Downtown -- or to be more precise, inner urban Melbourne -- worked its magic. We visited the Café Università, where parts of both Footy and I Get no Kick from Champagne happen, we went to an excellent second-hand bookshop and bought some cheap books (ah, the sharp and satisfying joy of second-hand bookshops!), we had a cheap lunch at a pavement café, and we watched The Girl who Played with Fire, the second film in the Millennium trilogy. The crits had been neutral or scathing but I enjoyed it. Perhaps because the clichés were Swedish rather than Hollywood, they appeared fresh to me. A good book or film will take you out of yourself, will make you feel what it's like to be one of the people in the world depicted, and that helped lift my mood. I've decided I simply have to visit Sweden. Prolly not going to happen (I have too little dosh) but what I can do is learn Swedish. It was tantalising understandable all the way through this film and its predecessor, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (A fantastic film by the way.) I love the way non-Hollywood films use unglamorous and plain leads. So refreshing.
Most of all, though, I did what I've found helpful, and that is to count my blessings. Yes, my life is far from perfect, but hey, it could be much worse. There is a blind teen I've seen around town. How I try and scold myself into happiness is this: I imagine what he would feel like to suddenly have his sight restored. Then I tell myself that I have my sight. So I should be as happy as he might be were he able to see again. Sometimes it works. :-)
Anyway, will end with this shmaltzy song. When this was a hit they were in the middle of an appalling war. But somehow we have to keep going. They did, and I can too.
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