Half Llama

It is the sort of cold, wet weekend when all you want to do after you have forced yourself to get out of bed is eat something, then go back to bed again.

After we had eaten half of the 'massive' stew last night, we watch Fellini's last film, 'Voice of the Moon'. Like the stew, it had all the right ingredients but was a little disappointing.

The last thing I did before going to bed was to order some candles from Charles Farris of London. This old chandler supplies most of the churches and cathedrals of Britain, and make wonderful candles. The best sort are the beeswax blend, which burn bright and steady with no drips or runs unless you are in an extreme draught.

Buying candles is a cosy thing to do on a cold, wet, Winter night. Burning them is cosier, but I will have to wait for the 3/8ths, 6 inch ones to arrive before I can. The postage was almost as much as the candles. They are for a pair of sticks that I recently bought, but I have decided to not show you a photo of them. No. I will not!

I spoke to a 28 year-old last night, and she referred to a 53 year-old friend as an 'old man'. I reminded her that I was 13 years older than him, and she said, "Yes, but you're ancient." I don't count any more in situations like this.

I love this girl. (If she can call me ancient, then I can call her a 'girl' - it works both ways, you know). She is half Argentinian and swings from violently bad-tempered to hysterically amused in under a second. Something will go very slightly wrong with a drink she is serving to a customer, and she will slam the glass or cup down onto the bar with truly shocking violence and shout 'FUCK!' at the top of her voice. Somehow she gets away with it, even amongst elderly strangers.

She showed me a video of a group of Llamas in a paddock, one of which was wearing a handful of grass as a wig. I mentioned that she was half Llama and she accepted this as true without protest.

I cannot believe that Bath is still packed with coach-loads of foreign tourists, all milling around in the freezing rain.