A Nasty Accident
18/12/07
Gayle came this morning to start the Christmas clean. Over coffee, we discussed last night's Crime Time. In her opinion, the Rat of the Year should have been a murderer or a politician. "It doesn't really mean anything," she said when I candidly confessed my dismay that as far as Crime Time listeners were concerned it had been me . "It was just a joke." It's all very well, of course, for her to dismiss it so lightly: she's not the designated Rat of the Year. Spencer, who usually avoids Gayle, made his second early appearance of the week and repeated all of the gleefully offensive comments he'd obviously forgotten making last night. (As he crowed, incidentally, I couldn't help but remember the savaging his John Hotspur c.d. received at the hands of a Melody Maker reviewer. Far from revelling in his humiliation, I wrote to the magazine to point out the damage inflicted by the review. Naturally, in order that my letter be taken seriously, I included some of my own credentials. A week later, a Melody Maker reporter appeared in Drumfeld with the intention of interviewing us both. Spencer refused to come out of his room. The article which eventually appeared was unexpectedly perceptive and resulted in my being consulted by Messrs P.J.Harvey and Julian Cope, the latter of whom still sends me a Christmas newsletter)
In order to try and marshall my thoughts, I decided to brave the elements and went out for a spin on the Pashley Picador. While I was shabbily treated, I reflected, there have undoubtably been occasions over the past twelve months on which I've allowed myself to be motivated by pettiness. As I approached Billy's house, it occurred to me that I still had some unwritten Christmas cards in my basket. Stopping, I quickly wrote one, first addressing it simply to 'Billy' before stopping again to add 'and Family'. I was possibly distracted by my resolution because, as I approached the steep descent leading to Drummond Crescent, I lost control of the Picador on a patch of black ice and swerved into the kerb at such speed that I was pitched over the handlebars and into a hedge. Thankfully I emerged with nothing more serious than bumps and scratches. The front wheel of the Picador, however, was buckled by the collision and will have to replaced.