Birthday Belatings

I am sitting in the staff room and not too far away, some shrill voiced children are performing an off-note edition of Kum-Ba-Yah. Normally, I would be moved by such a performance - however, the bitter fact that Kum-Ba-Yah will now be stuck in my head for at least 24 hours, cancels out any trite sentimentality.

I spent a nice birthday, replete with cake and drinking. I was out a few nights, including one where several health and safety rules were smashed with some women swaying drunkenly on the shoulders of unstable men, and other women dancing on shaky tables and benches. I recall that if that happened in a club or bar in Ireland, at least seven over-sized men in black, all conferring with each other on chunky Motorola walkie talkies circa 1982, would lumber over, sending at least three unsuspecting drinkers flying on their way, and kick out the offenders. In Korea, the bar staff whoop them on.

I have also been eating lots of icecream. I'm not sure of the nutritional merits of icecream but something embedded deep in my psyche informs me that it possibly isn't something that should be consumed as if it is one of the more important food groups. I blame my co-worker Shaun, who also has a penchant for the cold stuff. Unlike me, however, he has an over-active metabolism which means that he is Korean-thin and just as grumpy looking. Maybe ice-cream, over time, will cure such ills.