James McCallum

In the pub I ordered a pint of Guinness and a pint of Carlsberg standing beside a medium sized black bear.  It had been found in France by the landlord's father and now takes pride of place on the bar.  I stroked it's foot.  The barman was young with boyband-style hair swiped across his forehead.  He was from Australia and has been here for 18 months.  In researching the name of the type of ear-piercing that he had (one imprinted in the earlobe), I came across an article about the history of earrings for men.  It didn't give me my answer but it did inform me that 'Regardless of what the women would have us think, earrings have suited the men fashion.  Throughout history they have been worn by soldiers, sailors, local Indians and many other nations. So wear these earrings with a sense of pride'.  I later found that they are called 'flesh tunnels' or 'flesh plugs'.  I wondered whether the soldiers, sailors and local Indians would have been familiar with the term.

I didn't ask the Australian barman if he wore his flesh plug with a sense of pride but he did give a smirk of satisfaction about the fact that he had two middle names.  I didn't tell him that I'd met a shop assistant with seven.  'McCallum' is his mother's maiden name.