It was dark and raining heavily – the gloom of the seafront mitigated somewhat by the glow from strings of coloured lights. We passed a deserted merry-go-round, Big Dipper and candy floss stall, followed by hotel after hotel with curtains open displaying brightly lit function rooms. We looked in and saw old people sitting around the edges of the rooms. I’m not sure if they were playing bingo, listening to music or just sitting.
This was Paignton, the sea-side resort where I’d spent my sixth birthday. With a choice of a few towns in south Devon to see the film ‘One Day’, I thought it would be fun to re-visit the scene of that auspicious event (auspicious because my main birthday present had been a Bridal outfit).
Me in my bridal outfit on my 6th birthday
The walk in the dark along the sea-front to the Apollo cinema wasn’t how I remembered Paignton at all, perhaps it has changed a lot, or perhaps my only real memory from the previous visit was of the baboon at Paignton Zoo with it’s multi–coloured bottom (hilarious and fascinating for a six year old).
Visiting Paignton this time felt a bit surreal and emotional compounded by tiredness from helping my Daughter move into her first flat. After three days of shifting her possessions into the new flat, chiselling dirt out of the corners of its windows and scouring yellow grease off skirting boards, the trip to see ‘One Day’ was the reward for all our hard work.
We’d both enjoyed the book but didn’t think the St Swithin’s Day snapshots really worked in the film. There was too much plot to get through and not enough space for the characters or the relationships to develop. Dexter wasn’t charismatic enough or sexy enough in the film to make Emma’s infatuation convincing. The portrayal of Emma and Dexter’s self-conscious posturing made me laugh a lot when I read the book but there was no space for this in the film. So we were a little disappointed by our reward but hey we had a night off from the drudgery of the cleaning and I got to reflect on the impact of receiving a wedding dress for my sixth birthday!
