Is that not a glorious word? It doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as well as some of my other favourite words (deciduous, misanthropy) but it’s evocative and naughty and I like it. There has also been a large quantity of it in the last few days. Some related to the business, some related to my hair.
I’ve grudgingly spent a lot of time in my company over the years, and have noticed certain things about myself in relation to conversation. I appear to be able to talk at a competitive level, and seem to have some difficulty stopping. Not especially on a given subject, but in a more general, stream-of-consciousness sort of way that rambles on in inscrutably long sentences with no apparent point, all the while edging happily along the boundaries of actual discourse and plain silliness. But I can’t do small talk. Perhaps I lived in Germany too long (fun fact: they don’t have a word for it) or perhaps I just don’t get it.
The Key To Small Talk: Don't Make Eye Contact.
It’s therefore my pleasure to get past the pleasantries and get on to the substance of conversation, where opinions can change hands and thoughts can be shared. We have needed a lot of that this week. Regular followers may remember that Barny gave me a sparkly ring and I cried all over him some months ago, and have since then been trying furiously to arrange a wedding and run a business at the same time, without letting all the nitty gritty associated with marrying someone spill onto the blog. Then all of a sudden there seemed to be nothing but therapeutic talking going on, mostly around the hair on Saturday, that being the day when we went to sort out wedding hair.
For the uninitiated this is nothing like real hair, and involves several kilos on pins and a fair amount of abnormal girliness.
On Sunday Barny and I attacked the outstanding applications and had some excellent conversations with fellow food van owners and festival organisers. Not only are we not the only ones out there who have not been doing this since the dawn of time, but there are actually people out there who like our concept enough to want us to come to their festival. I really need to try and accept that we have a good idea, and that we can make it work, but I think part of me still doesn’t want to say it out loud just yet.
I don’t know if it was suggested, but I spent an afternoon threading beads onto standard hairpins for my hair. Well, if I was going to have a head full of the things I thought they might as well also be decorative. Good luck with the apps! Talking of apps… you need a Jabberwocky app – tell people where you are in the Wilds of Warwickshire 🙂
You talk about hair, but why no pics? Is the groom not allowed to see the hair or something else the hair will be all embarassed?
I have now read through nearly every single one of your blog posts and am thoroughly smitten! Me and a housemate/friend are thinking of starting up a food businesses in some form or another and that is how I latched onto your lovely website and blog.
I finally felt compelled to comment (due to this very blog post in fact) because I also have that incessant word-stream trait. I’m unsure if it is the same for you of course, since traits and habits always tend to differ. As for me, despite trying on numerous occasions, I have finally arrived at the realisation that I was born this way and I just really love words and enjoy talking – preferably with very few breaks for breathing.
I never seem to be able to stop apologising for the habit. In fact, I got the urge in connection to this comment and wound up deleting most of it as it became more of a novel than a comment.. and it’s still long! It is truly my greatest weakness in regards to writing and as a previous blogger. “Kill your darlings”, indeed.
With this still quite massive wall of comment text, I actually just wanted to say THANK YOU for all the decisions leading up to you guys doing this and choosing to document it. And lastly, yet most importantly, for being so witty and utterly inspirational!