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This afternoon my wife and I sipped a beer or two in the garden which of course is mainly what gardens are for. Very pleasant it was too.
Inevitably we began to chat about this and that and for some
reason we began discussing famous people we’d most like to meet for a
conversation, including people from the past. Surprisingly perhaps, we couldn’t
name many - well a grand total of two actually.
Times have changed. We no longer look up to people in the
way folk seemed to in times gone by. We no longer assume that famous people must have something momentous
to tell if only they would stoop to our level. Now the social perspective is much more horizontal, we
are much more inclined to see weakness behind a facade of strength, skewed
narratives behind an image of competence, blind luck behind apparent talent.
If the Prime Minister had joined us in the garden for a beer
it would have been a considerable surprise but not an occasion for grovelling wonder. We'd have offered him a beer but we
have no forelock to touch these days.
The one mutually interesting person we managed to come up with by the second beer
was the Queen. Her uniquely informed indifference may be a facade, but what
she could tell if she would must surely be fascinating. Yet we shall not see
her like again. One day her irreplaceable perspective will be just that, irreplaceable.
4 comments:
If I had had few said beers and had to look at that, it would do my head in.
A chum from near here, is a member of a gym in Rye. One day, he went into the changing room, and the only other chap there was Paul McCartney, who lives nearby.
The Beatle immediately took control of the position by saying, 'Well, you know who I am, but who are you and what do you do'?
Which I thought was a rather pleasant way to get a chat going!
I once met Old Mother Riley, aka Arthur Lucan, in a pub. He was complaining about the rate of Income Tax. It doesn't get much better than this.
James - it's worse when you haven't had a drink.
Michael - you chum could have replied "yes I know you are Mick Jagger."
Demetrius - as a youngster in the fifties I used to be a fan of Old Mother Riley.
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