Bungalog – Day 2

Sunday, April 6, 2008

I get up because Neil wakes me up, says it’s going to be an exciting day, I say, why, has it snowed, and he says, yes, and I say that I thought that that was just going to happen in Scotland, but it happened here, too, and there is over 3 inches, I see it on the grass and car and cars as Neil pulls back my curtain. It’s bright and I frown and cover my eyes, and get ready to have a bath. I notice that David and Neil have eaten already, and I shortly discover that Neil has used my wooden spoon to stir the porridge, and their is milk in the porridge. He thinks the wooden spoon is part of the bungalow deal, but I mentioned yesterday that it was something I brought from home, and I announced this when I laid out my cutting board and serrated knife, so everyone will know the rules about the spoon, cutting board, and knife. I’m less upset than I think I would be, even though he doesn’t offer to buy me a new one. I am relieved that Neil is being upfront about the spoon because I suspect that some people would lie about a thing like this, although he does hesitate before telling me, and the reason I can tell is because I look directly into his eyes without looking away. Maybe it is too aggressive a move, but I can’t take a chance.

I had a slight sleep-in, which is necessary for today, and we are getting prepared to start the film at 11:30. Neil thinks he can last for the first “Era” without taking a break to eat, and David has put out a bowl of salt and vinegar chips, but Neil is already eating them. David has also made a pot of tea, and put out the remaining cookies Dot offered yesterday. I’m not sure if she meant we could eat them all, just that we could have a few, but not all of them, and shortly they are all gone. My sense is that one of the previous renters left the cookies in the bungalow. Same with the tea. Neither of these items are useful to me, but I am enjoying the paper towels.

David is getting anxious, though, as Neil is getting his snacks together. While David goes to the washroom, Neil rearranges the cushions on the loveseat. All 3 of us sit on the small couch together. It’s not really designed for 3 people, but it’s all there is, and it’s been moved around to face the wall above where the kitchen table was, which is now behind the couch and by the sliding doors. The projector and laptop sit on the table, and face the screen, which I got from the woman who works in the university finance department. Her uncle died and this screen, among other film-related things, were in her attic.

David emerges from the washroom, and I decide to go next, and when I’m out Neil sets up his camera on timer to take a photo, but he says it makes him look like a pedarest, and I say it’s because he’s crouching like Stephen Hawking, so we try a few more times, and maybe it’s not right to look so happy before starting this film and we decide it’s time to stop doing this because we are 15 minutes passed the time we said we’d start, and David doesn’t seem so pleased that we are off schedule. The bungalow smells less like mothballs today, and it is probably because last night before going to bed I turned on one of those plug-in room deodorizers, and it smells a little like vanilla. No one says anything until later when I make a comment and I think I didn’t say anything about doing it last night maybe because what if it all went wrong and it really smelled worse than the mothballs, like vanilla-scented mothballs or something.

Part way into the film there are a few washroom breaks, which always become tea breaks as well, and then a snack break for Neil. In between “Eras” Neil makes lunch for himself and David while I slice up vegetables and put them in my new extra deep ceramic lasagna dish that is now emptied from last night’s dinner. We are going to have roast yams, potatoes, and onions, and will be having steamed leeks with a vegan a haggis as well. There is also going to be an uneventful salad: sprouts, tomatoes, red pepper, salt, pepper. Neil has brought along his larger sprouter, which I sense that David thinks is slightly eccentric, but not in a bad way; the sprouter will stay by the sliding door so that it gets enough light, and Neil will water the seeds daily, so we enjoy the fruits of Neil’s labour, and receive fresh sprouts daily from the plastic sprout farm purchased off the internet.

Neil takes more pictures, but is concerned about the way he looks in the photos, and I am still certain that it is because of the way he has arranged the cushions on the love-seat — it lowers him down, so he loses a bit of height, and that makes him look criminal. Also, he hasn’t had his hair cut in a while. David and I look do not look dishonest when we look at the photos, but perhaps too happy to be watching a nine-and-a-half hour film on the Nazi Death Camps in Poland that took over 11 years to make, and shot in both the 70s and 80s so embraces documentary aesthetics of both those decades, so has some interesting qualities that I’ve not really thought that much about before, but I’m thinking about them now. David has had a hair cut recently, the shortest I’ve seen it, and I could use one myself, though mine pulled back quite tightly in two claw-style clips.

For us, the half-way mark is at 5pm, so we are feeling okay about our progress, but do not want to take too much time for the late lunch break, knowing that we will be having a late dinner when this is all over, and knowing that we have another almost five hours to go, so we have to get moving, because we don’t want to lose our rhythm. We are about to start again, and David is making tea, and I am standing at the sliding door and the ducks are outside sleeping on a part of the grass that is still covered in snow, their beaks tucked into one of their wings. Earlier I tell Neil that he didn’t wrap the bread up to keep it from going stale; he says it’s so soft, and it stays that way because of all the preservatives. I think that with a name like “Hovis” it wouldn’t be that way, but the people who come up with names are well-paid for a reason: the bag is brown, and has a picture of wheat on it. David and Neil have eaten all the bread and even if the ducks will sit outside til after six, they will not get any Hovis.

We resume the film by 6pm, a little late for my liking, but food is being prepared for dinner, which I think is a distraction. Photos taken and re-taken, and the oven turned on at a low heat to commence the slow roasting. The second era begins.

So far it has been difficult for me not to stop the film and say things about Lanzmann, the film, the interview subjects, the mythology, the places, etc., etc…. But I am trying.