LB made a youtube film last week. A film about the Canterbury Park and Ride bus. He chose the photos he wanted to use, the words, the music and the title slides. I put it together for him. On Sunday night he came back from his dad’s pretty agitated. The film (56 seconds) wasn’t long enough and he wanted it to have two buses.

“Ok,” I said, “we’ll make a longer version when you get back from after school club tomorrow.”

“Are we going to make the film longer tomorrow, Mum?” he asked me, countless times during the evening. And first thing in the morning.
“Yes, after kids club.” I replied.
“With two buses, Mum?”
“Yes.”

The following afternoon, I get a call from kids club. LB is ‘sick’ and wants to come home. I was at work, so had to catch a bus home, then drive to kids club to collect him. This took longer than LB could cope with so when I turned up, he had a small egg sized bruise on his forehead, where he’d bashed his head against the wall and a sore lip.

“Oh dear. That wasn’t a good thing to do, was it?” I said, as we drove back home.
“No, Mum,” he muttered. “Can we make the film longer when we get home Mum?”
“Yes.” I said.
“With two buses, Mum?”
“Yes. But you are not to get so stressy about these things. OK?”
“Yes, Mum.”

Once home, he chose the two buses he wanted to use. Given the collection of die cast buses he has, I was a bit surprised by his choice, but hey ho, his film and all that. I took the photos, he told me what words to use and I uploaded the new version. Youtube took the usual 30/40 minutes to upload and make the film live during which LB asked me to check if it was live probably every other minute.

Later, he was perfectly chilled, watching other youtube bus films in the kitchen.

“Oh look,” I said, as I walked past and saw a Canterbury Park and Ride bus. “That’s your bus, isn’t it?”
“No Mum. That bus belongs to another person, Mum.”
“Whatever.” I said in my head, “WHATFUCKINGEVER.”

Postscript: Here is the link to the film (1.28) but severe earworm warning about the soundtrack; Micky Modelle’s version of Show Me Heaven.