Cycle to a good film

I went for a cycle last night. Set off for Gifford and then along to East Saulton and down to Pencaitland and back to Haddington. Next time I will go up through the Boggs and back along the old A1. It was a good hard ride and I got back just before dark so the timing was good.


When I passed through Gifford I noticed that ‘The Reader’ starring Kate Winslett and Ralph Fiennes was advertised and showing in the village hall tonight. It's a film I wanted to see when it came out, so this was a good opportunity to catch it.

Tonight, after a magnificent run in the rain at Tyninghame with Harvey I beat a track up to Gifford again, this time in the car. Village film shows have a charm all of their own. For £4, you get the film, a cup of tea and home made cakes plus a raffle to sit on the comfy seat (cushions are supplied on the not so comfy seats!). The audience is a bit different from the Vue, a detail demonstrated in the opening scene where Kate is getting very steamy with a young Ralph Fiennes and a member of the audience chipped in ‘Oh my God.’

The film is good. It has won 14 international film awards and Kate won an Oscar for her part as a lover of a young man and an illiterate Nazi guard at Auschwitz. The film begins in post-war Germany when teenager Michael Berg meets Hanna, a stranger, twice his age. They have a passionate and secret affair until Hannah disappears leaving Michael heartbroken. Eight years later, Michael is a law student observing the Nazi war crime trials. He is stunned to find Hannah is on trial. He is haunted by her memory for the rest of his life.