Catching Victoria at Midnight

Definitely a change of pace for our usually plodding Charming Calvin as he had to rev it up a bit to catch up with me during our recent trip down under. No doubt he needs a few days to recover from this exhausting ordeal.

It wasn't all mall-hopping of course since I actually took the time to catch a movie. That just happens to be in a mall. Don't you just love how they casually lump all our modern conveniences into one place?

Found myself transfixed by the enchanting poster tacked on the wall even whilst sprinting through the dozens of nameless underpasses crisscrossing Orchard Road - and I simply knew I couldn't possibly leave without watching Young Victoria. A movie that actually tells the the tale of the iconic Victoria's early reign and her youthful romance with Prince Albert.


Victoria and Albert
After all, it must take quite a man to have his widow lay out hot shaving water in his room every single day after his death for the next 40 years? What makes her wear black thereafter to mourn him?

Certainly makes you curious about Victoria and Albert, doesn't it?


Since I knew Calvin kept unseasonably early hours, I offered to go alone for the midnight matinee. Going to the movies alone used to be one of my guilty pleasures after all. And it certainly wouldn't do to have him snoring away in the cinema ( since despite his protestations, historical period dramas bore him senseless ) while I kept my head down trying to avoid the frowning stares of the rest of the disapproving audience.

Thought it quite reasonable of myself.

Paul : Really. You should go back to the hotel. I could draw you a map.
Calvin : Never! I will follow you. Follow you wherever you may go. There isn't an ocean too deep -
Paul : I get the point. You will be bored.
Calvin : I will drink coffee!

But Calvin can be quite doggedly stubborn at times.

So after dragging him back to the hotel room to freshen up - oh yes, another hour long soak in the tub - I hurried back to the cinema with him in tow to catch the life of the Queen Victoria in the 1830s. Not the frumpy, prudish biddy in sober black we're all used to in her recent media incarnations but a vivacious young royal ingenue out to set the British Empire on fire. Quite enough to catch Prince Albert's roving eye.

Although I wouldn't recommend this slow-moving period drama for everyone, I think it suited us both very well since it played out our differences very well indeed. Me and Calvin. Despite the fact that we have our dissimilarities, turns out we're quite evenly matched. Since I saw quite a bit of the Calvin in the quiet, steady charms of Prince Albert.

While I seemed to favour the far more volatile Victoria. Always an imperious queen, I guess.