The Usual
A beautiful thing happened to me this weekend. A beautiful thing that I cannot believe has never happened to me before. Because this beautiful thing happened in a bar and for better or worse I have spent far, far more time in bars than the average person who is neither English nor Irish.The beautiful thing was this: I walked into my neighborhood bar, which is a delightfully laid-back, dimly lit and non-touristy place with a fabulous jukebox and an eclectic cast of regulars and a collection of books in the back that are perfect for browsing while waiting on line for the restroom and a lovely set of photos of Old New York on the walls that are perfect for gazing at while your companion is in the restroom and after seven days and seven nights the rain had finally stopped and the sun had come out and all felt right in the world and the bartender walked up to me and instead of asking "what can I get you?" or "what are you having?" or even "how are you doing?" he simply said "the usual?"
The usual.
In all my years in New York and all my years in bars around the world no bartender has ever walked up to me and simply said "the usual?" And in part that's my own fault because I've spent so much of my life moving from city to city and from neighborhood to neighborhood within cities and even from bar to bar within neighborhoods and I've always been one for trying new things and I've never been much for putting down roots.
But now...
The usual.
It was sort of like that moment when you've moved to a new place and you've finally gotten the lay of the land and one day someone stops you and asks for directions and you know exactly how to get there and you tell them and you walk away suddenly feeling like you belong.
It was sort of like that, but so much better.
The usual. It's funny how much pleasure those two little words gave me.
posted by Anonymous @ 6:08 PM
