September 23, 2003Barrel FeverI just finished Barrel Fever, a collection of stories and essays by satirist David Sedaris who has delighted me for years with short stories on NPR. I think some of his newer work is better, such as Me Talk Pretty One Day, but I have no real complaints. In fact, today at lunch I had what I consider a Sedaris moment -- a moment which was similar to something David describes in one of his stories. In Barrel Fever Sedaris describes a time he was a window washer and two window installers came into the room and were "talking shop". As I sat with friends eating my sandwich today, two guys were talking on and on. Well, one was talking on and on, the other was stuck listening a lot. "When I install PVC, I only use Type M", he said as his companion listened. "I've never used type L and never will", keeping his thought going, "unless I have to. Then it's a case of I install whatever they bring to the job. But when I'm building a house, I only use type M". The tall thin man with the 50's looking glasses wearing paint stained overalls rambled on.... "When I have to do that, I slip it back just past the elbow and apply a little heat and then the epoxy -- that's the way I do it and it lasts forever. Make sure you give it a little twist when you slide the coupling over it too. That makes a big difference you know".I can't even begin to relay some of the jargon I heard from them today. As I shook my head and snickered, one of my lunch companions noted that was what we probably sound like talking about technology. Sigh. Probably so. And so the last lunch with JEG went -- a final tri-tip sandwich at the Redwood Keg and a Sedaris moment. Pretty fitting actually.
Posted by ac at September 23, 2003 11:38 PM
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