Sunday Night at the Movies

Well after my experiences last Saturday (and a few weeks back) I will admit, I was a bit skeptical about braving the local cinemas again to go see Ocean's 13. But I figured 6.30pm on a Sunday night should be ok, right? I mean, it'll probably finish around 9.00pm, tomorrow's a school day, so hopefully the only kids who are at the cinema are the ones who are a bit older and have a later bed time... You know I was wrong again, don't you. We get into the cinema in good time, choose pretty decent seats, a comfortable distance apart from other patrons, settle ourselves down in our seats with my good friends Ben and Jerry, and there we go. Bring on the film. The problem with arriving early and choosing seats in the middle of the cinema is that you can't see who arrives after you and sits behind you. So, lo and behold, it happened again. A young woman with her 3 or 4 year old son arrives just as the film starts and sits behind us. So, the film is clearly well over the kid's head, he gets bored, and starts yapping. And the mother makes absolutely no effort to shut him up. At all. After about 30 minutes of constant yap from the kid, we up and move seats. But we can still hear him. So, during one of his many soliloquies (in a quiet bit), I tell him to 'shush'. And he does, for about 30 seconds - then starts up again. At this point, Jane had had enough, so she went out to get the usher. The usher said that unless the kid was crying, there's nothing they can do. Excuse me? I'll have my money back please - at this suggestion the usher decided to get the manager, who came in, heard the racket, and promptly evicted them. Thank goodness. And then we managed to actually enjoy the rest of the film. This has been the 3rd film in pretty much as many weeks that I've been to see, and the 3rd in a row that has been ruined by kids who really shouldn't have been there. What is wrong with parents these days? Why do they think its appropriate to bring young children (or those who can't speak English) to the movies - because they can't find or can't afford suitable child care? Where's the sense in that? My sister and her husband have got it all sussed. At the moment they bring their baby daughter with them to the movies, but if it's a film Beck really wants to see, Dem will take Marcella out if she squarks, and if it's a film Demo wants to see, Beck has baby duties. Makes perfect sense. I just don't get why the people of London can't figure out something similar. Or at least take advantage of the parents and toddler sessions that the cinemas offer. Hm. I want to go see the new Die Hard film when it comes out soon. Maybe I'd be better off seeing it in the middle of the day - all the kids will be at the evening sessions!