Stuff your eyes with wonder, he said, live as if you'd drop
dead in ten seconds. See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or
paid for in factories.”
― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
A restaurant
here in Eugene has a sports bar attached, and it is reasonable to have a
television there—except now they have televisions in the main high-end portion
of the restaurant. My girl friends and I asked why they installed televisions.
The server said the customers prefer them.
Whoa.
If you go to
a Sports bar with the intention of watching a game, okay. Watch the game,
cheer, eat, drink, whoop it up. All those things. Otherwise why have a
television in a restaurant?
Isn’t going
out to eat a festive occasion? Isn’t it a time for conversation, a little wine,
a few jokes, something to laugh about, if only the thrill of being together? And
just think, someone else prepared the food, and will wash the dishes.
Watch people
in restaurants. They are often talking on the phone. To whom? There is a person
sitting across from them. Older couples sit silent, munching. They look up occasionally,
and to their surprise, there is someone sitting across from them. Business people are working on papers,
snarfing food in a rush to get back to a job they hate.
I love young
couples sitting across the table from each other holding hands—older people
too. They still believe life is something to get excited about.
In Europe dinner
is an occasion. In Italy up-scale restaurants have two sittings per night.
There you can stay as long as you want. People eat, drink, have fun, and don’t
get fat.
Imagine.
Maybe I
missed my calling. I ought to be a restaurant owner, set up an eatery in an
alleyway between two buildings, with outside tables, a ceiling of multi-colored
umbrellas , strings of white lights, and no televisions.
Little boy
Darling has a restaurant idea—a ghost restaurant, with lots of dry ice
bubbling, and images projected on the fog. And what would he serve? I wonder.
Joyce
“Life is one
grand adventure, or it ought to be if we don’t fall asleep on each other.”—I think
Ray Bradbury said this, I can’t find the source.
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