GO TO THE USA AND BE IN THE MOVIES!

For me being in the USA is like being in a movie. I often find myself in movie scenes where the characters all seem to be playing parts and are not quite real. On my first visit to New York it was on Thanksgiving Day and I had got up early to go and watch Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. I crossed a wide street, there was very little traffic as it was so early, and in the middle of the road, perched up high on a podium, was a traffic cop. I asked where I should go to get a good view of the parade and he directed me in a friendly sort of way. After the parade, many hours later, I returned the way I had come and, of course, by then there were so many people I was almost being swept along by this very jolly mass of people (all of whom seemed to have been provided by Central Casting). Up there, on the podium stood my cop attempting to control the crowd. In the middle of his frantic task he spied me, pointed down at me and yelled, ‘Hi there! Did you enjoy the parade Sir?’ I was in middle of thousands of people so how did he remember me? The scene must have been scripted.

On the same visit I was taking breakfast in the hotel’s coffee shop when two girls with large rucksacks came in from the street, and seated themselves at a table. The waitress, Irish, not young (I’ve seen her many times in films) asked the girls what they would have. They hesitated. They explained that were just about to take a flight back to Canada and they had very little money left so they wanted to know what was the very cheapest food they could get. They settled on one slice of toast and one cup of coffee which they would share. Molly, that would be her name to be sure, went back to the kitchen. Ten minutes later Molly re-appeared bearing a tray carrying two full cooked breakfasts with two cups of coffee. She put the tray down on the girls’ table and said, ‘There you are girls. It’s on the house’. A nice woman that one.

See what I mean? Molly is playing a movie role here. Does anyone remember the American actress, Thelma Ritter? That would be her – but I’m not sure if she could do an Irish accent.

Last week I was staying in the town of Delray Beach in Florida. Last Sunday evening I thought I’d eat in Johnee Brown’s bar which is just a block away from the Colony Hotel on East Atlantic Avenue where I was staying. This bar is on a corner site and the two sides that face onto sidewalks and roads are completely open when they are doing business; this is a good idea in a place where daytime temperatures go into the nineties. I had eaten and drunk two or three glasses of wine; the evening was coming on as the daylight faded. The place was busy and people were relaxed and chatting. People on either side of me started to talk to me and they were all friendly. A man came over and told me that I was wearing exactly the same hat as the coach of the Florida Wildcats habitually wears and he thought it looked really great (it’s the same hat that I wear on this page). Then there was some activity at the side of the seating area; some musical instruments could be seen, a drum set and microphones appeared and I walked into another movie. The band was Usher, West and Battle; I never knew who was which but it didn’t matter to me because soon all I could hear was fantastic music. One should never attempt to describe music in words and I won’t. I judge it by the effect it had. It was rock, it was effortlessly played, the drummer in particular had a great voice and the other two weren’t bad at the singing and were very, very good at the guitar playing. It was exciting. I drank some more and it was even more exciting.

The central bar, around which many people were seated, was quite close to where I was and just a few feet away from me sat a young woman with a gent that I took to be her escort; he would not be offended I’m sure if he saw himself described here as ‘elderly’. Well, like me, he was no spring chicken. She was wearing what any man with eyes to see and just a drop or two of testosterone in his veins (or wherever the stuff is stored) would find … interesting. To the strains of Sloopy Hang On the young woman slid off her bar stool and started to dance beckoning her partner to join her.

Take a look at the movie. I hope you like it.

(This may prove to be an incentive for readers of the printed version of the blog to take a look at the
the online version - http://keithwinfielddiggle.blogspot.com/ - where the action is to be found. I thnk this is one of my most felicitous 'captures'.