Rushing about

The (artificial) lake in front of Wentworth College

Later that day

No second-hand bikes at Halfords, but a selection of new ones at, to Dutch standards, very reasonable prices. After a brief inspection I learned that the English need no racks on their bikes, no lights, no chain guard, no stand, and no lock. Or rather, those come as extras, after which, of course, the prices is slightly less reasonable.

Since the Internet tells me that there is a thing called the Bike Rescue Project, at which second-hand bikes are claimed to be available at second-hand prices, I decided to forgo further exploring for the day, except on campus; where I discovered that there is a small supermarket open on Sundays, and started to suspect that a lot of the other inhabitants are just as freshly arrived as I am. At least, I saw many persons of student age who seemed to have as little idea of the exact layout of the place as me, many of whom were, moreover, accompanied by suspiciously parential elders.

After a beautiful day, when it started to get dark my mood sunk a bit. It's strange to think that I might have had a pretty similar Sunday back in Hengelo, but felt much more comfortable (read: less lonely) at the end of it. Well, that's something I will just have to deal with; so to give myself something to do I looked up in which cinema I could go see Rush, a film I had already decided (after seeing the reviews) I should not miss out on. There turned out to be choices, at rougly the same time, so I decided to try out the one closest to the station, Reel Cinema, since that would be only a single bus ride.

Reel Cinema Room 5, before the crowds

The film theater was, I think, the smallest and certainly the shabbiest I have ever seen. Still, about six or seven other moviegoers had chosen it for their night out, and after having sat through 25 solid minutes of advertisements we were solidly entertained for another 2 hours. I don't think this movie will stay in the IMDb top 250 for very long, but certainly to be recommended for those who like the genre, and maybe even for some who don't.

While searching for the place and time I also discovered Sunshine on Leith, which I will also have a go at in the coming weeks I think; I'm sure there will be some night on which I won't mind a feel-good movie, and musical films are not that thick on the ground in the first place. Plus, I doubt that this one will ever make it to anywhere near Hengelo.