The Gentleman Friend’s farewell party was yesterday, at the large and empty home of Green Thumb. Only a few people were invited: the Woodland Creature and Maitreyi, and Instagirl and her techie spouse. It went on too long for my taste as social events invariably do, but it was pleasant.
There was one fine moment of misunderstanding when Green Thumb was recounting a recent movie in which it was claimed that the prosperity after WW2 was the result of the population crashing, opening up more resources for the rest. This horrified his wife, who clearly seemed to be wondering whom she had married, and Green Thumb himself never quite explained that (a) this was the argument of the supervillain in a Marvel film and (b) he himself was not sympathetic to mass death as a solution to global problems.
There was much political discussion.
And talk of Cambodia, and the 13 May riots in Malaysia and how they shape Chinese fears even today. The shadows of the past stretching out, darkening paths.
I admitted that I had been an astrologer and a cricket correspondent in my journalist past.