Last Sunday Thing 2 and I took a trip up to Harlow to see Ghosts: The Possession of Button House. Quite often movie adaptations of TV shows (or vice versa except in the case of my beloved M*A*S*H of course) are, quite honestly, bloody awful. It’s like US versions of UK comedy series – Ghosts being a prime example. They take everything that makes the series charming and watchable – the subtlety, the gentle humour – and make it so overt that the jokes are bashing you over the head. The US Office is a rare example when it’s actually better, but that may have more to do with my loathing of Ricky Gervais than anything else.
The Ghosts movie is a rare and splendid exception to the rule. Picking up where the series left off, it brings us back to Button House a couple of years later with the house under threat from developers. The ghosts are excited that a hotel is on the cards as they miss Alison, while the local crusties are outraged and set up camp in the grounds with their ‘trees not tees’ banners. Local teens have also found themselves in the building to search for ghosts. Any more detail would be spoiling it for you, and you really ought to see it.
For fans of the series, there are enough references to the spectres’ backstories to provoke proper belly laughs yet still enough space for a new story to develop. There was mild peril which had Thing 2 and I holding hands in the nail biting bits. There was a wonderful car chase, and Kitty is on top form. Ghosts, like Small Prophets and Detectorists, is gentle, charming comedy.
We walked through Harlow Town Park on the way to the cinema, encountering alpacas (or possibly teenage boys) and happy pigs. The town bonfire was under construction and a busy team was setting up the firework event which seemed a bit previous. It’s all feeling finally autumnal now, with misty mornings and woodsmoke on the air in the evenings. Woodland walks take ages as I keep stopping to take photos of fungi.
Things making me happy this week
- Getting the pompom borders on my scarf and hand warmers.
- The arrival of the Muppets Christmas Carol crochet book – Charles Dickens incoming!
- A day on the galleries meeting lots of visitors
- Chatting with my ma and pa via video on Friday
- Our magical new exhibition by Fromm Studio, complete with dancing rats
- Warm cats on a cold night
That’s it for me from the week! Today I’m planning a walk with Sue, the ironing and maybe some sewing…
Kirsty x
What I’ve been reading
Weavingshaw – Heba Al-Wasity
A Tempest of Tea – Hafsah Faizal
