A Happy New Year to everyone.
Have had an good day in the cafe, lots of nice interesting customers.
I am getting back into my stride with being friendly, which takes more work that you might think.
Anyway had conversations about George Bush, John Peel, Paul McCartney, Peruvian street kids, Radio 4 and African Drumming in Brighton, although unfortunately not all with the same person.
We have had visitors over the past couple of days from New Zealand, Italy, Brighton, Greenwich, Mexico City and Lima
The conversation about John Peel was especially interesting, the customer I was speaking to had lived in Italy for 35 years and obviously saw me as some sort of kindred spirit.
He must have been in his early sixties, looked a bit like Ronnie Barker and he too had spent years listening late at night to Peel, we agreed that it's incredible how many generations John Peel touched.
'Didn't John Peel die (in his early sixties) in Cusco?' asked the customer finally,
'Yes' I said, 'in the Hotel Monasterio'
'Oh, that's where we're staying .....' pregnant pause,
'well, yes but I'm sure they said it was unconnected to the altitude'
'too much greasy food' confirmed my new friend.
We rapidly tacked into safer waters with a conversation about Bush and US foreign policy and I was soon listening to viewpoints that make my Dad's opinions seem like a rendition of the 'Star Spangled Banner'.
The customer returned to the world of entertainment with the conversation stopping - 'I only just found out that Ronnie Barker died too, when was that?'
Flushed with my newly rediscovered communication skills I returned to the house to relax before going back to the cafe tonight, we are aiming to go out after we shut.
On the New Years Eve TV here, the dramatisation of the Tamworth Two dubbed into Spanish, which was a bizarre story given an extra helping of bizarre in another language.
On New Years Eve Cusco is transformed into Old Town with a Cathedral instead of Christchurch and real mountains instead of Vic Hill, the vomit and the drunks are just the same though.
We will probably go to the Irish Pub owned by our friend Gary, who apparently has returned from a recent trip to Argentina with an entire wardrobe of trendy (Argentinean trendy) new clothes.
I can't wait to see this as he normally gets his stuff made to measure in Cusco, which is hardly the world centre of fashion.
I can hardly talk mind you as I am having to dig out clothes from boxes and cupboards all over the house, they smell musty but at least they're from Swindon not Buenos Aires.