showing, but he refused to humour me. Bah, foiled again!

One of the big surprises of the day turned out be the fact that my Mum decided to accompany us in the end. This was nearly unheard of occurrence, although there was a rational explanation for it: too many tickets had been booked, and my mother simply cannot abide waste (my childhood passed by with many references to "starving children in Africa" when I refused to finish my plate). The other big surprise was that she actually enjoyed it! I truly thought she'd doze off halfway through the film, but no, she was thoroughly entertained by the whole affair, and even quizzed us afterwards on some of the plot points that were unclear to her as she'd not seen the first film (the dvd will soon be on loan to her, and she's rather looking forward to watching it). It even turned out that she'd been something of a superhero fan in her teens, when a Superman serial featured every Thursday at the local cinema and she'd attend religiously every week. See, I knew it got it from somewhere! I'll hold off on my views of the film for the moment, since I'll be seeing it again tomorrow, after which I'll write up a review. I don't think I'll be giving anything much away if I say I really rather liked it. A lot.

Talk of a family holiday was triggered when I started telling my kith and kin of my long delayed plan to traverse the globe. I mentioned that one of the possible itineraries I'd looked at began in South Africa. Johannesburg to be specific. It was at this point Pauline, my elder sister, interjected that I wasn't allowed to go without them. "Them" being the rest of my siblings at the very least, and quite possibly a few more relatives besides. If this enthusiasm for South Africa seems inexplicable, rest assured there are good reasons for it. My surname, in case you've ever wondered, is of Dutch derivation (and means stone), and comes to courtesy of my father, who hailed from South Africa. I suppose the biggest tragedy of my family is that he died. I realise that's a rather blunt way of putting things, but I never knew him as a person (his death came when I was very young), and he was never really talked about. I don't know why, and it is something I regret now. I know so very little about him - a postcard could easily fit all I know. Please understand this was just the normal state of affairs as I was growing up and I never realised it should be questioned, until too late, when it just seemed too sad and awkward to contest. So I can't help but view a trip to South Africa as a chance to put right some past wrongs, and I suspect Pauline and my other siblings have similar thoughts (although we've never really broached it with each other. Sigh). The opportunity to connect with a father none of us ever knew.

Alternatively, we could end up in Disney World. I kid you not - it's just the way things happen in my family. From the sublime to the ridiculous in scarcely a heartbeat. It could go either way.

But I'll be pushing for Johannesburg.