Friday 20 November 2009
Blimey. Most of the way through November. I commented to John that “it’s not Christmas yet,” but increasingly it is actually getting closer and my usual holding out is becoming more and more pointless. Also, we need to buy some cheap, shoddy Christmas tat for the house. We’re only here another month before going to our respective homes for three weeks, so we need to make the most of it.
Friday was fairly uneventful, although as I have said in the past, the walk down one particular road near me always yields interesting results. Today was no different. On the way to the grocery store we spotted more than a few strange-looking characters – nothing too out of the ordinary, just the type to make you stop and think “huh, there are some strange-looking people around.”
And then, further up the road, I spotted a tenner on the floor. Amazing! I seem to find paper money on the floor with worrying frequency. That £10 went into my pocket with the same speed as the time earlier this summer that I found two tenners in the space of a week. Beyond that, when seeing Cowboy Junkies at the Royal Albert Hall with Troels, I found a tenner in the bar – which helped as the drinks were ridiculously-priced. Another time I recall was somewhere along the road from Parnell to Newmarket in Auckland where I found NZ$60 neatly bundled up.
I hope it’s not karma – I’ve certainly never lost paper money myself, and I definitely can’t afford to. And, thinking back, I always seem to find cash when I need it most. This week I’ve got a busy week – with the trip to London – and a tenner will pay for one of my trains from London to home nicely. In Auckland I was living the backpacker lifestyle and NZ$60 (around £20) went a long way.
Anyway, the grocery shopping was a breeze and then, on our return trip down The Road Of Many A Notable Encounter, we were approached by a very friendly American in a suit with a briefcase. I spotted the badge on his lapel instantly – The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints. I’ve seen them go door-to-door, but walking up to people in a run-down residential area is a new one on me! I just told him my shopping bag was heavy and carried on. Looking back, I should’ve thanked him and his kin for the hard work they do in transcribing records of births, marriages and deaths. Handy data. You could say they do it for their own ends, but the fact they share the data so freely is commendable.
In the afternoon John made meatballs (which were gorgeous) and we mixed up some of the Kool-Aid that we bought recently. For a drink you make with tap water, a cup of sugar, and a powder which looks strangely like firework gunpowder, it’s not bad. But it’s not that good either. It’s just weak, sweet-as-you-like and has a funny taste. John says you can dye your hair with Kool-Aid and I think that might be a better use for it. I was initially concerned about hair smelling of grape or cherry afterwards, but then Fructis is a rather nice shampoo and that’s never put me off before now. I think I’ll leave the hair-dying to him – and hey, I can’t have hated the drink that much, I’ve bottled some of it and stuck it in the fridge for a rainy day.
We watched some Beavis & Butt Head too – I haven’t seen that show in years and years. I can’t remember when I would have seen it first – did Channel 4 show it? We certainly didn’t have MTV. But I do remember getting the tapes out from the library as well*. Either way, some of the catch-phrases – if you can call them that – came flooding back. And, despite the puerile nature of the comedy, there’s something inherently funny about sitting on the sofa with your mate sniggering, whilst watching a cartoon about two mates sat around on the sofa sniggering. Nonsense. I’ve also gotten back into King of the Hill and Daria in a big way. What a prolific stable that was.
Communication fail in the evening: John and I headed round to Alan’s for some Beatles Rock Band. Having spent a good five minutes in the queue at the off licence with some real horrors, we got a phone call from Alan that he was outside our house. So back we went. A somewhat lacklustre but no less enjoyable evening of Rock Band played out. I must say, given the fun I had providing my vocal skillz last time, the novelty has completely worn off now. But that’s just my way with videogames of all kinds.
The fact that I can’t sing for shit is totally unrelated.
* the library: providing access to Beavis & Butt Head, Family Guy, Manic Street Preachers’ The Holy Bible and softcore porn to teenage boys since time immemorial.
