Misheard

Prompted by Moonrat's recent disclosure that she has bought a guitar, I was this evening discussing with a friend my own sorry failure to get down to any regular practice on the guitar I have now owned for nearly two years.

Walking back from dinner past the lakes, I was just accosted by a middle-aged woman touting something or other.

I could have sworn she said "Do you want to play guitar?" the first time. Then again, "Do you want to play guitar?" Uncanny! Like the big-breasted Inuit shaman lady in The Simpsons Movie, she was confronting me with one of THE BIG QUESTIONS in my life.

But no - actually she was saying, "You want lady bar?"

No, thank you. Touts for this kind of sleazy clip joint are thick on the ground around the Kempinski Hotel out on the more upmarket east side of town, and in many parts of the main Sanlitun bar zone - but in my beloved Houhai they are a relatively recent (thoroughly unwelcome) introduction. Oh, the times, they are a-changing.

Now, where was I? Yes, why haven't I got down to learning the guitar??