What is it with films these days? Cinema is not what it used to be. It’s all style and no substance, flimsy plots masked with special effects that look rather tacky if you ask me. Ultra violence, bad language – these things don’t make a great story. Bring back the golden days of Hollywood, that’s what I say. When starlets were truly beautiful and male actors stood up as idols. I don’t know what’s becoming of the world these days, but I pity those who are stuck here for the next fifty years to endure it.

This tirade comes about after my boring weekend at home while waiting for the arborist services. I had to get tree removal from my property as well as some stump grinding to get rid of those unsightly stumps remaining from years gone by. There are a heck of a lot of trees in Brisbane, tree lopping is just part and parcel of living here. Anyway, so I’m sitting in front of the TV while the contractors are outside doing their thing. I can see them working in my peripheral vision as I try to focus on this sorry excuse for a movie. Something about someone doing a thing? I can’t even remember, that’s much this film failed to keep my attention. So as the minutes go by, I’m slowly gazing from the TV to the tree lopping operation outside. It wasn’t long before I had my easy chair in front of the window instead of the TV, munching on some popcorn as I watched them do their job.

I have to say, the services for stump removal around Brisbane are much more entertaining than Hollywood today. I got to watch the arborists stealthily climb the tree and disassemble it with poise, and then grind the stump down into oblivion with their grinding machine. You’d never have known there was once a tree there. They also pulverised the remaining branches and wood into mulch – handy for the gardening!