Gaylord

I've written before that in the office there are often some excellent tunes, such as Eye of the Tiger, pumping out from Ilidio's computer. Today he was playing one of George Michael's lesser known hits when Inês entered.

'Rob, do you know [of] George Michael?'

'Yes Inês'.

<Some preamble about his music and untimely death>

'He's a gaylord. Unfortunately. A young, beautiful guy and he chose to be a gaylord.'

'We don't really use that word much in English Inês.'

'Freddie Mercury died of HIV. He was also a gaylord.'

In the background Ilidio was making vociferous noises about how talented Freddie Mercury was, perhaps in gentle protest at the dubious commentary.

The exchange ended with Inês performing for me the theme tunes from Neighbours and Home and Away and then a rendition of the very well known song 'You'll Never Stop Me Loving You' by the auburn-haired Liverpudlian popstar Sonia. Around 25 years ago, Inês lived in north London for a couple of years due to her father's job. I can only assume her knowledge of obscure popular culture from the late 80s and early 90s originated at that time.

Shortly after this, I had about 15 minutes notice to get ready for a garden party at the British High Commissioner's house. A couple of times per year the British community is invited to mingle, drink tea and eat sandwiches.

It was great to meet some potential new friends (hilarious chats with the Deputy High Commissioner about a bearded men's yoga group) and useful work contacts. It was largely a crowd of like-minded folk on the subject of 'the B word', as the High Commissioner referred to it in her speech. However we all refrained from strong anti-Brexit rhetoric, even if it was on the tips of many people's tongues. Some of my strangest exchanges with Brits about values and how they differ have taken place outside of the UK. The worst mistake would be to get into a testy conversation about politics in the High Commissioner's garden. Perhaps this is why there's a fence around the pool. Or perhaps daft British health and safety rules apply on this patch of UK turf even though no Mozambican would deem a fence necessary.