Movies on the Lawn

Although we moved from one cul-de-sac to another a couple of years ago, our new Avenue terminates in a parking area for the marina and is also popular for people heading down to Forty Baskets Beach. So it was not going to be practical to block it off for a street cinema night the way we did at Cecil St.

However, now we have a decent patch of grass, we thought we could reinvent the night as Movies on the Lawn. And that's what we did, tying in with Flick's birthday this year.

Weather-wise it was a close thing, having been raining off and on for the previous week and up to late morning on the day. Much consultation of weather web sites suggested we might just get away with it, and indeed the sun came out in the afternoon to dry out the lawn somewhat, though showers continued in other parts of the city. With our fingers crossed and touching wood we went ahead.

The evening went off without a hitch, with over 30 adults and about 25 kids having a great time. The bush clad, more intimate setting worked perfectly. Our features this year were the Aardman Pirates movie, a rollicking farce with humour for all ages; and the Australian film The Sapphires, about a female Aboriginal singing group who tour Vietnam entertaining the troops in the late 60s. Feel good stuff with a great soul soundtrack.

Being down in the valley and not exposed to the setting sun meant we were able to kick off the movies about 7:30 and it was a good thing we did. Despite having more or less clear skies including a view of the moon and stars (as James pointed out) most of the evening, we had literally just finished bringing everything inside at the end when the heavens opened and it bucketed down for about 15 minutes.

Neighbours Ivana and Anna

Pack up completed just in time!