He remembers how I like ice in my tap water and semi skimmed milk in my decaf tea. He knows I will say no to a biscuit or cake so uses that time to ask me how my writing is going or to compliment a tattoo he’s not seen before. He doesn’t ask me to scan my loyalty card because I did it at the point he said “Hello again”. I don’t know his name, but I know where he gets his beard trimmed because he raised his eyebrows at me from the barber’s chair when I walked past the window last week. Hello again.

Carl Burkitt 2024