Dopo aver ascoltato "visiting scientists" esporre le proprie teorie per un paio d'ore, visto il pessimo umore che mi inseguiva da ieri, oggi ho deciso che era il caso di fare un pranzo un pò più sostanzioso del solito, triste panino che mi porto dietro normalmente, e mi sono diretto verso il pub dove indugio ogni tanto quando mi trovo a passare per il centro. Non amo particolarmente i pub ad essere sincero. Non più almeno. Ma hanno di buono che forse sono l'unico posto in UK dove si può mangiare decentemente senza spendere milioni, e senza dover vedere camerieri attillati che ti depositano sotto il naso piatti enormi contenenti poche briciole, ma con sofisticatissimi nomi francesi. Si mangia carne ovviamente. Hamburger, steaks and so on. And it's good meat. That is, not the kind of meat (if it is meat) you eat fast food. In particular, in this pub, I always ask a particular hamburger with bacon and blue cheese, a cheese that is recognizable only by the very strong flavor, even actually blue streaks in it, the nature of which I never wanted to interrogate , a bit of fear, a little not to spoil the fact that actually, I like not just with the meat. As they say, does not see eye ... In local
, after seven years to go, and now I know I have not even ordered more. It comes directly one of the guys who work with the dish on one side and the other pint. Single dish of course. French fries in a corner bowl with 'cabbage' sauce in another, and center him the sandwich. Big, full and juicy. All this amounts to a medium sized room for an Englishman.
I think for the most part to my business while I eat, in the sense that responding to the waiters or the owner, who occasionally have to exchange few words, it sends me into raptures. Today in particular, answered in monosyllables. Suddenly the owner (or the 'manager', or whatever), comes up to me, perhaps noticing the black clouds that still buzzing me on the head, and asks me "Are you hungry today?". Question unusual if paid to someone who is eating. And in fact I do not understand at first. I do mind and I wonder if the local did not say 'angry' (pissed off) instead of 'hungry' (hungry), which would have made more sense. When in doubt, answer with a generic 'enough'. As soon as I said, he disappears behind the counter, then back into a flat above a scope identical to the one I was already eating and asks me "That hungry?". In other words, the cook had prepared a burger too, with lots of contour. And rather than throw it, the owner (or the 'manager', etc..) I had offered but this defiantly as if to say "I bet you can not eat two below." Defiantly simulated course, that his would be just a kind gesture at the end.
Io faccio spazio sul tavolo, pensando a quei pranzi e cene di feste comandate, matrimoni, ferragosti italiani in cui ti siedi al tavolino per restarci ore ed ore, e mi viene da sorridere.
I due hamburger vengono seppelliti con l'onore delle armi, sotto lo sguardo stralunato di questo tipo che alla fine, sparecchiando il tavolo, mi dice "Hats off" (giù il cappello). Non credeva che l'avrei finito.
Poi mi chiede se desideravo altro. Ed io non ho resistito.
Era una vita che desideravo farlo.
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