Uncomfortably Numb

Damn, it’s cold! I don’t know what the exact temperatures are here but they’re at the point where the first intake of breath taken outdoors feels like cold steel slicing through your lungs as it cuts its way into your chest. It didn’t help getting an email from the Delightful LA Actress sending blessings from Sunny California, reminding me of the time spent riding out Christmas and the New Year in Burbank.

Midweek I was hoping the weather would improve simply because tomorrow there’s a surprise birthday party for an actress friend at a venue in The City and the dress code is cocktail attire. If it was fancy dress that wouldn’t be so bad because I could go as an Eskimo, bundled up and keeping toasty. In a suit, which I only just remembered to get back from the dry cleaners, I’m probably going to freeze to death. Then again, it’s still better than being swaddled in taffeta.

Mulling over what to get her as a present, I simply opted for a decent bottle of champagne, which has its uses even if it might show a lack of thought. Since my brain is freezing over, I think I deserve a break on that front. Putting it in the fridge it bumped against a bog-standard bottle to Moet & Chandon that has been there for close to twenty years now.

It was a going away present from the staff at the animation studio I left before heading off on my Grand Tour of the United States. Because they were a decent bunch of people, and the director was one of the best people I’ve worked with, I decided to drink it only on a special occasion. Except, so far that time hasn’t come.

I’d seen my name in print and on screen already by then so it wasn’t so much a novelty anymore in the years following. Among the loves that I’ve lost, instances like the Christmas in LA with one girlfriend or celebrated a New Year with another took us away from home so it wasn’t accessible. Although, perhaps I should have popped the cork when I finally rid myself of a couple of old girls.

It stayed on the shelf while both my thirtieth and then fortieth birthday came and went. So, when do I eventually open it? Maybe, when summer comes, I should stroll up the hillside and down it watching a particularly spectacular sunset. Otherwise I imagine it’s going to remain where it is for some time to come.