I was waiting for my mates, having a Dinglefoot at the Monkey Puzzle, while a Greek improv band with a bazuki was dancing on the tables.
I, spent from the regular collisions of inanity and insanity by the people I, by necessity, as part of a megacorp and all that implies, must conform to, sat there motionless.
The buzzooki’s mad melody rattled my brain like rocking a baby, mercifully snipping my stupefaction into thousands of cleverly cut shapes of rice paper, dumping them into a toilet and politely flushing them away.
Or might it have been the distraction of a gaggle of giggling girls gamboling in and goggling the Greeks, one of whom, casually held an unlit cigarette in one hand and his ouzo in the other, his head lolling, his feet regularly approaching the edges of the table, only to be pushed back by the bizerkee player, who hardly missed a note?
The pub proprietor approached the Greeks with a frown to curdle fresh milk, his bar rag in one hand and a bill in the other. It seems, the barkeep said, pointing up, back, and around, his Irish accent singing and cupping every ‘r’ gently in a velvety shamrock, that the neighbours were not appreciative of badsucky drilling and middle-age men pulling a Zorba on a peaceful London evening.
The stringéd instrument stopped suddenly enough for everyone to stop talking all at once and look from the Greeks to the keep to the Greeks and back to the keep.
The ciga-Greek finished his ouzo with one gulp and jumped from the table with a flourish and an Opa!, to which the whole bar clapped their hands once and also yelled Opa!. And then with a gentle bow under the scan of the Irish, the Greek said he would acquiesce and would pay the bill and take his bus away with he and his busooqui buddies to another venue, thank you very much, kbai now, and scampered away.
Turning to watch the Irishly scammed Greek table dancing improv bazuki band walk out of the Monkey Puzzle, my mates arrived, finding me sitting with my Dinglefoot, waiting for them.
13oct07
Dedicated and inspired by Don, Wes, Matt, and Ryan.
