Duck Tweet.

Date: 1/24/2017

A meeting in my mum's garden. Charlie was late - then he jumped awkwardly over the fence. Huw sent a tweet that he had stood in a duck pond. The tweet was full of long words written informally - the species of duck had a complicated, baroque name. I compared myself unfavourably to him. On the boat. I'd come back to visit. Everyone was sat there. Pete had made a rule that he wouldn't use his phone while people were talking. He policed the rule - told everyone they were talking so he wouldn't use his phone. Then we all sat there in an agonising silence. Nobody knew what to say. I was conscious Abbey and I had an awkward unstable / flirty relationship, Pete didn't like anyone, especially Sarah. Her friend started talking about how long she'd had to stay in hospital having blood transfusions (one year). An opera at the Yard. A Philip Glass opera. I was singing the lead. There was a scene where I had to walk off-stage carrying a ham and make eye contact with a couple. It took a couple of goes before they acknowledged me. Later, the father of the man was there. He was telling off his son for a couple of mistakes - a tough love tone of voice. I interrupted and asked him how often he praised his son. He admitted never. I praised the son in front of him - 'thanks for looking at me when I walked off with the ham. Nobody ever does that.' Jay was directing the opera. I thought, Jay's productions only ever get 4 stars. He's a 4 star director.