7 February 2018

Oops!

Every so often an old friend phones me up - usually at inconvenient moments - for a long chat. The subjects are repetitive and on every occasion we end up on his favourite topic - money. He thinks a lot about money - from various angles - personal, national and international. I guess that line from "Cabaret" is a true one - "Money makes the world go round" but I have always found money to be a deeply uninteresting subject.

Anyway, let's call the old friend Big Doug. Rather cruelly, some mutual acquaintances have described Doug as looking like an inflated version of Uncle Fester from "The Addams Family". He is socially awkward and intellectually he operates somewhere upon the autistic spectrum. That's why I have always tolerated his differences. He has been a good friend to me through the years and has only ever wished me well.

As well as being a little obsessed with money matters, his brain seems well-equipped for making big leaps of understanding that average folk never make. For Big Doug there are none of the usual  barriers. He collects tidbits of information and is then able to prognosticate or predict the future often with vivid certainty.

Big Doug and I have been out for many curry meals together. You might say that it has been a kind of culinary safari - seeking out the best or the most obscure curry houses in South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire.

A few years back, around this time of year, we arranged to go to a Bangla Deshi curry house in nearby Dronfield. First we had a pint in a Dronfield pub abd then drove up to the restaurant.

When we got inside, we were surprised to see that there were flowers and candles on every table. It looked very nice. Much better than the last time we had visited that place. The Bangla Deshi waiters seemed most attentive but I swore that a couple of them smirked at each other when we walked in.

The penny had not dropped with either myself or Big Doug but when it did drop, it dropped with an almighty resounding  clang. This wasn't just any mdweek night. It was Valentine's Night and already other couples were appearing at the curry house for romantic Valentines' meals! I found myself mumbling defensively to the smirking waiters that they had arrived at entirely the wrong conclusion.

The other diners looked across to see the most unlikely romantic  "couple" ever - Uncle Fester's doppelganger and Johnny Weissemuller's body double - your friendly blogging  correspondent Yorkshire Pudding. My laughing daughter reminded me of that Valentine's faux-pas when she phoned up yesterday evening. She knows how to press my buttons.

33 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Glad I made you chuckle Chuckle Brother!

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  2. Somehow I cannot see you’re seeing the funny side of that at the time.

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    1. You are right. I wasn't laughing at first but soon afterwards I knew it would make a good comedy sketch.

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  3. Haha! That's what you get for forgetting your wife on Valentines Day! Just where WAS Shirley while you were on your date with Uncle Fester? :)

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    1. We have never got on the commercial Valentine bandwagon. She was at home watching the TV or sewing.

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  4. Now you just had to tell somebody about this blunder. Good story . You both innocently walked into this one.

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  5. I'm blown away that you manged to get a table!

    funny story :)

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  6. And where do you two plan to go this Valentine's Day, Yorkie?

    I know someone who is keen to talk about money, too, and tries to do so at every opportunity. I always steer his train of thought in another direction...perhaps I should have written "try to steer". Usually, he is too invested in his own words and thoughts to listen to anyone else.

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    1. I am planning to stay well away from Big Doug this Valentine's Day!

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  7. I'm sure you made a lovely couple.

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    1. I don't usually go for big, bald women who look like second row forwards.

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  8. Ah well, things like that happen to the best of us...

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    1. It's healthy to laugh at oneself from time to time.

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  9. So you explained to the waiter that you were only there to discuss the money? That might have led to them jumping to an even worse conclusion.

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    1. They might have thought we were two bankers! (Did I use the correct consonant?)

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  10. I hope you wore your best dress......

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    Replies
    1. Yes. My floral one. I am afraid I am not too good at applying lipstick.

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    2. I skirted around the subject of lipstick.

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    3. Think Coco the Clown.

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  11. Ooops indeed. One of the family's little anecdotes to pass down the generations.

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  12. What a great Gottcha.
    Joy

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    1. "Gotcha"? That's a good way of describing the incident Joy!

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  13. OMG! I just laughed till I peed at the picture you planted in my brain!

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  14. Ha! Those waiters probably thought you were a rent boy.

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Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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