LSD and Vampires

A customer recounted her experience on LSD. A tune in drop out although in this case he thought she had turned into a vampire. I used to work with someone who used to drop a tab of acid whilst in the Chiselhurst Caves- a favourite mod hangout in the 60s. He spent hours looking at an orange.

At work yesterday spoke to woman from Montreal. Other woman further down the line misheard " Did she say that she was a Comedian" "No", I responded " a Canadian"

Seems Bin Laden stopped by cops for speeding in Pakistan. I suspect those videos he watched as shot by Navy Seals were old "Top Gear" progs.

At work woman said that she could not get her Lemon Tree to produce fruit. I suggested she play Music to them as suggested by the Prince of Wales. I gather Bach works well on trees.

Told Ann Charlesworth at work  the following anecdote which I read in the Michael Sandel book on " Justice" on the folly of utilitarianism and cost benefit analysis. In the 70s there were complaints that men were staying overnight at St Anne's College, Oxford. The traditionalists were appalled and decided to apply a charge after carrying out a cost/ benefit analysis of the impact of having males staying at the College. They decided to charge men 50p per night with the maximum of 3 nights stay. The Guardian heard about this and ran the headline ST ANNE'S GIRLS 50P A NIGHT!!

Sold a Goblin suet meat pudding which now comes in plastic not in the tin that you used to punch at the top otherwise the thing tended to explode as it was boiled. I wonder what the casualty rate was from the exploding ordinace as metal, suet and hot gravy flew around the kitchen? There might be a monument at the Arboretum for the fallen victims of the Goblin. 

Just a though.

Anglo Hungarian Phrase Book

Discussion on Vegemite an Australian at the till swears by it. I am not so sure.

Woman with Waitrose bag putting all our own brand stuff in the bag. I wonder who she is trying to kid?

Couple who have been Veggies for 40 years. Things are better now in terms of choice pretty dire in the 80s esp around here.

Hungarian woman absolutely charming and a change from all the glum Poles that come past me.

Hungarian told me the word for “thank you sounded like “cusinnog.

On reflection it might be a case of the English/ Hungarian phrase book in reverse.

Man tells me about work in Call Centre on the whole I prefer to work on a till.

Woman buys loaves and fishes- as a trick it’s been done before.

Bloke with Norwegian tee shirt. I try Snakker di Norsk? He does- enjoyable chat

The till breaks down a combination of spilled soda and flour. I am all white a bit like the ghost in L and H short.

Sub editors are bastards!

Woman cannot find fly spray I suggest a rolled up copy of the Daily Express- it has to be good for something

Man keen on Horse racing as I do the shopping I put suggest a racing commentary as the shopping speeds by the Spaghetti won by a short strand

NHS woman just retired and we discuss the countless changes and the way ideas come back again such a GP Fundholding.

A chat in the canteen a colleague bemoans the growth, but surprises me by saying its all a con and people should be able to afford and that it was bad housekeeping and she is one of the Stewards!!

Nice chat with woman at the end who tells about her career as a journalist in the North East. She had a low opinion of sub editors and as for editors it is unrepeatable

Cecilia with the right hook

Woman buys romantic fiction and I notice that the heroine was called Cecilia. The only person I have ever known of that name possessed an excellent right with which she floored an errant boyfriend

Woman buys lots of cakes for her mother who is 94 and born in Glasgow. What a life to have been born in the City as the First World War was ending with all the connatations of Red Clyde and St George's Square.

Talk about home made chutney its the season to make it I am told.

Woman smiles- it does not happen too often. I have said before I am of the opinion about the local " friendliness" is over played and I doubt whether its as friendly as the propaganda makes out. as few actually make the effort. If people were so friendly then they would be cheerfully chatting away to me and as I initiate about 90 % of the conversations I doubt the perceived view is all that correct

The Daily Mail " is not a political paper"- Discuss

Easily the best selling newspaper in the store is the Mail. It out sells the others comfortably with the Sun and Mirror trailing in its wake. I read it as Cathy has the Saturday edition. I was talking to a customer about its popularity and was astounded when he told me that it was not a political paper. I know its not pantomine season yet but felt like saying- O yes it is

Man told me that his ancestor fought in the Sudan trying to save General Gordon. At least he was not on the Mad Mardi's side.

Spoke to man about Music and what we are interested in. I am pretty Catholic in my taste. As one would expect of a middle aged man hip hop is not my style but I might be taken by a Dvorak/ Hip Hop mash up.

I cannot say that I like booze being sold too early. We do have people who buy the stuff very early. It probably offends my Methodist ancestry

A short history of Coffee drinking

I was having a conversation with a woman on the history of Coffee drinking. I gather that it was a goat herdsman who noticed the effect of coffee drinking on his goats in the distant past in Yemen. I ask the woman where the first coffee house was opened( I only know this because I had written an article on the subject) It was Oxford in the 1650s by a coupe of Dutch Jews. Cromwell had allowed Jews back into the country after they had been expelled in the Middle Ages.

A conversation about Jamie Oliver. It is true to say that the general view was that he was right to criticise the TV dinner culture, Certainly Cathy supports his stance and told me of a neighbour in Ellesmere Port who gave her daughter a £1 to buy chips because she could not be arsed to boil potatoes and mash them.

Saw Mr Hartley the former head of Carmountside and what a decent cove he is. I recall the pie eating Rural Science teacher John Proctor and his very shouty sister who also taught in the school. Perhaps she needed to shout?

One of my favourite customers appeared reminiscing about the Hammersmith Palais. She once told me that many Londoners owe their existence to carnal encounters after a hop

Sammy Davies Junior comes to mind

A bloke is wearing a stone which he tells me is a Yin/Yang stone and then goes into a discussion on the terrible circumstances of his life and the death of a girl friend. He fondles the stone and says "This is the Balance of Life". For some reason Sammy Davies Junior and Rhythmn of Life comes to mind.

 Let's hear it for the world's only black. Jewish one eyed entertainer.

My Nat West pen ceases to work- bloody typical- I think.

Interesting chat with couple recently moved here from Norfolk. He was telling me that he knew some old boy who had grafted the Treaty of Versaille. Wondered who that could be? I thought it was AJ Sylvester. Knew Salle in Norfolf perhaps the best Perpendicular church in East Anglia, but many to choose from