Annual Report

Blimus - you get around the country and foreign environs (almost) as much as me! Grand to read that you’re back and on good writing form. Ain’t you a tad old to be told how to manage your sobriety (or not)? I guess (finally) having gainful employment means the opportunity to get legless before you’ve stood the day up (or is it stood up int’ day?) will help said sobriety for t’meeting later? I hope it goes well. Very much relished your collocation - histamined evening - spiffingly sneezy. I went to The Proms t’other night to see Sibelius (Karelia Suite), Tchaikovsky (Pathetique) and Mieczysław Weinberg (Cello Concerto). My synaesthetic senses soared with a kaleidoscopic burst of textured glee. To be less pompous - ’twas fucking A+. Welcome back :-D

Oh that sounds great. I once had a first date with a girl and we decided we’d both like to listen to Sibelius’s Violin Concerto round at her flat. I thought we could have done something more interesting round her flat, but never mind, it’s an original idea and I like Sibelius.

She got bored after about ten minutes. So whether she was trying to impress me or something I don’t know, but that wasn’t very impressive.

The meeting will be fine. There’s not much to discuss. It’s a yes or no I’m after. My landlady is strapped for cash – a carelessly discarded letter from a debt collection agency – which I didn’t touch by the way – told me so when they were away one weekend – so we’ve offered them more money. It’s far from ideal for all parties though and I can see a bit of Sturm und Drang looming. But poor old Hayley, she’s trying so hard.

That first paragraph is proof positive: Progress!

Had to Google plongeur. I’ve been one in the past and didn’t know it had a fancy name. Brilliant, as always. Keep at it, sir. You are in my thoughts.

Thank you. Yes, it’s been a good move this. Quite happy here. Hayley makes a huge difference, and it’s almost too much to hope for, that we will have some arty little place where I can write and she can do her art work. But just daily life here is interesting.

I used plongeur instead of any English term because that’s the word for a pot wash, or kitchen porter, in the classic of dishwashing literature, Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London.

So Hayley doesn’t want you for your plongeur?
What a wonderful word, thank you, I will steal it and use it in a couple of years’ time and pretend I found it first.
Sx

I’m always pleased to see a woman getting a grip of something new.

Glad I wasn’t the only one who had to use Google. :-)
I hope the meeting went well and you were inebriated just to show the landlady what she can look forward to.

I asked reschedule it as,I got offered a ten hour shift on the bar at an Indian wedding. Jeez, they were putti g it away.

I’ve been a plongeur, a soda jerk, a factotum and a purveyor of fine herbs. I worked in a breakfast place circa ‘93 washing dishes and scrubbing pots, it was the toughest job in the joint with the longest hours, i spent my breaks smoking copious amounts of ganja and sucking all the nitrous oxide out of the whipped cream canisters with one of the waiters, i got a free plate of food and i got to stare at the lovely waitresses, a free breakfast was a boon to a broke lad prone to spending his money on drugs and alcohol and since it was the end of the season it wasn’t completely horrible, i was usually done by 2pm and in the bar by 3, which in turn led to me meeting a nice young lady one afternoon of African-American descent, we knew each other casually like and she’d been to a few parties at the old whorehouse where i lived, upon finding out it was my birthday that fine September afternoon she decided it would be right and proper for us to go back to my room, roll a joint, and fuck until i was good and happy. It sure beat cake and ice cream.

As always good stuff sir, i never tire of the adventures and for those who haven’t spent an afternoon (or more) in a pair of women’s knickers they don’t know what their missing, lol!

What a cracking tale kono, thanks, and what a considerate woman to give you such a fine birthday. My break — unpaid and singular – is not nearly as interesting as yours. We’re captives in the airport, unable to leave. But the free food is a big bonus and I spend hardly anything on food now. The Indian wedding was good. Free drink!