All the Clowns in Clown Town

In view of the density of my last two posts, I've been prompted to wield a lighter brush and talk about one of my favorite memories...

Back in my early days as a nanny (circa 1990-92), I was living in Westchester County (in NY) and living the carefree life of a not-quite drinking age lass-- far from her small town & eager to sample some of the joys of the big city-- OK, so Mamaroneck held roughly the same 30,000 people living there as did in Wheeling, but to me it represented everything a repressed Catholic innocent could want: no parents, bars that didn't card, and a sub-culture that catered to the booming niche market of young ladies who lived & worked in the area as nannies / au pairs (the cute European way of saying "live-in babysitter"). Many of my partners in crime haled from the UK, so I found myself burning many an evening in quasi "pubs" that welcomed ex-pats (both male & female) and their erstwhile associates (read here: ME).

One of my firsts outings, in the company of Cathy & Kat (from England), and Lana (from Wales), found me in a quaint little bar that served only imported drafts & lagers, offered a selection of real dart boards (instead of the funky electric type), with countless pennants & placards that touted obscure sporting team logos (soccer teams, rugby clubs-- you get the idea) on the walls. With the girls' prodding, I soon found myself comfortably ensconced at the bar, clutching a Guinness (not my first, but the first of many THERE), and chatting happily with a burly gent named William. He assured me that I was the "loveliest" girl he'd met in the States so far (God bless beer goggles) and that he was going to die a cruel and unnatural early death if he didn't get my phone number. My clever reply? "You and all the Clowns in Clowntown..."

I'll spare you the details of how that response worked--content yourself with the knowledge that William seemed to think my retort "brilliant" and I proceeded to have the #2 best evening I had during my two-year Nuevo York adventure. NOTE: #1 happened on the occasion of my first visit to the annual Fireman's Festival (stop snickering, Carlos).