I have to say I was feeling rough on Friday morning. I had had insufficient liquid all day Thursday ( not of the correct variety, anyway) and I was so full of adrenaline when I went to bed at 2.15 I still couldn't sleep. And yet when the alarm went off I leaped out of bed and not even the dismal depressing Today programme could dampen my enthusiasm. Especially when the internet told me that Lambeth was now a Brighter Borough. And it certainly felt like a brighter borough as I bounced my way to the Tube station. New Labour New Lambeth a new era has dawned...
But I still felt rough and remembered I had eaten barely anything on Thursday, so I got myself a sandwich from Boots. I stuck my earphones back on, lit a cigarette and sauntered down Floral Street, with my mind only on the houmous, carrot and alfafa bean sandwich I was about to enjoy (the contents of my sandwich seem to have taken on disproportion in the telling of this anecdote, people have questioned me about the contents of my sandwich, it really isn't germane to the anecdote). Zerlina's on shuffle and I'm listening to a nice dose of Billy Bragg through my headphones (oh, the treachery, I hear you exclaim! That's what shuffle does!)
I notice a crowd hanging around outside the Stage Door, and I thought, how silly, Plácido will be in by now, I'm just going to go the terrace and eat my houmous, carrot and alfafa bean sandwich. Then I realised that the crowd were all excitedly looking past me down Floral Street, so I glanced behind me and would you believe who was walking directly behind me! Yes, Plácido. You know, I suddenly forgot about my sandwich, and I have never ripped headphones from my ears so adroitly or quickly*
My darling Pláci was looking rougher than I was feeling, which is quite an achievement, I have to say! He looked as if he had just stepped out of the shower and had only just woken up. I lingered by the Stage Door, and listened in. A few people were wanting autographs and so on, but he said "Afterwards: I'm late..." Someone asked whether he would be singing; he said no, he wasn't warmed up. I thought 10.15, he's due on stage at eleven and in between he's got to put on that nose! I shouted out,
"Plácido, you were fabulous last night..." It has been suggested to me that maybe I shouldn't have!
But you know, at that point, I stopped feeling rough, and I was better able to enjoy my houmous, carrot and alfafa bean sandwich. Organic and vegan. Washed down with water.
* I am actually very rubbish with earphones; in fact I shouldn't be allowed out in public with an mp3 player. Once, just as I was getting off the District Line, I caused amusement if not down right hilarity at having managed to wrap the chord round the pole, and, of course, in trying to extricate myself I only wrapped it round more.
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