Bluebells

Brighton again, rushing through but there are bluebells to be walked in and I’m the man to do it. Lou’s workshop is in Ditchling. We found woodland near her workshop and hit the nature trail.

Right now I would sooner be walking in pastures on the edge of the woods, as the St George’s mushroom will be up and I really want to get some strikes of that one into my strikebook. No such luck though, I’m not gonna find it in forests. But there is pleasure in the pathless woods. Plenty of pleasure. No great big white mushrooms. (Footnote, don’t fuck with these ones, there are some that look similar that can be deadly). But we are in that precious colourful fortnight now. Nature returning.

A few people walking around but it was peaceful enough. Lou picked some flowers. Then we drove into Lewes and went to Waitrose, darling. I bought some Black Bomber because you know what it’s just the most remarkably flavoursome cheddar you MUST try it darling. And Lou bought some houmous.

We grow old.

We took the spoils to a friend’s house and had DINNER. Mussels and cheese and conversation. I gave them some child’s Easter eggs because it’s traditional. Neither of them wanted them but both of them will guiltily eat one when they’re hungover I reckon. Or they’ll give them to someone who will. It’s what they’re for.

I haven’t had DINNER at a HOUSE for ages. It used to happen all the time. You remember when Ginby and Slog had just got married and invited you and some inconceivable bore they also knew because you were different genders and hadn’t got laid for a while? You’re sitting in a room eating moussaka and someone is talking about the traffic on the A27 and they’re holding hands at the head of the table and occasionally making an announcement about one of you. “BOGO is an AUDITOR!” Meanwhile someone repeats their latest story and everyone reacts like they haven’t heard it. These people are all fictional, obviously. The situation though is burnt so deep into my hippocampus it’ll be passed on to my ancestors. I usually got away without saving any numbers in my phone. Sometimes I rigged a flatmate to call me with an emergency. Thinking about it perhaps this is why I don’t find myself at them so often these days. But there were some lovely ones. I even used to host them. Maybe I’ll do some of that. It got harder suddenly. “Oh I eat green vegetables but not alliums and I can’t have fish after 6pm unless it’s a Wednesday. And Mograt only eats red meat raw and needs to be sluiced with water at 46° twice hourly or his feet swell up.” It’s easier to go to a restaurant and let them deal with that shit.

“We are social animals, it’s odd how easily we get annoyed with one another,” I said to Lou after we both reacted to someone voicing utter banalities in the woods. Just a harmlessly banal person in nature, we’ve all done it. Life is about the nitty gritty, and we like to share it. I’m doing that every day, but at least you can just stop reading and surely people frequently do. We didn’t have earplugs in the woods, we were just there to enjoy those blue flowers. And enjoy them we did.