I'd bought a ticket online to see the new Ryan Gosling movie, Project Hail Mary. It's been on for a while, so the nearest theatre still screening it on Saturday afternoon was Eastgardens - not a venue within walking distance. The car refused to start. Garry came down to the car park, fiddled around and agreed that the battery was dead. I was forced to book an Uber and race to the theatre.
The last time the battery died, Garry and I had packed the car and were heading off to Tasmania for the first time. With a ferry sailing booked for the following day, we still had a full day of driving ahead of us. At the time, we had no idea it was a battery issue. As a result, I caught a cab to the airport and booked a last-minute rental car for the next two weeks.
The first time I recall our car battery dying was in the Sainsbury car park on Finchley Road. Garry was in the hospital recovering from a burst appendix. He was starting to move around after being bedridden for days. I decided to surprise him with a pair of slippers. After I'd made my purchase, I returned to the car, and the chaos began. As I waited for roadside assistance to arrive, Garry began calling me from his hospital bed in tears because I was running late for the visit I'd promised to make.
While last weekend's dash to the theatre was annoying, it was definitely a better outcome than the alternative. The day before, I'd taken the car to Artiwood's warehouse in Minto, on the southern outskirts of Sydney. It would have ruined my day had I found myself stranded in an industrial estate, almost an hour from home.
As for the movie, Project Hail Mary was brilliant. It was 2.5 hours long, and for much of this time, it was just Gosling and a special effects alien character on screen. The screenplay is based on a book by Andy Weir. This author seems to have a knack for writing compelling single-character science fiction. He also wrote The Martian, a movie in which Matt Damon spent a great deal of time alone on screen.
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