literally another aussie in london

O Brother it is raining

Major Cultural Difference alert.

Recently I went to see O Brother where art thou in London.

It was in a place called Somerset House.

When i quizzed to the purpose of Somerset house when it’s not playing films, no one seemed to know, although it does have an ice rink in winter.

Somerset house is not a house in the conventional way, its like a big grid of buildings with a huge open air court yard in the middle where the films were to be played.

The open air bit was the problem you see, as it had been raining all day.

We checked the tickets for weather refund clauses, and it said, showing cancelled in extreme weather conditions.

In Australia, that would have meant constant rain all day.

In London, that meant severe lightning strike causing multiple fatalities.

The security guard at the front actually laughed when we asked if we could get a refund, actually more of a sniggering smile.

As this did not happen, the film was to go on.

I sort of expected half the crowd to not be there, but when we arrived an hour prior to the film, the place was already buzzing.

Everyone had on their film 4 ponchos, and had arranged themselves down on the cold hard wet concrete.

I am sure that in one of the many outdoor film watching places in Australia people had watched film in the rain.

But i couldn’t believe so many of them would stay, and that they would seem to hardly complain.

It did galvanise the audience together, like it does at a music festival, the only difference being, you could get up go home and slap O Brother into your Dvd player, which you can’t do with a live band.

It is something everyone should do once, this film in the rain business but just once, otherwise you’re a freak.

There were freaks there, some were more mad than others, bringing complete 3 course meals and full on cutlery.

The guys in front of us must have brought half of Tescos.

I did enjoy the film and most of the experience, although next time if it is raining I may say fuck the 15 pounds and stay at home.

The highlight of the whole experience was when I went to the toilet during the film, and a guy was in there drying his hands.

That felt very English to me, drying your hands before you go out to sit in the rain and watch a film.

I m now more stoic than ever.

August 5, 2008 - Posted by Jrod | living in london | rain