Day 23 of the 365, and this is a new-found wonderful thing…
That moment when you recognise someone, and you don’t know why, and then, quite suddenly, you remember everything about them. Sometimes, of course, this can be awkward, which sits with me quite well. But, since this project is to do with happy things, let’s start with actors.
Judith Roberts. Now, Aimée and I watch a lot of box sets. This is because the weather’s lousy and we’re not very much for the outdoors when the bird bath has frozen over. So, we’ve been rewatching True Blood and Orange is the New Black. Usually, we have the break of a film between box sets. Frankly, if we didn’t, we’d just melt into the furniture and it would become a matter for environmental health.
It’s not as if we go without sleep for these things. However, between True Blood and Orange is the New Black, we watched Dead Silence, a creepy-leaky horror film with ventriloquist’s dummies and the legend of Mary Shaw. We decided to watch it because it stars Ryan Kwanten, who played Jason in True Blood. What we didn’t realise, and now startles me quite completely, is that playing Mary Shaw is one of the Golden Girls, the gaggle of older lady-lifers from Orange is the New Black – Judith Roberts. Now, every time Taslitz comes on screen, I start reciting the poem. “Beware the stare of Mary Shaw. She had no children, only dolls…”
Okay, that’s enough creepy for one day.
Going back to the real world, just for a moment… there was a time, twenty-something years ago, when a knock came at the front door. We hadn’t long been in Devon, and my dad answered the door and chatted warmly. I didn’t follow the conversation, largely because I was watching Absolutely Fabulous, and nothing would move me from the sofa when Eddie and Patsy were an option. Quite quickly, I heard footsteps in the hallway, and a voice I seemed to know. It wasn’t til I heard myself say it, that I realised exactly who it was. It was my old science teacher from Croydon, Mr. Lloyd.
Yes. I named a policeman character after him.
The other policeman is named for my maths teacher, Mr. Couchman.
Okay then, day 23 – sudden realisations in everyday life.
Petrina Binney - Author 