The things I miss the most.

It’s not easy being shut away most days is it? I mean, some things are lovely. Spending time in my house or my garden when usually I’d be away from it most of the time, working to ensure I can afford it. Working from home does mean I spend a lot of time shut away in one corner of the house, but it’s not a long walk to the garden or the kettle when I need a break.

Spending all my days in the company of my wife still hasn’t gotten old, and I can’t see that it ever will. For me. Can’t speak for her. Sure my kids are testing my patience to varying degrees of extremity every day, but for at least part of every day there are good times. They do miss their friends and I’m sure the cat would rather us be gone for the day so she can sleep in peace, but generally it’s not so bad.

There are some things I’m missing though. I want to go and see people in my family that aren’t in my immediate household. And not from 2 or more metres away – I want to hug them. I want to go to the pub and spend too much money on an average meal and sip overpriced wine. I am missing interaction with colleagues at work. All of that, I’m missing about as much as I expected to, but there’s something I miss more than I thought I would: cinema.

I mean, I didn’t even go that often, and when I did it was usually to watch kids’ films; the last two times before this kicked off I went to see Sonic the Hedgehog and Pixar’s Onward. But always having the option to go if the opportunity arose; that it was there should I need it. That’s what I miss. Laughing loudly at Jumanji: The Next Level with my eldest. Being utterly transfixed by Blade Runner 2049. Watching the breathless final hour of Avengers: Endgame play out (that link contains spoilers, for info). Having my brain melted by the sheer impossibility of the stunt work of Mad Max: Fury Road. I’ve started to go further back, remembering fondly the first times watching Avatar, Lord of the Rings, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade or (in what I think might have been my first ever cinema trip) E.T. I’m positively misty eyed at the thought of going to see Dune later this year.

This is the thing I want to come back the most of all. All hail the Picture House.