Bead Shop
I parked my car in the bay opposite the shop – not feeling quite sure if I was allowed to. Entering the shop I noticed a woman with a child who I recognised but couldn’t place. I approached the woman behind the counter who was doing something with beads.
“I’m not sure if was you…”
“It was” she interrupted.
I explained that I had bought a necklace for my partner for our anniversary and she had replaced the clasp and that it had broken after a day. She apologised and offered to replace the link holding on the clasp with a stronger one. As she did this I looked around the shop – straining to try to remember the woman in the shop playing with beads with her daughter. I did, however recognise the music being played in the shop.
“This is Nick Drake isn’t it?”, I said.
“Yes” said the Bead Shop woman.
“Its great isn’t it” I smiled.
“Yes”, she said” “I Only know this album”.
“Pink Moon? “ I said.
“Yes”, she said. “The last one he made before he died. Do you know any others?”
“Only that one and Five Leaves Left.” I said.
“Is that one better?” she asked.
I thought about it. “I’m not really sure which one is which,” I confessed, “They just come up randomly on my MP3 Player”.
I thanked her for fixing the necklace and as I was leaving the woman I couldn’t place said hello and called me by my name. She reminded me who she was and I was really annoyed with myself that I hadn’t recognised her. I had met her a few times through a friend and had liked her. I think of myself as a man who is good with names and faces. She was there buying an anniversary present too.
When I returned to the car I put on Five Leaves Left to see if it was better than Pink Moon.

Bank
"I don't need a paying in slip do I?" I said to the attractive eastern european bank teller.
"No" she smiled, "Just insert your card".
I did as she said and obediently entered my pin number as I handed over the cheque for £75. It had been given to me by a new friend for the Leonard Cohen ticket I had bought. Its a lot of money but seems well worth it at the moment. I'm a fan. My new friend has an eastern european name. He is thinking of dropping one of the consonants to make it easier to spell.
"I've noticed Mr Fromthespar, that its more than twelve months since you've had your annual review", said the teller.
"I know", I smiled, "That's because I don't want one".
"You don't want us to save you money", she persisted.
"No," I beamed, " I'm really happy with my account".
"OK", she said. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"
I thought for a second.
"No thankyou" I said and I walked out smiling.

Take Away
So I was going to write about about something else. It was funny and happened on friday - but for some reason I - after logging in I got up to make a cup of tea and gave in to the urge of two rice cakes with marmite and peanut butter. I was annoyed with myself because since starting acupuncture about a month ago I seem to have mostly dropped the habit of snacking - especially in the evening. This evening it's come back with a vengeance. I've already had an orange (acceptable) and some chocolate. I was following the rice cake urge (yes it is possible to have one - people have all sorts of urges) and a minor disaster occured. I was listening to her phone conversation whilst spreading the marmite - wondering whether or not she would tell her friend about the night away in a hotel I've organised for our tenth anniversary(she didn't) - and I reached for the peanut butter and there was a soundless crash and I looked around and there were black shards everywhere. (Christ these rice cakes are stale - definitely not worth the bother.)

I wondered for about two seconds how a jar of peanut butter could turn into black shards. It reminded me of the sort of ashes which fly out of the mouth of John Coffee in The Green Mile. Then I realised that the shards had previously been the plate the rice cakes had been sat on. They are black glass and go everywhere when broken. I re-ran the events in my mind. There had been two PB jars - one on top of each other. Which fucking idiot had left them like that? I had my suspicions... it was their fault. Running the scene further forward I became aware that I had picked up the lower of the two jars which was why the upper one had fallen on the plate. I can't explain why I did this.

It took ages to clear up the debris. She was still on the phone. I swore twice, hoping for her to interupt herself and ask me what had happened. She didn't. I wondered if fate was trying to tell me to stop snacking. Then I rememebered that I don't believe in fate and that it only operates on those who do.

Anyway - on friday night I went to the chinese take away with my older son and his univesity friend. The friend chatted at length while we waited for our food. He told me about his post graduation plans and mused about which branch of science he was most interested in. I felt slightly conscious of the other man in the shop. He was leaning against the window in a manner I took to be drunk. He seemed to be staring at me a lot. I imagined he was judging me and mine for being studenty middle class types. As our conversation came to a pause his chips arrived. He seemed to summon all his energy to leave the comfort of the window and before he left, turned to my son's friend and uttered the words "Physics mate".

The Right Place
"This is the right place isn't it," said the man with the security helmet as he walked into the office. He had the visor up and was holding one of those hand held machines that you can sign for things with these days.
"Where do you think it is?", I asked.
"Merlin Housing Society", he said.
"No," I said - with the pleasure of someone who is correct. "Its over there." I opened the door and pointed to the other shop front - its signage obscured by trees.
"Thanks", he said.

Bird

Hopefully you will find this image of a bird taken by the river wye as stunning as I do. You'll be even more surprised when you hear that the bird was flying backwards when it was snapped.