Being a regular column, I find myself returning to themes occasionally (boringly repeating yourself – Ed), and this week I’m reflecting on how much closer to the surface those damn tears seem to be. This was all sparked off by a trip to the cinema to see Hamnet, the bloody thing had been proclaimed as a weepfest, so why we went I have no clue, but go we did. And… it wasn’t as overwhelming as press reports had led us to believe. My wife shed a solitary tear, whilst I will admit to some general sobbing from the moment of Hamnet’s passing to the scene in the Globe. But not as bad as I had been expecting, given that I seem to have shed a skin over the last few years.
Is it an age thing? The sense that I am heading into the second half of the game and have less time left than I had previously. Is it a lasting effect of COVID? We were all collectively traumatised and therefore are far more empathetic and emotional. Is it the relentless horrors of Ukraine, Gaza, and countless other tragedies that we are bombarded with? Could well be, I’m stopping watching the news so much and have deleted social media apps from my phone as I find myself increasingly drawn into doomscrolling – see it even has a name!
If I’m being honest, though, I like a good cry as long as it’s in controlled circumstances. So we’re not talking funerals and tragedies here, but artistic events that give rein to the emotions, and as I’ve said, it seems much easier these days to turn the taps on in a cathartic way. Recently, we’ve started watching Shrinking on Apple. It’s a fantastically written comedy of manners about psychiatrists negotiating the world in which they live, with the central tenet being one dealing with the loss of his wife and another with the onset of Parkinson’s. Every episode prompts a bit of a blub. But the real key to unlocking the Kleenex (other tissues are available) cupboard remains music. The clip below of Mavis Staples, Kevin Morby, and Nathaniel Rateliff had me in floods (more than Hamnet or an episode of Call The Midwife), as does the one with Glen Campbell.
There’s no logic to it. It just seems to tickle something in my brain stem, and I’m off. It’s reassuring in a way, I suppose. It also happened during the radio show this week when I played Jimmy Webb. What a fabulous world we live in sometimes. As ever…
