05/15 - Pocket Squares

So much to behold

with my adopted brother

we eye up it all 

Tonight I spent the second night in a row with Cathal, meeting up after work. The day before he had had a chance to change out of his suit, but tonight we were both in our business attire. After debating going back to the same sushi place, it was that good, we ended up going for Chinese food. Cathal gave it good reviews, even though he now has quite a discerning palette. What with living in Hong Kong and all. We had a couple really nice beers, and lots of dumplings and things. We also had lettuce that was smothered in a gravy like sauce. It was as though someone decided to make lettuce as unhealthy as possible I commented.

After eating, on the eighth floor again, this time of the Parco (pronounced like par-u-co by most people here) department store/mall, not really sure what it should be called, we went and looked at lots of cool things as we wound our way down eight escalators. Parco might be the best store/conglomeration of boutiques I’ve ever seen. There is a ridiculous amount of cool stuff, and the prices are for the most part quite reasonable. Cathal and I drooled over lots of nice stuff, much of which he accurately defined as over-engineered. The bags, socks, stationery, shoes and clothing are definitely something to behold. I ended up buying perhaps the nicest socks of all time, and a pocket square for Cathal and I.  We got the same one, a cool navy one with white whales all over it. Good thing we live usually live on different continents, so we don’t have to worry about showing up with matching pocket squares. There you go everyone; that last sentence is the most poncy thing you might ever see me write. We were both delighted and amused when I realized that the nice plastic bag they put the pocket squares in had a ziplock seal at the top. I actually stopped and yelled out “This is a ziplock bag!” The packaging, wrapping and presentation here is incredible at times. Cathal says he sometimes tells people something he is buying is a gift just to watch the rigamarole they go through to beautifully wrap it.

I was actually returning Cathal’s gesture by getting him the pocket square, as he bought me a really cool hand towel with a Japan Post mailbox on it, and wrote a nice little message on it. It was much appreciated, both for the thought that went into it and because they seldom have paper towels or hand dryers in the washrooms here, so/because everyone carries around their own little handy hand towel.

The only disappointing part of my evening was when I was looking at some really cool shoes and a sales clerk came up and using primarily hand gestures informed me they definitely did not have any pairs big enough to fit me.

I referenced Cathal as my adopted brother, something we’ve often said since the days we both lived with my dad in Calgary, in this poem. I liked the way he mentioned our different mothers on the card, even though we actually have different fathers too.