So it was a lovely Saturday evening and Mrs PP and I thought we’d not sit in front of the TV all night, so we got on the bikes and cycled off to a local pub that’s just been refurbished for a bite to eat and a few shandies. All good. Said pub is fairly posh, some people were dressed up, some dressed down. There were couples on dates, other diners, mates having a laff, birthday parties. It’s a nice spot.
I’m wearing shorts, a hoody, sandals. Mrs PP similar, but in jeans. (This will be relevant later) Nobody takes any notice of us, we have a nice time, I pass the time with others at the bar. Everyone is happy.
At one point these three girls totter through the pub – “Ay-up” I whisper “Girls Aloud have just walked in”
You couln’t miss them. Tiny lycra dresses, massive high heels, fake tan, an inch of makeup, almost identical bleached hair. Not ugly, in fact fairly good looking in an airbrushed-Maxim-photoshoot style, but they’d overstepped sexy and ended up cheap and tarty, but otherwise unremarkable.
Anyway, they took 10 seconds to walk through the room and were gone, outside. They never saw or heard us in the corner, and I thought no more of it.
We finished our last beer (DoomBar, if you want to know) and headed off. It was about 9.30pm. Still light.
Just down the road the road widens and there are some lights. Approaching, the lights turn red and we stop, middle lane (Left lane goes left, wide junction)
Again you couldn’t miss them but said 3 girls are making their way along the pavement to our left as we slow down….
(At this point I should say that they were heading into Farnborough, which is pretty much a desert for entertainment: There is only 1 pub within a mile. There are no clubs. From there to town is mainly offices, industrial units, car dealers and car parks. Where they were heading is anyone’s guess)
As we slowed I heard one of them comment on my footwear. It’s not unusual for a bloke to wear sandals, it’s summer, so what? I didn’t hear every word, but oh yes, I was meant to, and it was insulting.
I blanked them and ignored it. We stop at the lights.
Then they started at Mrs PP, but I couldn’t hear a word of it at this point, but Mrs PP, bless her, gives as good as she gets and answered back something along the lines of “At least I don’t look cheap like you”
I’m trying to stay out of it but Mrs PP can’t and shoots off toward them on her bike.
‘Oh nooooooooo’ I think. ‘Screaming match coming up’
So I follow at a distance, hoping to calm things down…. But, no, Mrs PP just executes a fast, close pass, scares the bejezus out of them and is gone. I’m left to deal with more insults but I don’t stop, I just shoot off.
On quizzing Mrs PP, apparently they had a pop at her which ended in “….She looks like she’s nearly 40”
Mrs PP is 38.
OK, maybe she should have ignored them, but why would 3 strangers start insulting us for no reason? I’ve never seen them before, never really crossed their paths, never said a word….I’ve only come across this once before in a posh wine bar in Reading. On the whole I avoid such places and people like the plague though.
But why? I really don’t understand……..
What did they hope to gain?