Streetgeezer knew his next destination would be Rainham as he had
picked up Jim and 'Reen before. He waited for them in Soho Square
next to a poster for "The Beverley Hillbillies" outside
the Twentieth Century Fox building. He had made contact with his
passengers in the Jota Jota Bar in Frith Street which,
surprisingly, the controller had pronounced as "Hota
Hota", even though they regularly mispronounce Beauchamp
Place and Holborn. He had encountered Jim before and so when he
got in the car and asked if he knew where Rainham was
Streetgeezer politely mentioned that he had taken him there
before. 'I ditn't ast if you'd taken me before, I ast if you knew
where Rainham was.' The driver was shaken but not stirred. He
told him he did and pulled into Sutton Row, then sneaked across
Charing Cross Road in order to cut down behind Centre Point and
head east along New Oxford Street. He could then go through
Holborn, past St Paul's and through the city to the A13.
'You're going the wrong way.' Streetgeezer always hated to be
told that and went to great pains to explain the infallible logic
of his route; but they were not convinced.
'OK go your way but we are only paying the usual thirteen quid.
It just seems a shame that you are wasting your petrol.'
Streetgeezer was becoming as pissed off as a flat pint of Black
Label. He hit the highway at Wapping, passing the foul and
pestilent congregation of papers that is News International. At
night it only takes about five minutes to get through Tower
Hamlets (whereas apparently it took four hours to get through
Kenneth Brannagh's Hamlet).
'I saw that film "Scent of a Woman" with that Al
Pacino.' Jim recounted to Reen.
'Wot's it abaht?' She wined like a wino.
'Well Al Pacino's this blind guy an' 'e goes to New York wiv this
young guy 'an they 'ave a good time.'
'So he's blind'?
'Yeah.'
'Sorta like Stevie Wonder?'
'Only in that Stevie Wonder is also blind.'
'No wot I meant was, that wot they're trying to say is that blind
people are often more..... er...' 'Perceptive?' Jim offered the
word while obviously preparing to devastate her argument.
'Yeah perceptive. They're saying the blind man could sense more
of wot was happening.' Jim lost control.
'How the fuck do you know wot they're saying? You ain't seen the
film.' He shouted. 'An that's typical of you. Fink you know it
all dontcha? I seen the fucking film I'M tellin YOU abaht it, an
yet you know more abaht it than me.......Well fuck you Reen, your
out of order.'
'Well I only thought.....'
'Well don't think you ain't no good at it..... I seen the
film....You ditn't .....end of story.'
Streetgeezer, in his role of self-proclaimed amateur social
anthropologist had made quite a study of Pub Culture and the poor
lost souls whose lives seem destined to revolve around the
obeisance to strict conventions lest they be "Out of
Order". The punishment for being out of order is the
possibility of ostracism or being hit with a pool cue.
They sped past Canning Town and Barking with barely a whiff of
the gut-churning stench that usually blows across the river from
the "works" by the Blackwall Tunnel.
'You know Reg?' Jim asked.
'Yeah, nice bloke.'
'Remember I met him at that barbecue at that place in
Hornchurch?' Jim asked Reen as they passed the Ford Factory at
Dagenham.
'Yeah an' you saw that truck of sheep and I told you I could see
they had an aura, a kind of halo of sadness over them cos they
knew in their little 'earts they was gonna die; they had a look
of 'aving been betrayed in their eyes.' Jim and Reen had
obviously been hippies; probably well after it was necessary.
'Yeah that's wot I love abaht you Reen is yer understandin' and
compassion.'
'Yeah I really felt for them sheep.' She cooed not knowing when
to quit while ahead.
'Shut up abaht the fuckin sheep ......AS I was saying, I told Reg
I needed to borrow a grand, he said he'd lend me a grand for six
months if I repaid him eleven 'undred.'
'Well that's out of order.' Reen reasoned. 'You don't make money
out of your mate.'
'Yeah bang out of order.' Part of the pub culture code had been
breached. 'Well I tell ya wot. Not only won't he get the 'undred
- I ain't gonna give him back the grand either.' They both agreed
this was suitable punishment for usury in the drinking place.
'I've always hated him.' Reen concluded 'You know he ditn't offer
to buy me a drink last time he came in the pub and I was on my
own.'
'Bastard.' They were agreed.