Tues 30th Nov : Southern Tapas

In between mucking up and being told to muck up I took the Lady to that little Tapas place on the corner of the Irving and 17th. Or is it 18th. Not the restautant one but the place just round the corner where you stand up and eat as if you're in a Spanish tapas floor. Except that it's not brightly lit with marble and brass toppings. Serves more than one type of tapas. Nor is the floor encrusted with the used napkins and paper plates of the rest of the day's customers.

Anyway - I was going to put this little story in my 'Why I Love New York' section but then I stopped laughing. We were stood at the back - eating from the shelf on what looks like a cupboard. we're jammed in there and the coat rack is behind me. Most people are coureous and apologize when they have to squeeze past. 

One girl in a bright red top - barges past. The Lady shrugs. She barge past again and I say to her, "Normally an excuse me would suffice.'' She looks at me incredulously. I look at her: head pulled back - ex. Upper East Sider now lives round the corner from me in the Far West Village. Once pretty, now her donwturned lips and that 'don't touch me' expression has lined her face. "Normally an excuse me would suffice.'' I repeat. She looks at me. She can't upturn her lip anymore. She raises her hand and the smallest middle finger the world has ever seen is raised. Typical. You want to go and get some old world experience. I want to remember Madrid and with the help of this young lady and all I can remember are the loud moneyed Americans who sat in those Spanish bars making life hell for the rest of us.

Anyway - we went to remind us why America is great. We saw Tony Joe White (The Swamp Fox - listen here) play the Irving Plaza. He reminded me what life in America could really be all about.