Thunder Charge Is Rising

A pleasant ride over the gym this morning.  Somewhere around the crossing of the nameless, fetid canal that borders Capital Paradise, Fela’s “Gentleman” came on my random mix.  Excitement, certainly mixed with concern.  Instinctively I reached for my pocket and pulled out my phone.  There is a version of the song stuck in my library that cuts out after four minutes, just as the full thunder charge is rising, continental.  There is also the proper full version somewhere in there.  I don’t want the wait four minutes only to be disappointed.  No.  Good.  This was the fourteen-minute version.  I pushed it back in my pocket and considered where I’d be when the song it reached its end. 

I arrived at the gym and waved “hello’ to the guard as I always do, riding up and over the wooden incline.  And, peddling down to where one parks one’s bike, I thought I heard him yell out. Turning as I dismounted he had indeed followed me in.  “It’s closed today.  It will open tomorrow.  It’s closed today.”  “What?  The gym?”  He nodded. I was confused because the web site suggested today would be open to and ready for folks like me.   But this gent looked pretty sure of himself.  And I contented myself to hearing Fela talk about his smelly, overdressed friends for the ride back home.  Conscious of not having done-the-needful, I peddled harder than I otherwise might have.

A friend in Tokyo wrote and mentioned parenthetically that he had my razor.  I’d left it there at his house during a last visit and he apologetically, noted that he’d been using it.  Indeed, he thought it was a splendid razor, unlike any he’d ever cut stubble with.  He was, of course, happy to return it to me when next I visited Japan.

This got me thinking:  I buy and lose razors all the time.  I lose razors more than just about anything.  If I lose earphones every six months or so I probably lose razors every other month.  I leave a hotel room, I’d shaven in the shower and my cursory check fails to reveal what I’ll be cursing myself for, at my next port-of-call.  Which type of Gillette razor had I left at his house?  I couldn’t say.  They all seem overpriced and of equal effectiveness. What, I wondered, had he been shaving with all these years?  Has he been making due with women’s disposables? I’ll grant you my razor, any of them, is an upgrade over that. I penned off something, attempting to be funny and told him that he could certainly keep it.  I’d already moved to the next one which I'd probably already lost, as well.  

Sunday 8/12/18