I just watched four episodes of Dawson’s Creek in a row. Have I, somehow, wasted an evening? Anyway, it included episode 611, where Jack and David finally kiss (review). The annual gay kiss was somewhat lacking in emotion. Still, you do get to look at Kerr Smith!
A regular Tuesday morning in London. Like millions of other commuters around the capital, I head for work in something of a daze. Londoners are not known for striking up conversations with each other on commuter trains. Today, however, I witnessed two real-life conversations between strangers. As a result of the derailment on the Northern Line, the Bakerloo Line was packed. At the bottom of the escalator at Piccadilly Circus, two women had a row about who was pushing who as they tried to get to the top before each other. It wasn’t a deep and meaningful exchange, but it was a conversation (of sorts) between two strangers – which was certainly different. The second instance also took place on the escalators, but this time at Waterloo. The advertisements on the walls were for O2’s lower-cost calls from home service. They were a series of postcodes. A family riding up didn’t understand the message, and another tube-rider chipped in with his opinion on the ads. He too failed to understand the message. I guess there’s something in that for O2’s ad agency, but for me, it was an eye-opener that people on the London Underground aren’t so self-involved.
It’s been twenty years since Culture Club’s Karma Chameleon was the UK’s number one-selling single (full list). I really remember the video set in Mississippi (but I don’t imagine it was actually filmed there). I suspect it would be very dated now … altogether now, “Every day is like survival, You’re my lover, not my rival …”
Apparently, if you’re in the United States, this week is Marriage Protection Week 2003, thanks to George Bush. It really is just plain silly – a knee-jerk reaction to fear and prejudice. The hypocrisy of the line, “And we must continue our work to create a compassionate, welcoming society, where all people are treated with dignity and respect”, is not lost on me. The overtones about marriage and good parenting are the scary aspects to me. Please support Marriage Equality Week instead (thanks to Eric for the pointer).
I have been away on holiday for a week and am moving into catch-up mode.
As a child, I frantically wrote letters the week before going on holiday, so I would have a nice pile of unopened mail when I returned. Yesterday, of course, there was a mass of mail on the doorstep, but most of it was corporate mailings or junk of some description. My email inboxes were the same, but where are the communications I actually want?
Back in the office, most of the mail is not junk and has to be dealt with, but, as ever, procrastination gets the better of me. I’ve read it all and acted on the urgent. The rest is delayed for the “catching-up” excuse, which can last another 24 hours. Shameful, wasteful, and it will be – ultimately – frustrating for me, but that is the spirit of putting off.
As the British tend to do, we will look back on this past summer with joy. We’ll talk about it like we did that of 1976 – a long, hot, lazy, crazy summer. I was more likely to be playing in a paddling pool than worrying about shortages of the plastic pools back then, but I do remember the heat and picking the fruit from my father’s fruit bushes while sitting in the back garden. Sadly, the topless lads playing football on the green behind my house have given way to the Sunday morning rugby matches. This is a sign of the oncoming winter as the fields turn from their burnt golden grass to a dark-brown mud bath. Still, autumn comes first, and it’s my favourite of seasons. I think it’s time I got the camera out to start recording some of it.
Today is PY and my twelfth anniversary, and tonight we are off for dinner at Lightship X at St Katherine’s Dock. I’m really looking forward to it.
Twelve years sounds like a very long time but it certainly doesn’t feel like it – it’s been a wonderful period of my life and I am very much hoping for another twelve years.
People talk about finding their soulmate, and I am very lucky to have found mine many years ago.
Thanks for everything, PY. I love you.