28 January — Friday

I’m on the bus, on my way to meet a close friend to watch Interstellar on BFI IMAX. We’ll also eat burgers before the film. He recently came back from Colombia, so probably has more stuff to tell than I do.

I’ve always wanted to see a film on IMAX, the one in Southbank is quite impressive. I like Interstellar too, especially the part where Matthew McConaughey says “Those are not mountains, they’re waves.”

 

The last time I watched a blockbuster film in a theater was with my dad in Istanbul, some months before Covid. We went to Solo (as in Star Wars) in the shopping mall close to our house. We hadn’t done something like that for a good 5 years or so. The sound system in the theater was pretty bad and it was too loud so I remember going out in the middle of the film and talking to someone from staff to take it down a little. I was worried that my dad would feel uncomfortable- he didn’t complain at all though. After the film we went to the food court to eat and talk. The whole conversation was maybe half an hour in total, but it was so refreshing. One of the happiest days of my life. That’s why Solo is one of my favorite films, even though I don’t remember a single frame.

***

The bus arrives and I get out to find Honest Burgers in Southbank. It’s kind of in a tough place actually—when I look at the map it’s almost as if I was standing on top of it but there was no burger place. You know in GTA sometimes you’re looking for something in the map and actually that thing is underground or above the ground or something, it was like that. Thanks to my PlayStation experience I manage to find the burger place, it was indeed on the second floor of a building.

I took some photos before going in. I’ll put them when they’re developed.

 

I sit and start waiting for my friend. Next to me there is a couple in their 60s both having burgers without talking. One of them has a napkin tucked in to his shirt. At some point the waiter comes and asks how their burgers are. The man looks back and says “good.” The waiter leaves, they continue to eat their burgers in silence.

I send a message to my dad.