ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
A local man has once again found himself on the receiving end of a scathing glare from his wife during their annual rewatch of Love Actually, precisely at the moment Alan Rickman’s character buys a necklace for his secretary.
Phil McDonald, 32, from Betoota Heights, reports that as soon as the now-infamous scene began, he felt his wife’s eyes boring into him, as if he too was guilty of such a betrayal.
“She does it every year,” Phil explained.
“I’ve never bought a necklace for anyone, let alone someone I’m having an affair with, which, for the record, I’m not.”
His wife, Lisa, offered a different perspective.
“It’s not about whether he’s done it,” she said.
“It’s about the fact that every man is capable of doing it. Alan Rickman has shown us that no man, no matter how mild-mannered or bookish, is immune to temptation.”
Phil, who works as an accountant and drives a 2009 Camry, insists he is a devoted husband and has never given Lisa a reason to doubt him. But that hasn’t stopped the annual ritual from becoming a tense moment in their household.
“Alan Rickman has ruined Christmas for men everywhere,” Phil lamented.
“He’s made us all look like untrustworthy bastards. Even when I’m just sitting there with a cup of tea, minding my own business, I still get treated like I’m secretly hanging around jewellers, plotting infidelity.”
Lisa, however, remains resolute.
“All I’m saying is that he’d better stick to socks and chocolates for gifts this year.”
More to come.
