WIX

Lebus said Wix was having a birthday breakfast this morning so I called round just after nine and was the first one there. Wix let me in only when I’d looked through the letterbox to make sure it was the right house, having forgotten the number, before knocking on the pink door.
‘Come in,’ he said. ‘Come in. You want a drink of something?’
‘Tea would be good,’ I said.
We shook hands.
‘Happy birthday,’ I said.
When I moved to Bristol the friend whose floor I slept on lived in the same house as Wix and I’ve known him since then. Lebus also had a room there.
Wix is twelve years older than me, almost, but not quite, exactly. He’s a link to a part of my history that includes people, one man in particular, I no longer know.
Late night drinking sessions at Lebus’s often end up with the three of us talking at the same time, our voices getting louder as we compete to have our opinion heard. Often the music we make descends into tunefulness.
He had a dog called George. The first time I went to Nelson Street to sign on Wix said, ‘George’ll show you the way.’

RAINDROPS

THE TWO OF US

‘Getting chilly,’ I said as she stood behind me waiting for the lift coming down.
‘It is, isn’t it,' she said. 'And windy.’
She’s one of the older women lives in the block.
‘I’ve been to Weston. It was windy there too,’ she said.
‘The sea front?’
‘On the pier,’ she said. ‘I had fish and chips on the pier.’
‘Must’ve cooled them down.’
We got in the lift. Me first with the bike.
‘Bye,’ she said when the lift stopped. She got out then said, ‘it’s not my floor,’ and got back in.
‘Not quite goodbye, then,' I said.

THEY’LL FIND OUT

He came down the slope as I came down the steps and we met at the entrance to the subway.
‘How’re you?’ I said.
‘I’m annoyed at the Action Group.’
‘You’re always annoyed with them.’
‘Yes,’ he said, ‘but this time they stole my idea.’
‘What idea?’
‘The flats? They’re forty this year, October twenty-forth, it is,’ he said. ‘So my idea was have a birthday party but now the Action Group’ve got a party on Saturday.’
‘But they always have a street party this time of year, don’t they?’
Our shoulders touched as we walked together through James Barton.
‘I’ve already got a car,’ he said.
‘For what? the party?’
‘Yeh, it’s in the car park at the end by the recycling bins.’
‘What you got in mind?’
‘Thought we could have a bonfire. Torch the car.’
‘Do the owners know?’
‘No, they just left it there then got a taxi. I saw them.’
At the flats we stood behind the car.
‘Looks tidy,’ I said.
‘And the tax is out of date.’
‘Do they know what you’ve got in mind?’
‘They’ll find out.’

LETTERS

It’s ten years since we met for lunch. Today, she was there before me.
‘I got an earlier train,’ she said.
We ate at Cafe Amore, had coffees at Nero’s in Corn Street.
‘What I’m saying,’ I said, ‘is that what you did affected me.’
‘I thought you’d understand,’ she said.
‘It’s like, you didn’t think it important.’
She looked at me, not blinking.
‘I did think about you,’ she said. ‘All of you.’
She told me about him, the person he was. That she didn’t realise until later why he did so many odd jobs for the local women. And that he’d done time.
‘What really hurt was when you phoned from his place,’ she said, ‘and told me you were there.’
We agreed we had some things in common and I said, 'now I’ll reply to your letters.’

CLUELESS

This post will appear only in this month's the Stokes Croftian available at all good bookshops if "at all good bookshops" means the Here Gallery on the corner of Stokes Croft and Ashley Road.

EARLIER IN THE DAY

She’s the only friend who, although we don’t work together, is in the same business as me. In our conversations we use words like, ‘splitting,’ and ‘object,' and we know the difference between depression and despair.
Both Kuvuka and Kino were closing at five so we went to the bar we’d been the last time we met for coffee.
‘Do you want your milk separate or with?’ said the woman serving was there last time too.
‘I don’t know,’ said my friend.
She decided with first time, separate the second. I had two double expressos, a glass of iced water on the side.
I told her about my Dad and his wife, their relationship, and said, ‘Is that what all of you want, you women?’
She said, ‘You have control issues.'
Out on the street before we said goodbye a man carrying a bottle of Oasis came out the Pipe towards us.
‘Excuse me,’ he said.
I put my hand up, said, ‘No,’ kept walking.
‘You people...’ he said.
‘You get much of that?’ said my friend.
‘Walking along here, yes,’ I said. ‘I don’t like being so rude but I don’t want either of us wasting time. Him telling the story, me listening.’
‘They like to tell a story,’ she said.
‘There’s always one,’ I said. ‘Well, not always...not everyone, but often. I’ve got a policy though,’ standing, waiting for the lights to change, ‘not to give money to anyone from my block.’
‘They could hassle you anytime then,’ she said.
‘True,’ I said. ‘And I don’t give money to someone I’ve given money to earlier in the day.’

FAKE FIVERS

‘Is that real?’ he said holding up the five pound note I’d just given him, payment for a double expresso in the new Costas. ‘It looks a lighter colour than usual.’
‘It should be real,’ I said slightly flustered. ‘It came out of a machine.’
‘Friend of mine down where I used to live,’ and he said the name but I didn’t get it, ‘got a fake fiver a few doors from the newsagent he tried to spend it.’
‘What happened?’
‘He got a receipt from the police.’
‘You wouldn’t think it was worth forging fivers, would you?’ I said.
‘No, it’s usually twenties,’ he said, and shrugged his shoulders, raised his eyebrows then gave me my change.

LAUNDRY RULES, OK?

Dear Resident

Re: Laundries

I am writing to all tenants following recent reports of problems in the laundries of the blocks.

It is absolutely imperative that you adhere to the rules around laundry usage.

The Rules:
1. Each laundry slot is 1 hour and a half and allows you use of two
washing machines and a dryer. You have this time to wash and
dry your laundry. Typically 1 hour for washing and half an hour
for drying.
2. You must ensure that you stick to your laundry time, this
includes starting on time so that you do not over run into the
next slot.
3. If you wish to use a spare slot you must book in advance with
the caretaker. If there is no caretaker on duty then leave a
message on the board in advance stating you wish to use the
spare slot.
4. Do not jump in and use someone else’s slot without their
express permission.
5. The laundry is for the use of residents of the block only.

If you have any problems with your fellow residents not keeping to these rules and you do not feel you can resolve these problems with peaceful discussion, please do contact me. I would urge residents not to get into confrontational situations with their fellow residents.

If all residents abide by these rules then the laundries will run smoothly and not be a source of conflict amongst residents.

If you have any queries regarding this matter then please let me know.

Yours sincerely

Senior Housing Advisor

THAR FOR THERE

Daughter and me visited my Dad a few days this week. His wife is not my mother.
One thing you can’t do at their place is feel at home.
‘I’m just going to make a cup of tea,’ I said, getting up from the chair I’d sat in to watch the football on Wednesday evening.
‘No,’ she said from the other side of a lampshade to the right of me, ‘I’ll do it.'
I sat back down as she got up with a sigh.
Eleven-thirty she said, ‘I’m going to bed.’
She turned the television off and the lights as she left for upstairs. We, me, Daughter, Dad, followed her out and I didn’t get to say, ‘Goodnight.’
The house is spotless. Light coloured furniture and decor emphasing the cleanliness.
The first night there, I dreamt of shit smeared all over the room I stood in and wonderered what it all meant.
‘I won’t come to the station to see you off,’ she said. ‘I’ve got housework to do.’
Daughter said on the train, 'She's so posh. She said, “Thar,” for “There.”’

EMMA

We were standing behind a heterosexual couple at the checkout. They were getting an explanation from the woman serving them why the product she’d just scanned wasn’t registering.
I read the name tag of the woman scanning and turned to Daughter next to me and said, ‘I don’t shop here to have things explained to me by people called Emma, I come for a quiet efficient service. I don’t want to get into anything.’
‘Shhh,’ said Daughter, ‘she heard you.’
‘I didn’t say it loud enough.’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ she said. ‘When you say someone’s name they hear it no matter how quietly you say it. And she heard it.’
‘How do you know?’
‘The way she’s looking at you.’
I looked at Emma and from looking I couldn’t tell whether she’d heard what I’d said or not but when it came to her serving me she said nothing except to tell me the cost of my shopping and then, ‘Thank you,’ when the transaction was complete.
‘I told you she’d heard,’ said Daughter as we walked away from the checkout.

GRANDAD MOVES

I went to see Grandad this afternoon.
He’s out of hospital and been moved to an elderly persons home (EPH). I took him some of his clothes, a hundred cigarettes, a couple of books of his favourite puzzles, and a copy of today’s Evening Post.
I said, ‘I can’t stay long there’s a taxi waiting for me outside.’
‘That’s okay,’ he said. ‘Thanks for bringing me the stuff.’
We shook hands.
‘Do I owe you any money?’ he said.
I lightly squeezed his left bicep with my right hand felt the cloth of his shirt and looked him in the eye.
‘No,’ I said. 'You don't owe me anything.'

A POSSIBILITY

The three of us waiting for the lift. Me and Daughter a little way back from Redneck who stood just to the left of the door.
When the lift arrived Redneck moved back to let the person, had come down from Six, out before walking in followed by us.
‘Mind your feet,’ I said to Daughter who stepped over the pool of water was on the floor at the front of the lift.
Redneck said, ‘There must be a leak in the roof.’
We all three looked up and laughed.
‘Actually,’ I said, ‘it might be from the room at the bottom on the right.’
‘You mean the storeroom?’ said Redneck.
‘Yeh, they’ve got a toilet in there.’
‘So it’s toilet water is it?’ he said.
‘I’m not saying it is,’ I said. ‘I’m just putting it forward as a possibility.’

SILENT MOVIE

SHOPPING LIST

I found a small scrap of paper on the pavement halfway up the left side of Stokes Croft and on it was written:

PERASITMAL - VARGIN = RECIT
SKAT. SHOP -
MEEM. SENDREL -
PECOCK - JAMPER
BUTOM.UP - PAY.
RING 2nd. CHAFF