South Africa
>What we do on Mondays
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| Kelly Wainwright @ Itch |
Rose Kelleher on friends, expats, and a pub game @ the new issue of Itch.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Monday night is quiz night down at the Irish pub. I always arrive early. I sort through the pile of newspapers that the bar keeps for customers. Some of the papers look fresh with no creases, and you can be sure they’re today’s. I scan the line of text under the banner: “Daily Mail”, “De Morgen” or “Financial Times”. European edition. Price : One pound sterling or Two euro fifty. Then the date: “Friday 3rd”. Ditch it and try another. But even old papers are acceptable. Anything in English, from “home”, will do.
I choose a paper and sit down at our usual table. It’s thirty minutes before the quiz and the pub is always a little empty at this time. Outside the window, at a busy intersection, buses are getting caught and missed. Trams are dinging their bells at kamikaze commuters dashing for bus-stops. People look a little frazzled by the rush, but relieved to have finished work, to be out of the office. They are determined not to lose a second more of their day to their job. Each one has someone waiting for them to come home. Their phones ring and they ask questions about dinner. Always the same questions. “What will we eat tonight? I don’t know, what would you like to do? Do you want me to pick something up?”
altimoniere 