Wolves at the Window, the Arcola Studio, 4^th June 2008

I have finally conquered the TfL Journey Planner. There is a ‘no buses’ switch. This is for immigrants like me. Buses are local things, for regular journeys. It is frightening to be on one in a strange part of London: there’s no way of telling when to get off. So I was offered a nice straightforward journey via the DLR. It did have a little dig at me by offering some journeys involving fast ‘coaches’, and using the ‘bus’ symbol for the coach stage. Ha, ha, ha, very funny!

When I arrived at the Arcola, I had time for a beer (Turkish, in that part of the world). The young lady left me totally non-plussed by asking if I wanted a glass. My companion tells me it’s an age thing.

This play is written by Toby Davies ‘after Saki’. This resurrected schoolboy memories of my time in the local library, where I discovered H H Munro, who writes as ‘Saki’, shortly after falling in love with P G Wodehouse. (Oscar Wilde came later, so I got their heritage in exactly the wrong order). My friend Brian says I’m very arrogant the way I talk to strangers. It’s something to do with this boyhood reading. He was saying it apropos of some drunk trying to join us in the pub, after everyone else had had to suffer him. When I talk to someone who is equipped with just one adjective, which is also pressed into service, where needed, as an adverb, I find it just too difficult to tune my language right down: well, too boring anyway. Apparently this sounds arrogant: at least to Brian. There are physical risks, sometimes, but not usually more than heavy eye contact.

The play was a selection of shorts, and a joy to listen to: the beautifully precise vocabulary, the outrageous satire, not forgetting some of the darker side. For my money, the cast all got their mannerisms and accents just right, which must be quite difficult nowadays. I had a good wallow.

The journey home involved missing every connection, so it was long and slow, and therefore involved no beer. But I’d had my fill of language, so I went to sleep happy.