Today I am thrilled to welcome one of my favorite authors to Great Thoughts’ Great Authors. Sue Margolis always makes me laugh out loud! Sue is the author of numerous books including my favorite, Apocalipstick and her newest book, A Catered Affair. My review of A Catered Affair is here.
Here’s Sue on a trip she loves (and you’re going to love this):
The Mojave desert. The Australian Outback. The Scottish Highlands. If I’m honest, they all left me feeling a bit meh. Ok, so I’m a Philistine. I can live with that. Here’s the thing: although I ‘get’ magnificent landscapes, places and palaces, they don’t move me. I have no idea why.
People move me. They set my imagination alight. It’s my constant, almost obsessive fascination – not just with the people around me, but strangers and passers-by – that turned me into a writer. I stare at people all the time, without realising it. My kids are forever telling me to stop because it embarrasses them. I find it hard. I’m constantly looking at strangers on the bus and trying to guess what they think about the world, how they vote, what TV shows they like, if they have children, if they believe in God.
For me, trips are about meeting new people – or old ones – and finding out about their lives. They’re about making connections. Nothing nourishes me so much as making connections with people. You feel that? I feel that, too. It’s like oxygen.
One of the trips I love most is one I do every six weeks – to the hairdresser’s. It combines my fondness for people watching with the sheer joy of having somebody fuss over me for a few minutes.
John, my hairdresser greets me with a double kiss. I’ll compliment him on his newly curled and tinted eyelashes. “You know, Sue, “ he’ll say, “I got up today, took one look at myself in the mirror and realised that God gave and then he just carried on giving.”
All around me, beautiful women are being refurbished. Most are ignoring the colourist or manicurist. Instead they are on their cell phones. Every other word seems to be: LA, my agent or the nanny.
I overhear somebody telling the girl cutting her hair that she has found this wonderful organic food co-operative. “Doesn’t that mean you have to work there a few days a month?” the girl enquires.
“God, God, no. I send my cleaner.”
Again I reach for the notebook. Another couple of lines to be used in a novel one day.
A well known London socialite is feeling a bit peckish and is demanding that one of the juniors goes out in the rain and fetches take-out menus from all the local eateries.
Next to her, Baroness von Something has lost her diamond ring and half a dozen people are crawling around on their knees looking for it.
John is muttering about the guy opposite who’s having a pedicure. “Omigod. How gay is that?”
Turns out that John has news. He got a call over the weekend from the wife of some African dictator who wanted him to fly over to do her hair. Mugabe was visiting and she wanted to look her best. “So there I am in madam what’s her name’s private jet, drinking champagne and I’m thinking this isn’t bad for a lad who came from nowhere.”
We worked out that John’s fee aside, it must have cost the dictator’s wife tens of thousands to get him over for the day.
“And then, when I get there she’s like: ‘John, darling, don’t cut too much off’.”
I leave the salon re-furbished and refreshed, another couple of pages of my notebook filled.
What are you reading and where are you going?
Fun guest post! I soooooooooo understand this comment, “One of the trips I love most is one I do every six weeks – to the hairdresser’s. It combines my fondness for people watching with the sheer joy of having somebody fuss over me for a few minutes.”
What a fun and thought-provoking post. I’m a people watcher, too. I only wish I had your talent for extracting and highlighting life’s daily gems with such hilarity! I’m off to learn more about your many novels… Thanks!