Nineteen and a half years ago

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 02 October 2006 12:11:37

I got a haircut.

I was just on the cusp of being grown up (that cusp, by the way, seems to have been about fifteen years wide - this may or may not be normal for my species or at least my gender). And this was one of those occasions where I was trying out the water on the grown-up side of the fence. I'd asked my brother to recommend a decent (not poncey) barbers and was quite happy with where he sent me. I suppose that's another indication of how grown-up the situation was - my brother was being helpful, genuinely helpful, and I appreciated it. How bizarre that was. Of course, the circumstances helped. Having spent two years getting more unkempt, making use of the liberty that came from leaving a school that insisted on at-most-collar-length hair, I'd finally decided that I fancied a clean-cut image instead. My family had become more and more embarrassed by me (what fools to be embarrassed by my hair - I'd given them so many good reasons to be embarrassed by me but instead they chose to be embarrassed by my hair - that says it all really), so they were overjoyed at me deciding to get it cut and, correspondingly, they were kind and helpful to me for a change. Fortunately I was oblivious to most of the implications of that - low expectations help you avoid disappointments. Anyway, what I was going to say about this was how Little Steven's Bitter Fruit was playing on the radio as my hair was being hacked off. Funny how these things stay with you - what a useless thing to remember, but I suppose it gives that tune a certain set of associations for me, for better or worse. I can't listen to it without being taken back to that time and the feeling that my improved appearance might make me a better me than I had been before.