When it actually happens it’s not that funny dammit

First a story

I have an old chum, old both in the sense that he’s older than me and I’ve known him for quite a while. To save any possible blushes he will remain nameless. In his youth, my chum was apparently a bit of a ‘disco-rat’, reportedly had some fairly successful chat-up lines and I think it’s fair to say he  enjoyed the seventies. I, on the other hand, could not be described as a ‘disco-rat’ and my chat-up lines, such as they were, probably either succeeded on the fairly infrequent occasions that they did, due to sympathy or possibly curiosity. Most likely a combination.

Years passed, as they do. My chum, who I didn’t actually know in the seventies, retained his suave technique with the fairer sex and in fact grey hair probably became an asset. Think George Clooney. I on the other hand retained my general ineptness and in passing acquired a fair measure of high-tone deafness which made loud music and conversation incompatible. The standing joke between us became ‘I went to a disco last week and a lovely young woman rushed up  and offered me her chair.’

Fast forward

I was shopping in Brisbane with another cruising chum. To save her blushes she’d better remain nameless as well. When I say shopping, we were actually on a mission. Having purchased a new laptop complete with the new Windows Eight system, she found it to be  reluctant to connect to the internet using a newly-purchased Optus dongle. The computer shop had been helpful on the phone but basically said it was an Optus problem, so we were in an Optus shop. The problem was explained and the laptop produced.  My friend and the helpful assistant sat down but as it was a busy day there were no more seats available.  I stood and watched the proceedings. Of course the laptop immediately connected to the Internet. Perhaps the dongle just wanted to make a point about Windows Eight and having done so was now happy to play. Whilst this was going on I happened to glance around the shop and a young woman, very attractive and in her mid twenties I should say, attracted my attention. She was sitting next to her friend who was also being sorted out by an assistant. She smiled, pointed at me and then to her chair. As I said, it’s not funny when it happens, dammit!

Finally, we visited the computer store. Now, yes I suppose the old short-term memory may be going a bit but I never thought that I would both sympathise and fully understand how this next problem might happen. My nameless friend had made an error when entering a user name for the new laptop, she had misspelled it. It was her own name and I could quite understand how in the excitement of a new bit of kit and the confusion of a new operating system, such a thing could happen. Oh dear!

Free download day one

I have sixty-two new readers in the States and two hundred and ten in the UK. Oh, and a couple of sales in the UK. I hope you all enjoy the book. A further Karno adventure is being proof-read/edited at the moment and should be available next week. In the meantime, comments, reviews, are always welcome.

 

 

@peterbernfeld

Phew! I got my name right 🙂