In Which A Remembrance of Things Recently Past Occurs

Greetings, Gate! Let's latch on to the latest lowdown ... it's the vout and very o-roonie!

As The IBB Turns: The IBB School of Advanced Dramatics and Insidious Gossip continues on a pace. Witness the solving of that perplexing mystery Why the Baker Left in the Middle of Her Shift or Who Absconded With the Week's Deposit? which goes like this: between the hours of ten p.m., when Jack Havoc closed the IBB, and three a.m., when one of the Bakers arrived to begin work, someone opened the door, both deadbolt and the regular lock, went to the register, opened it up and removed the key to the safe, opened the safe and removed the week's deposit ... some $600! Jack Havoc swear up and down that he locked both locks and the Baker swears both locks were open when she arrived. And who, apparently, still has a key but that tool of a former "Manager" who arrived in town that evening. Is it a coincidence? I'll let you be the judge of that, Devoted Reader. And did the Queen Bee call the police or change the locks? No. So the Baker felt her safety was threatened, and who can blame her with an unaccounted for key on the loose, and quit.

Things look bleak at the IBB and lifeboats are being sought by the staff. I spoke with C. of the soon-to-be new coffeehouse and she thanked me for having the other Baker contact her. Rachel plans to contact C., too and S. just might ... especially as she's been rellegated to Dishwashing Engineer. C's new coffeehouse sounds like it will rock the coffee block and her ambitious plans include opening a gallery in the next space over.

Having been weighed in the balance and found wanting, I foresee the demise of the OCH, the IBB and Mombossa.

Salonsville: Last night a group of us went down to Michael's for drinks, dinner and general conviviality. In attendance were: myself, Teresa and Mike fromt he Bag Manufacturers (Darcy couldn't make it being down with a grievous cold), Rachel and Sarah from the IBB, Matt and Mrs. Psmith. The topics of conversation ranged from: mandals and unitards, Diamanda Galas, Einsturzende Neubauten and Bjork, the Snooty Server as an Icecapades escapee (which I found hilariously funny), black t-shirt day, Hollywood Brian and Stoner Brian and the fine art of being a Gentleman ... everyone agreed I was, indeed, a gentleman. We were served by the wonderfully sweet Gina. I was unable to finish my dinner of braised beef having consumed an enormous lunch earlier ... Shannon, the lunch chef, served me a mountain, and I'm not exaggerating, of garlic french fries and I finished them and the Philly Cheesesteak sandwich ... so I had that boxed for later. We all agreed that it was a swellegant time and Mike said we shoud do this once a month to which I agreed.

Mixology: Thanks to the posting of a Devoted Reader elsewhere, I am going to try concocting a cocktail to be called The Mysterioso. It will have a gin base ... but regular gin or the deeply red sloe gin, that the question! Stay tuned for further details.

On a final note, let me say that I am deeply honoured to be considered piquant and nice/And good with rice.