I've been reading the Millennium series books again (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest) and have been enjoying them so, today, when shopping in The Warehouse (that unashamedly insidious retail chain that is tearing the guts out of the fabric of New Zealand's society - but opens to 9pm daily) after I'd dropped The Old Girl off at the bus station and I was looking for a BBQ cover (get this - they said that as it was out of season they weren't stocking any - I would have thought that if BBQs were 'out of season' then people want to cover the fucking things and put them away - sheesh), I looked in the DVD section for the films made from the books.
We've seen them before and they are bloody good. I don't know if they have had major distribution but they deserve to have had. These films are Swedish as is appropriate for the novels and settings (in Sweden). There was a surprisingly good USA film made of The girl with the dragon tattoo but it's unlikely that there will be follow-ups as the second and third books in the (current) trilogy are more detailed and cerebral.
Anyway, I couldn't find any of the DVDs and asked at the counter if they had them. The woman said yes but they were in the $10 specials section which turned out to be 5 or 6 tables of assorted DDDs (thousands of the buggers). These are randomly 'displayed' unalphobetically. Now normally I wouldn't bother but as the staff member had said they were there I started to look.
I rapidly flicked through, speed-reading titles in the stacks. A woman next to me said "you look like you know what you're looking for - can I help?". I told her the titles I was looking for and asked her if she was looking for anything in particular. She said she was just browsing but would let me know if she found one of the DDDs I wanted. As it turned out she enlisted the help of her daughter to search as well (the daughter wanted a DVD that wasn't on special - the mother said she could have it if she found "one of the gentleman's DVDs"). The result was that we found all three which, amongst the thousands on offer was a miracle (settle down Second, I don't think that Pope Frank will recognise me yet).
I thanked the woman and her daughter (and another guy who got roped into the search) and made my purchase.
It's amazing how helpful people can be sometimes and I've experienced several wonderful acts of kindness recently.
The trouble is: how can I be a misery-guts and complain about life when this happens.
5 comments:
I don't know how to comment on this post. Hey, old fella you shouldn't be watching those Swedish films - those people don't get proper sleep because of the long days and spend too much time thinking about weird things.
You want someone to be mean to you? There are professionals who provide this service - just don't choose the Haka Falls option at the conclusion of your session!
Haka Falls?
Oh, Huka! I was actually very disappointed when I first saw these. Not proper falls at all, just a narrowing of rushing water. Pretty sure Plumbly Walker didn't enjoy them much, either!
Yes, poor old Plumley Walker the umpire who was into humiliation games (he batted for the other team you know).
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