I was in the station bar in
Newcastle, looking at the ornate ceiling rather than the numerous TV screens
showing the same football match. It wasn’t as if the football had any
commentary. I was listening to the music of Lady Gaga or Katy Perry, one of
those. From my plush leather seat facing the bar I could see the behaviour of
the people around it. The barmaid was sure to retain her formal frown, not yet
entirely alienated by the people on the other side of the bar. There were the
usual men, nursing a beer while waiting for a train, briefcase on the floor
between their legs as they stood at the bar. There was the usual old bloke in a
hat, sat on a stool just back from the bar and looking like a poet on payday.
One bear of a man sitting at the
bar kept bear hugging other people around him. If a man came to the bar for a
drink, he unwittingly invited one of these hugs. The bear was slurring his
words just a little bit; I could just hear that above the music. I remembered him.
He would be about forty five by now, his fights for the British and European
heavyweight titles a distant memory. I couldn’t remember if he’d had a world
title shot. With the amount of belts these days I guess he must have.
There was a much younger man
standing at the bar and looking down on the bear, and this younger man kept
leaving the conversation to talk on his mobile phone. As the younger man talked
on the phone, I could see that the bear was still trying to keep the
conversation going. The younger man had turned away, and didn’t turn around. He
kept talking on his phone. Then the bear began to tug at the tail of the
younger man’s suit. But the younger man steadfastly refused to look around, and
instead kept talking on his phone. It occurred to me that the younger man had
no idea who the bear was.
The bear then turned on his
stool, his face searching around the bar. As his narrowing eyes scanned towards
me I looked away and up at the ornate clock, high on the wall. And then I saw
my pint, still full above the cinched waist. I pulled my scarf together and
zipped up my coat, taking my suitcase and leaving the pint.
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