A hard man is good to find

It has been posted before about my unnatural longing for all things to do with butchers. Interestingly I got an email from a girlfriend during the week, who is trying to set me up with any man she can think of below the age of 50. Her most recent suggestion for a beau was a gentleman she described as a "nice guy, who likes meat". For future reference, liking meat is not necessarily akin to carving up dead animal flesh. We shall wait and see what she male morsel she attempts to dish up for me next!

I have just returned from a very happy trip to a hardware. Unlike stationery stores which drive me into a wild and near orgiastic frenzy, hardware stores leave me cold. But this trip has proved a little different. I was looking for wood (all crude references aside people - I really was looking for a piece of actual timber). I need a surface on which to practice my tap-dancing. Yes after nearly two and a half years of learning tap, I decided that it was time for me to actually practice. So I ventured into the hardware to be greeted by an extraordinarily friendly gentleman.

Never have I been the recipient of so much joy and vigour in such a humour-less environment. I explained my requirements, which he then happily took me through the selection of appropriate materials. I fear that at the end of the transaction, the amount spent did not cover his wages for his effort. But I certainly left feeling a little smile across my face.... how often is it that one can trade snappy repartee with someone whilst purchasing such mundane items?