In the Mood for the Love of Glasgow

In the Mood for the Love of Glasgow
Published: Feb 23, 2014
Standfirst
Our Glasgow correspondent, who hails from 'away', tells us about her recent favourite pocket of local communal joy.
Body

Glasgow is a warm Harris tweed coat with pockets of surprise. The random events set up by passionate groups and individuals constantly explore the possibilities in the urban landscape — and add color to the experience of being a Glaswegian.

On Monday, as recently announced on these pages, I went on my own to the pop-up film screening of In The Mood for Love at the Chinese supermarket, not sure who I’d see. This being Glasgow, I figured I would run into a friendly face or two.

It was a 5 minute bike ride from the flat, and the air flushed my cheeks. I locked my bike outside by the vacant parking lot and followed the bright lights.

Simple February pleasures in the city built along the banks of the River Clyde in central Scotland.

Once inside, I strolled among an eager crowd ogling the piles of puffed Chinese pastry and the wafting scents of Jasmine tea. My hands laced themselves between a china cup and I walked along the rows of red chairs set up in the foyer of the supermarket.

Waiting for the film to start, I found myself seated among a tight little group of the city's nonpareil: to my left was an inimitably critical film scholar, to my right one of Glasgow’s finest yoga teachers, and behind me was the lead editor of The Queen’s Head zine. This little shindig attracted some of Glasgow’s best.

Hungry Glaswegian males doing their best to conceal their enthusiasm for the Chinese pastries on offer.

If you're not aware of the film, In the Mood for Love is a visual delight filled with glorious cinematographic innuendo. I heartily recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen it. However, what stuck with me most was the following line of dialogue, uttered by Mrs. Chan: “You notice things if you pay attention.” It comes to the very heart of why a girl from the Deep Dutch South like myself loves Glasgow so.

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/PopUpFilm

twitter @popupfilm.

SOPHIE KROMHOLZ is a ukulele playing, storytelling, art making and collecting Glasgow-based art historian working on her PhD at the University of Glasgow, which focuses on alternative preservation strategies for ephemeral art practices.

Photos of tea and pastry eaters by the author.

Photo by Vic Sharp.

 

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