Yesterday's|
Tomorrow's
I was staring at this guy who was opening up the
Pret a Manger. I can't
remember what his name is all I know is he played the lead role in a
Channel4
drama called
Ultraviolet. The guy was removing the
fast food boxes left by
the staff the night before. I noticed that he had taken these big
turkey legs
that hadn't been eaten to his car.
Next I was inside the "Pret" and we were both staring at the video
conferencing (vidcon) equipment. On the other side of the vidcon set there was
another guy who was dressed up as a waiter, I think he was going to work
today. I believe that this vidcon link was between ourselves inside and
garden which was at the back of the "Pret".
We seemed to be having fun trading insults at one another; we could
write1 swear words and insults in a way that no one else could
read. The way we wrote could be compared to why ROT13 was used for Usenet
posting; to hide the vularity or profanity of a joke against
unexpecting eyes. It was vital that we use this encoded form of speaking
because we would be demonstrating the vidcon to the customers.
The guy who was with me inside the "Pret" remarked that we were playing a
game called "Bulgar"2 which means "hidden meaning". The word
originates from a country with the same name, somewhere in Eastern Europe.
Next the manager who happened to be Peter Stringfellow walks in.
Peter wants to check how see our the vidcon demo is coming along. We tell him
it's going fine. He notices we're playing "Bulgar" and discusses its rules.
This is really weird because I thought what we were doing was "Bulgar", but
they way he describes it is totally different.
Peter Stringfellow's guide to playing "Bulgar" (You will need two people):
- One person trades the first insult.
- The other retorts.
- The first person counters this retort.
That's it! Now you
switch roles, i.e. now the other person starts.
Apparently it's
absolutely critical that you
only have
three
exchanges between both parties. After explaining the rules Peter now wanted
us to demonstrate a game. Me and the guy looked at each other and promptly
ignored him (Peter).
The waiter guy had vanished3 from the vidcon screen and was now
replaced by guys in rubberized Batman and Robin masks. Batman and Robin
even had speech bubbles coming out of their mouths! I asked the guy who these
other two were, but he kept mumbling so I couldn't hear what he said.
It was only until they had removed their masks that I became aware of who they
were; Robin was the waiter guy and Batman was Cutter! Cutter William is like
one of my dogs from back in my Texas days. I was so pleased that it was him
so I promptly found myself outside in the garden area.
The garden was freezing we all seem to be making chattering sounds but none
of which constituted a conversation. Cutter started ranting about how it
was cold and that he could cope with it, he said something like "Man it's
120°4 out here but I can do it!".
The waiter guy obviously had enough and started making his way back to the
inside of the "Pret". As he went to leave through the wooden fence door I
noticed that two cloth beanie baby like geckos were following him.
1 Yes I know this is meant to be vidcon but all we could see was
video; speaking had to be done through a
chat (typing)
interface.
2 Which is as close as I could remember what it sound like. No it
isn't Bulgaria in case you're wondering (despite the reference to Eastern
Europe later on in the passage).
3 Just found out that both Vanished and Disappeared (which is the
word I originally used) are not in the dictionary. I can only assume it's
because they're the past tense of the infinitives? I checked their
infinitive forms and they seem to be in order.
4 Yeah I know I didn't divulge if it was Fahrenheit or Celsius
but when it comes to those kinda temperatures (100°+) all we're really
arguing about is how hot Hell is. Now either Cutter was insane in the dream
or there was a different temperature measurement other than Fahrenheit or
Celsius because it was bitterly cold, freezing.