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Sunday, April 14, 2013

The reputedly haunted Queen's Arms

Yesterday I had a gathering with another witch. We ate at the new Lost & Found bar - overpriced & trying way too hard but the food was nice, even though it wasn't very obvious that there was gin in my cocktail. Having spent time playing houses in House of Fraser we ended up in the Queen's Arms on Newhall Street.
I like the jewellery quarter, although I think I liked it better before the return of people to live there. Prior to that it had a strange Avengers-esque feel of almost abandonment.
The Queen's Arms is reputed to be haunted by a bottom-pinching ghost (http://metro.co.uk/2012/04/17/ghostbusters-called-in-to-investigate-bum-pinching-ghoul-392085/) which was what made me want to go there in the first place. I pictured a sort of ethereal Leslie Phillips or Terry Thomas ('Ding dong!'), but I really don't think it is haunted. It certainly doesn't need any publicity either, being packed out, which could also explain the bottom-pinching.
Rather the evening was an interesting lesson in how much simpler non-sexual relationships were. My friend, a woman, & I are obviously not having sex & get on perfectly well but it seemed literally everyone else in the pub was in the throes & pains of some passion.
There was a woman who clearly only wanted the man she was with to take her home & ravish her, which he was clearly going to do but was doing it in his own good time.
There was the gay man with a straight male friend, who also only clearly wanted to be ravished, but the straight friend apparently couldn't even see this, let alone do it.
There was the young lad visibly bursting to get off with the girl he was with, who clearly wanted to but was giving him mixed messages & he didn't seem able to move it forward. It transpired he was just trying his luck with her while they were waiting for a group of friends. Clearly a bounder, & exactly the sort of spirit I expected to find there.
There was a mean & moody-looking man on his own, although we couldn't decide whether that explained his look. In case you read this: yes, we were talking about you & there was no need to be alone, either of us would happily have solved that for you!
I'm not sure what the moral is, but doesn't it become so much more complicated when sex is involved? Perhaps that's the actual source of the ghost: an underlying atmosphere of conflicting passions!
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