Garcia Flats

Housemate Nic, catching me in a vulnerable moment last week, invited me to join him at Garcia flats on Saturday, for a games day with the kids/families who live in the area.

Garcia flats is a sprawling campus, with a number of blocks - probably housing a few thousand people (gross estimation).  But it's big, big enough to mute the ambient sounds of Camridge.  I use the term ambient fairly loosely there.

It wasn't the only break from my regular bourgeois existence.  In Cambridge, you don't get your face painted, you get a free temporary tattoo.

You should also be wary of an invitation to a tug-o-war competition.  The guys vs girls distinction loses some of its potency when you're up against one of the local Tannie's.  My pride and I got dragged across the lawn on Saturday morning; a blister the stinging reminder.

Our mini game of Frisbee went down well though, the kids showed extraordinary skills - no hidden joke here, we were really impressed.  Were it not for an awkwardly placed tree in the end zone, many more of my hammers would have been caught.

Le Concert

Looking for a decent movie on the New Arrivals shelf at Videoland (East London) is a tough ask.  Theres a whoooole lot of rubbish on offer.  Le Concert caught my eye.  It's like picking the wholewheat sandwich out of a tray of vetkoek and russians.  More healthy than you prefer, but really the only option.

Watching a foreign language film requires committment.  There's none of that 'get up and turn the kettle on' - infact, anything that occurs too far away from, or at a vector which prevents you reading the sub titles, isn't an option.  It's about focus, catching the sub-title and looking up quick enough to match it with the facial expression.

Good movie though; recommended for everyone holding a wholewheat sandwich.