Achingly Unhappy With His Lot

And old friend, joining my team for lunch.  We going to the Vietnamese place, downstairs.  Does a Vietnamese menu lend itself to vegetarian ordering?  There are plenty of Theravada Buddhists there in that country.  One of them infamously immolated himself, protesting the anti Buddhist policies of Ngo Dinh Diem.  Madame Nuh, his sister-in-law infamously referred to it as a barbecue. 

This waiter is so forceful.  He has the crisp, tired, professionalism of a middle-aged Hong Kong man who is achingly unhappy with his lot.  He is exasperated by every question, long before he reaches me.  We ask and he sighs repeatedly when he must find something anew in the menu.  I try to explain that I want “Coi Cuon.”  “I don’t speak Mandarin.” He says with a smile that isn’t a smile.  That was an attempt to pronounce Vietnamese, I explain.   

The Coi Cuon has shrimp. "Well that means I have to pass on that."  "You don't want it it now?" "If I'm not eating meat, why would I want shrimp?"  I order a plate of vegetables.  I get a plate of vegetables.  I order a vegetable roll as well.  It’s alright, but nothing more.  Everyone else has things that look delicious.  I chomp away at my consolation meal.  Vietnamese food is not especially interesting as a vegetarian.  Certainly not in this place. 

Back inside one of my colleagues is a Jam fan.  Other partners are Hendrix fans.  I can talk about one or the other with either.  But I can’t speak about both, deeply with anyone.  The Jam fan and I have previously shared adoration for the later-era Jam tune: “Tales From the Riverbank.”  “True it’s a dream, mixed with nostalgia.”  Twice now I’ve been at the gym and heard the same song sung to a faster pace, with different lyrics.  It’s also lovely, if typically Wellerian: noble and awkward in equal measure.  “I can't believe the only reasons we're here, are the reasons in the Bank of England.”  I want to share this song with my colleague as I suspect that, though he knows just about all the oeuvre, he will find this new and fresh.  And before we get started on our meetings I manage to find it, under its remixed title: “We’ve Only Started.” 

Thursday 4/05/18