Sunday, July 17, 2005
Christopher’s Manchester Weblog - Summer 2005 - Days 21-24 - Heat, Diet Coke and Headbashing
Another story from time in Manchester
Well, its Thursday evening and time to check in with another post. I will do at least one more, covering Friday and maybe, depending on the trip home, one for Saturday.
Basically its been a quiet week here in Didsbury. I have spent much of my time revising chapters one and two (coming along splendidly Dr. N. says), making copies of articles (which I really do mean to read), and sweating. I mean really sweating, as all week it has remained in the 80s, which for here is stifling. This afternoon finally the clouds rolled in and it dipped down into the mid 70s, but with 75% humidity. I took runs both Tuesday night and tonight, and cannot get over how hard it is to get cooled down when the heat clings to your body. Give me dry heat!
Because of the heat I had to do something I had never done here before. I got a haircut (sorry Kirk). My hair had grown so thick so quickly, that I was sweating from my hairline, so off I went Monday afternoon to get a haircut at a “Gentleman’s Grooming” shop. It was the most unusual haircut I ever had. The man who cut my hair looked like a David Beckham wanna-be, and he didn’t so much cut my hair as, well, beat my hair into submission. Picture Riley Beagle going after a bone or your dental hygienists cleaning the plaque off your teeth. This man attacked my head with scissors and a razor, taking great swathes of hair off (and I think some of the scalp and bone). He just about gave me a concussion. If he had been smoking he would have fit the classic picture of a 1970s Liverpool steel worker, banging away on some molten steel. All I could think is on weekends he must be a football hooligan. He asked me what I thought of the cut: “Its great…really…really great.” I paid and dashed away, with less concerns about a sweaty head but having to go to the toilet and check for bruising right away. Say it together everyone, “I will never get my hair cut in England again!” On the bright side, most of my hair is no longer Fanta Orange.
