Just another Friday

Well, what can you say? Liza Minelli summed it up nicely in Cabaret when, as Sally Bowles, she pronounced "Divine decadence, darling" about life in Berlin to the tyro Brian Roberts, played by Michael York. The following pic neatly encapsulates, too, that lovely feeling when work is over for another week and you can begin to enjoy yourself... Did somebody mention work?

The shaker full of gin and ice, the glass about to be sprayed with French vermouth – just a wee skoosh, as we say in Glasgow – plus three pimento-stuffed olives for the perfect Dry Martini. And the meal? Why a plate of oysters, served with lemon, tabasco, a finely chopped shallot in balsamic vinegar and buttered wholemeal bread. The oysters, beautifully fresh and bought from MacCallums in Finnieston, Glasgow – surely the best fishmongers In Scotland; they also have an oyster bar in Troon. Don't take my word for it; follow this link...

http://uktv.co.uk/food/outlet/aid/620531

I imagine Miss Bowles would enjoy such decadence – even more so as there's little chance of any horrible Nazis on the horizon to spoil things for everybody. She did like to enjoy herself...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX-24Zm0bjk

Meanwhile, back in Glasgow, I almost expect Charles Baudelaire and Paul Verlaine to stumble through the door to partake in the festivities. Mind you, there's no absinthe on offer en ce moment. A symbolist moment, perhaps, nevertheless.
And yet it's not realism, as such, that the modern sensualist disdains; it's reality.