I was in and out of the flat a couple of times this morning. I made a very early start, with four tops on under the spring jacket, and could not believe how cold it was out. When I returned to the flat just after 11:00hrs, I made sure that when I left again after midday, I’d shed two of the lighter tops and replaced them with a couple of winter heavyweights. The day’s quite a messed up one, routine-wise, as I knew it would be and I’ve had to leave my run until this evening. With the day’s second appointment again cancelled, I’ll have more time later than envisaged to stretch the legs.
Missing latte.
In Stockwell, on my way to THE café, the Flute Man of SW8 was belting out another opera. I have no idea if these are genuine or he’s ‘jamming’. My experience of opera is limited to walking out of one at the interval. I think it was ‘Carmen’ at the Royal Albert Hall in the summer of ’96. Poor old Lopez, my great deceased friend, had come along with me. He always fancied himself as one for the highbrow stuff and he was so disappointed when I told him there was no way I was sitting through the second half of whatever it was we’d sat through in the first half. 27 years on, I know if I sat through that again, I’d make the same decision.
Opera?
No.
Or Musicals for that matter. That’s a given.
I know a few guys who go to musicals but here’s the thing: they’re all married. I have never known a single straight man go to a musical willingly. Now the guys I know who do go to musicals may claim now, and I’m not disputing this, that they really enjoy musicals. I accept they do. My point is, they only got into them through their wives. It was a love that was passed on and perhaps one that took a while for them to accept, a bit like getting together with a partner that in time you eventually grow to love.
I’ve never done the online dating apps and never will, because I just feel going down that route is a little too cold. I know we live in an instant-everything culture now, but I’m also still a romantic at heart and I like to think it’s still possible to meet someone the old way, eyes locking across a crowded room, etc, and all those cliches that ultimately lead to one halving their bills. But if I did the online dating apps, in the profile, it should be mandatory for people to confirm whether they like musicals or not. You want to be clear going into a relationship what’s expected of you.
I arrived in THE café, cramming all my stuff onto a single table only for little Phil Collins asking me if I wanted to move to a four-seater after a man finished his lunch. She’s nice like that, Phil. I was irked though when my latte arrived in its tall glass, not quite full. If I ran a café, and at this rate, I’ll be lucky to run anything, all glasses (there’d be no cups) would be so full, spillages would be a regular feature of the café.
An anecdote, shared with The Beard re. The Paris Air Show and a video I recently saw of an extraordinary steep take-off from an ordinary passenger plane with a minimal run-up, falls flat. I thought my delivery was decent. The Beard seems disappointed. I thought I’d segued well into the anecdote after he told me about his upcoming four-day break in Portugal and how one of his step kids has a big fear of flying.
In the ongoing, subtle battle for man bun prominence in THE café, Nepal is persisting with a very small, tight knot atop his scalp, while The Beard has let his fall to almost a midway pony tail that hasn’t been fashionable since Manu Petit and his beautiful left foot was strutting his stuff at Highbury for the first and strongest of Arsene Wenger’s great Arsenal sides.
As I get ready to wrap things up shortly, the vulgar Gibraltarians turn up. Their accents are throatier than the Andalucians, but otherwise very similar. We both lisp when we speak Spanish. The lisp is just unavoidable. The Beard never enjoys serving them. I think, given a choice between serving them or hearing another anecdote from me, he might lean towards the anecdote.
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Nice to see the Delta logos on the chairs. I buy a bag for home occasionally to lessen the saudades. The Head of Delta Rui Nabeiro died recently. He was a lifelong Benfiquista so they had a tribute on the website.