Neither by way of excuse nor explanation

The door of the bar

got stuck

on my way out

but I insisted

and out of blind stubbornness

nearly ripped my fourth-fret

little finger off

So, OK, I give up

trying to give up

go sit back down

order another beer

and let the blood drip

and ignore the other punters'

unconcerned curiosity

The barmaid seeks a word

some gesture of approval

of the hideous cardigan she has on

it's OK, I say

and a standby baiting bitch points out

that's hardly a compliment

but from an Englishman, I say, it is

And just to be a gentle man I add

it would be even nicer if I can have

another beer and then she smiles

and says, proudly, you see

that's a compliment indeed

and so I get another beer

and my finger continues

to bleed.

Every day is a new year's day

A few months spent working too much and walking too little in Strasbourg have left me slightly pot-bellied and eager to get back to Paname where there's just not time enough to eat that much and where the beer calories get burned off between metro stops.

H.B (Santa Klaws) gave me a copy of Fred Herzog: Photographs - a solid lesson in humility for any digitilised happy snapper, and not only because it provides an example of sublime and masterly use of Kodachrome that pre-dates Eggleston, but also because Herzog had an eye and a lightning-fast shutter touch that invites comparison with any of the best street photographers ever, Winogrand or Frank included. In terms of colour, the sweetest shock to my eyes since they first encountered Saul Leiter a few years ago...

Meanwhile, another year, another day, and I'm still going on without crutches yet, and still intent on trying to catch a glimpse of that elusive ultimate image that flickers somewhere in the deepest recesses of my mind's eye...

To see: http://www.equinoxgallery.com/artists/portfolio/fred-herzog

http://www.lensculture.com/leiter.html