Free burglar lookout service (London / Lisbon)

As I approached Table 46, wondering if I should collect the half-empty bottles of beer, four customers (one woman) at Table 45 said, “They’ve just gone outside for a smoke.”  I said to them, “Do you know what you are?  You’re the Neighbourhood Watch.”  They really liked that, and laughed, turning it over aloud: “Neighbourhood Watch.  That’s a good way of calling it.”

Reminds me of when an ex-colleague at The Heart of the Dragon, our picture editor Douglas Tunstell*, moved from Malaga to Lisbon in the late 80s.  He wrote, saying, “We’ve moved into our new home.  We don’t need to worry about burglars, as just across the narrow road is another block of flats, with old ladies sitting at their windows all day long, looking out at the goings-on in the street.”

I’ve certainly seen similar scenes in Turkey, Spain, and Greece.  Perhaps a common feature throughout the Mediterranean countries?

(London, 2017; Lisbon, late 1980s)

*https://www.nfb.ca/film/women_on_the_march/

Women on the March

Douglas Tunstell

1958 | 58 min

This feature film in two parts is an exploration of the women’s suffrage movement. Spearheaded by women like Emmeline Pankhurst, founder of the Women's Social and Political Union, the Suffragettes realized they would have to become radical and militant if the movement was going to be effective. There followed many demonstrations, and imprisonments until the women’s vote was finally granted, in 1918 (Britain) and 1919 (Canada, except Quebec.)

The Chinese laundry in New York (USA)

My Canadian friend Douglas took his friend John to his usual Chinese laundry to drop off a load of washing.  

The Chinese man said to Douglas, “Cor.”  Douglas responded, without any hesitation, “Ver cor.”

As they left the shop, John asked Douglas, “What was that all about?”  

Douglas said, “The man was commenting on the weather and said, ‘Cold.’  I agreed, so I said in return, ‘Very cold.’”

John said, “But it didn’t sound anything like that to me.  He said cor.  How do you know he meant cold?”  

Douglas said, “Well, one day I went in with a blazer for dry-cleaning.  The man pointed at the buttons and said, ‘Gor?’  And I said to him, ‘No, not gold.  Brass.’“

(New York, 1970s)

Douglas Tunstell, National Film Board of Canada, producer of Women on the March