Saturday, August 30, 2008

London And Drums

There are days in the locale of West London on which I feel as if life is mighty fine, mostly because it is.

It started at 8 this morning when I was woken up by an East European cable engineer. Not under the circumstances you're thinking, this was a Polish chap that had been dispatched by the Indian call centre to fix my broadband. He arrived at 8 AM, which gave me an early start. The broadband was fixed and I rose with the lark, well the Saturday morning lark.

I showered and then strolled down to my little shopping parade at the end of my road. It's not actually my shopping parade, other people use it too, but it feels like mine. That greasy cafe was my chosen destination. I ambled past the flower shop, the one with the slightly sexy, slightly old and slightly rough lady (that's all in the one person, not 3 women). I said "good morning" to her, putting on my most charming smile. I can tell she wants me from the way she feigns total disinterest in me. It's obvious.

A quick stop at the Indian open all hours shop to buy a tabloid and then I was in the Turkish cafe ordering a full English breakfast. Reading the bad news and the sexy news in the tabloid as I ate my eggs, bacon, sausages, beans and bread and watched the world outside come to life made me feel as happy and sparkling, like a big glass of Diet Coke with ice.

I debated with myself on the merits of an English breakfast against a Sri Lankan breakfast. Which would I never eat again if I was forced to make a choice? The perfect Sri Lankan breakfast for is white string hoppers, chicken curry, pol sambol and some white potato curry. The perfect English breakfast is eggs, bacon, sausages, mushrooms and white bread. The two couldn't be more different and yet I can devour either with the gusto of a Sri Lankan traffic cop picking up the 500 Rs note you accidentally dropped when stopped for speeding.

The answer to my breakfast question is still to come. Luckily, as C pointed out to me, I don't have to decide. Do I like rhetorical questions?

Some practice this afternoon and then I'll be off to Reading for the Mimosa gig tonight. Thurday's rehearsal was the dog's. Tight, funky, sexy and slick. The rest of the band were pretty good too.

My excitement about the gig is tinged with sadness. It will be my second last one with them, but enjoying it and floating in that feeling will be my objective. I know I'll do it.

There isn't much more to tell you really. If I could have had Colombo and the girls in my day it would have been perfect. I'll tell you more about the gig as soon as I know.

Which breakfast would you sacrifice?

8 comments:

Ahamed Nizar said...

i'd stick to my sri lankan breakfast. its much healthier than all that greased up food. altho i wouldn't mind eating sausages and eggs anyday.

she really wants you

Anonymous said...

RD,

Think of hot and crisp ulundu wadey with spicy hot sambar and rasam ... maybe kiribath and katta sambol or seeni sambol ...

:P

Angel said...

I think I'd skip the SL breakfast and stick to the English... I can have all that for dinner in SL!! :)

ViceUnVersa said...

Are we allowed to forward our mixed menu?
Milk rice, Katta sambol, Mutton curry, two eggs sunny-side, crispy bacon slices and toast to mop it all up from the plate.

Anonymous said...

Red strings (I'm a healthy stalker, yes I am), a fried egg (with lots of crispy bits), pol sambol (moist, plenty of chilli and plenty of lime) and kiri hodhi... Mmmm...

Maybe with a side of sausages, mushrooms and bacon.

Dammit. I'm hungry.

Unknown said...

Breakfast at Kandalama hotel. A glass of fresh juice as only they can make it, a croissant with crisp burnt ends and marmalade. 20mins later fluffy scrambled egg, bacon, a bursting sausage. Another break and then..... stringhoppers, pol sambol and kiri hodi. Look across at the muesli, yoghurt and fruit people in wonder..... Thanks for bringing it all back, RD.

Anonymous said...

angel : your going to skip an English dinner of maybe fish and chips, for strings?

Rhythmic Diaspora said...

Ahamed - Yes, the SL breakfast is definitely healthier, but I don't think either one would win any prizes for healthiness, particularly if you ate one every day. Who wants who?

Zephyr - Tempting but it would be strings any day for me.

Angel - Yes, but imagine you had to choose which one to give up, whether for breakfast or any other meal.

VunV - Now that just gets my stomach rumbling on all counts.

6 - A healthy stalker with appetites in all directions. Nice!

Epicurean - I've never been to the Kandalama, so shall anticipate the breakfast for my fisrt time.