I
went for a haircut this morning. Well, it is my daughter's wedding
tomorrow and all the females in the family had commented on its
length. On entering, I posed the question normally put in Spain -
"OK. Whose last in the queue?". Being a British
establishment, those waiting were thrown into obvious but silent
confusion. Not helped by the fact I'd mistakenly asked "Whose
next?". Eventually, though, someone raised his hand and admitted
to being the one before me. On the positive side, to my surprise, the
barber's shop had free WiFi, with the amusing password Grade1allover.
I finally got it to work and passed the time writing my speech for
tomorrow.
To get to my daughter's
flat in Headingley, I usually pass through a student quarter, up from
the Headingley cricket ground. Ten or fifteen years ago there was
hardly a car parked on the streets. Now there's hardly a free parking
spot. And these are students paying up to 30,000 pounds for tuition
fees. Loan finance, perhaps. For the cars, I mean. The fees are all
financed by student loans which - we learned this week - will never be
fully repaid.
Trawling
youtube for blues and boogie performances at the barber's, I came
across Aker Bilk's Stranger on the Shore. This was huge hit in the UK
in, I think, the winter of 62/63, when it was no. 1 for around 35
weeks. It's a haunting tune, originally called Jenny, after Bik's daughter of the same name. If you'd like to hear it again or for the
first time, click here.
Finally . . . .Today
I took my daughter's car to be valeted. When I asked her if there was
anything to take out of it, she told me there was just a white
plastic bag behind her seat. In fact, there were more than 20 items -
including 2 pairs of shoes, a cake tray, a spanner, an overcoat, a
couple of flower vases and an orchid. Yep, I think she's ready for marriage.
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