Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Reggae or Hip-hop...

As I was walking into town this evening to see Captain at Fibbers, I spied a black dude coming towards me carrying a carrier bag in both his hands. As he passed close by he gestured me to stop and asked me a single question: "Do you like Reggae or Hip-Hop?". I got the feeling that this wasn't an either/or question - he wasn't asking for a vote one way or the other. I think he wanted to know whether I liked those musical styles as opposed to not liking them. I said to him: "Sorry, not really no". He looked a little disappointed and carried on up the street.

I did not find out the reason for his question or what was in his carrier bag. But I have theories:

Theory 1: The bag was full of stolen Reggae and Hip-Hop CDs that he'd stolen and was hoping to sell down the pub later. He identified me as a clear music lover and thought he'd try me on the off chance.

Theory 2: The bag was full of skunk and the dude thought that asking about Reggae and Hip-Hop was a good coded way of asking me if I'd like to buy some. A way that would leave him innocent should I have turned out to be an undercover policewoman. It's legal to ask about music, it's not so legal to sell skunk (*).

Theory 3: He was bored and fancied a chat with a like-minded individual about Vanilla Ice and Madness.

Sadly, because I gave a negative answer and then parted company, I may never know which of these theories is the right one.

(* If I'm honest, I'm not totally sure what skunk is. I'm just trying to sound cool)

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