The things you hear
Context is everything
Of all the senses, hearing gets underestimated.
The weather’s been good of late, unseasonably warm and calm, Seasons? What are they? I was bar-flying, either Tuesday or Wednesday, last week. Just out for one, maybe two, but never three. Schooner ordered, settled in, time for some people-watching. It’s a familiar pub, so with that come locals; however, there is also a transient element, which is good.
I prefer sitting at the bar, a stranger approached and ordered a sharp knife!
No, it’s not a joke, it went like this: “Excuse me, do you have a sharp knife, please?”
What!
I heard it, then transcribed, thinking to myself: “So, he wants a sharp knife in case it goes blunt after he starts carving everyone up!” The barperson responded, “Sure, one minute.” And off they went to the kitchen, before returning with a decent-sized weapon that looked sharp enough to instigate a country-town massacre. This is the time you reach for your Superman cape or check whether you’re wearing running shoes.
The stranger—who would later become a local—walked away from the bar to a speaker box and started unpacking his new purchase with the sharp knife. Music bingo. Which I didn’t stay for, but heard was serviceable—hence his change of status.
The group around me smiled and laughed the moment the knife was ordered. Nobody panicked. Context is everything.
The things we hear, and what we do with them, first.
Have a good week, and keep your shell-likes to the ground.
Nick
I/we have a WhatsApp channel. Exciting progress! I’ll post every morning with a link to the day’s effort and a short teaser. You can join here and become the second follower! Man City has close to 24M on their channel—that’s achievable with your help! Three weeks tomorrow.