Dissonance

Dan and I breakfast heartily. Way too early. What I really wanted was a Bloody Mary, what I needed was more sleep, but what I got was Quorn sausages. Culinary dissonance.

He heads off for an EEA awayday (arts and culture rather than anything to do with our friends over the channel). I read some more Ishi and then decide to take an early siesta.

The siesta overruns, so I get to the Wellcome Collection late to meet Roxanne. There’s a huge queue, so we wander the streets of Bloomsbury instead. She points out the shop that was used for Black Books, we eat a healthy salad, and then select a hearty pub to honour with our custom. The Bloody Mary is serviceable, but no prizes awarded.

The next, and final, entry in my social calendar is Dulwich for dinner. I met Dee at Bobs Youth Palace Hotel in A’dam in the 80s. I visited her and Richard at various addresses in Nottingham over the following decade before family, work, and Acme curtailed my itinerant hitchhiking.

At home tonight are her partner Matthew and two young family friends from Nottingham. She serves up a delicious meal, we drink a trio of wines, and finally we play bridge. Three beginners and two lapsed players makes for a challenging game. The low point for me is when my partners insist on going down in clubs while I have a strong hand with 8 diamonds to the king.

Overground from Honor Oak, Jubilee from Canada Water, homeless in Bond Street. How disappointed would I be to be camping on a church porch in central London?