Semaphore by the Sea

Posted at 2:00 PM, Monday, March 24, 2008

We have spent much of this four-day weekend making up for the absolute absence of housecleaning during the fifteen day heat wave that ended last week. But yesterday after the bathroom had been cleaned, we headed off to the the Semaphore Odeon Cinema to see "Horton Hears a Who." Since I wrote about the Semaphore Cinema in an earlier blog entry, they have raised their ticket prices to $7 from $6, but that still makes tickets half what they cost most other places. Since our move last October, it now take a full thirty minutes to get there, but I consider it worth the trip. In addition to having a cozy small town feel, the theater has a little cafe for refreshments either before or after the show. Although popcorn is as expensive as anywhere else, ice cream bars are reasonably priced, and home-baked cookies are available for fifty cents each. We arrived half an hour early yesterday to make sure tickets were still available, so we spent the time waiting for the doors to open munching on popsicles. We sat through several minutes of quaint commercials advertising local businesses, plus two previews (was it my imagination, or did the preview for "Nim's Island" give away the ending?!). Then it was time for the feature presentation. Certainly wasn't the best kids' movie I've seen in the last twelve months ("Enchanted" takes that honor), but the boys enjoyed it.

The main attraction of this movie theater is that once the show is over, we're in Semaphore. It is a charming seaside resort town with a modest downtown shopping area, several playgrounds, and a gorgeous beach. As we drove into town yesterday, it seemed like the sky was littered with little balloons. In fact, we were seeing dozens of kites on display for the town's annual Kite Festival. After the movie, we strolled the two blocks to the jetty and enjoyed the spectacle. My favorite was the little teddy bear who with the aid of his own kite made his slow way up a long kite string. Suddenly, his handler hit a release, and the bear dropped from the kite string and floated gracefully to the ground with his very own parachute.

It was Easter Sunday, but nearly all the businesses were open, and the little Steam Train was running. We picked up a couple of apples from the local fruit and veg shop, and indulged in fried-to-order doughnuts to top off a special afternoon. Yonatan and Nadav dug in the sand for an hour, while the kites continued to soar nearby. It was a tough sell to convince them to get back into the car for the rather monotonous drive down commercial Port Road, but eventually we all had our shoes and socks on and were making our way back home. We'll be back as soon as the next decent kids' movie opens.