“I could pull your Adam’s apple out in less than a second with just two fingers” declared the man sitting next to me on the bus. His hand was clutching the front of my neck. Suddenly, the cat obsessed old ladies didn’t seem like such bad company after all.
The man with his hand around my neck is called Rob. He retired from the army just this week, having served for thirty years, and he was now exhibiting some of the knowledge he’d picked up during that time. I was the lucky recipient of his demonstrations. I had already been jabbed in the ribs, and had my arm twisted, and now he’d moved on to my neck, which he gripped with his hand, and shook slightly to the meter of his words.
I’d only known Rob for fifteen minutes. He’d sat next to me on the bus, and after a minute or so initiated some small talk about the whether.
“Lovely day mate” he said.
“Yes it is” I replied. And from there, the conversation naturally developed; if you can class a man with his hands around your neck announcing that he could tear your Adam’s apple out as a natural development from the weather.
After a couple of seconds, Rob released his grip on my neck, and began to tell me about some other ways he could inflict pain on people.
“Yes, as you were saying fifteen minutes ago when you first spoke to me Rob, it certainly is a lovely day”. I thought I’d try and get us back on to the weather talk, just in case he planned to act out anything else on me.
“I can kill a man in less than a second Dave” he continued, clearly ignoring my attempts to move the conversation back to safer territory.
“Could be as high as 30 degrees out there Rob”.
“it’s all about pressure points Dave. If you know exactly where to press, and I do, you can kill a man, no problem”. “No problem for you perhaps. I’m not sure if the other person would share that view”, I thought. Obviously I didn’t vocalise this to Rob; I wanted to stay alive with my Adam’s apple safely in tact.
Rob, despite the picture I may have painted, was actually a very inspiring person and seemed to be very positive , despite all the terrible things he had witnessed. He said that his favourite part of the army was learning about and experiencing different cultures. He’d learnt a number of languages, and was fluent in Pakistani. He proved this to me by speaking a couple of sentences in Pakistani, and it sounded pretty good, so I believed him.
He told me some very harrowing tales, and demonstrated that even in the most negative and bleakest of situations, positivity and friendship can still exist.
“When you leave the army you have to sign the official secrets act”, Rob informed me. “;There’s so much I can’t say. There’s so much I can’t talk about”. He then took hold of my neck again, and pulled me towards him. “But we’re on the back of a bus with a really loud engine, so I think we’ll be fine”. I’m sure that there isn’t a caveat in the official secrets act that said that he was OK to divulge secret information if he happened to be on the back of a bus that had a really loud engine. Sadly, I didn’t get to hear what he had to say because the bus was nearing my stop.
“Well, in a couple of minutes we’ll be reaching my stop Rob, so maybe another time. It’s been a pleasure though. Oh and thanks for the tips about how to kill people”.
“Oh well if you’re getting off soon then I better quickly tell you this funny story about my cat. I meant to tell you it sooner, but I got distracted chatting about top military secrets and how to kill people”. No, he didn’t say that. What he actually did was grabbed hold of my neck again and pulled me towards him. Thank goodness this wasn’t the mega bus from Newcastle to London, otherwise I might not be here to tell this tale.
“Promise me something Dave” he whispered with great intensity. “Promise me that you’ll never give up. I see the fight in your eyes. You’ve got ambition son. You’ve got a purpose, and you know what it is. You go out there and make it happen. Promise me, you won’t give up. Promise me”. He gave me a little shake. I promised him, and he let go of me. I stood up, and put my bag on my back and turned to shake his hand and bid him goodbye, as if all of this had been perfectly normal.
As I walked off the bus and waited at the stop for my next bus, I mused on what had just happened, what the man had just said. He asked me to promise him that I would never give up. And I was hardly going to refuse; he had his hands around my neck, and he knew killing techniques. He also said that he knew that I had a purpose, and that I knew what it was. Well, he was right. But how could he have known about the Eskimo Kissing song?
Rob’s message came at an opportune moment. When I returned home I checked my emails, hoping for some more nose rubbing videos. But there was nothing. I had been so heartened by the initial response from people, that I just assumed that the weekend would bring me more. Why wouldn’t it? What could possibly be stopping people? Did people prefer to watch the Olympics on TV rather than emailing videos of themselves rubbing noses with people to some deluded fool? Surely not. But it seemed as if that might be the case.
But I would not be despondent. I must heed Rob’s words. I would not give up. I had fight in me, passion, and a purpose. Rob had seen it in my eyes, and he knew what he was talking about. And he had also clearly illustrated he could be a formidable enemy. So I wasn’t going to back down on that promise, just in case.
I received one nose rubbing video this weekend. I have decided that I really need to renew my efforts and strengthen my attempts. I will post on Internet forums, comment on relevant blogs, speak to people on Skype, mention it at gigs, and even try and get the press involved at some point.
Anyway, on Friday I mentioned that in Google, my website came third for the search term “Eskimo Kissing Song”. The first two spots are occupied by the Kooks who have a song called Eskimo Kiss. I asked you all on Friday to please Google the term “Eskimo Kissing song” and then click on my website. If enough people did this then perhaps I could get my website at number one and beat the Kooks. Well, today, we appear to have risen to number two. I’m sure by the end of the week we will be number one. So keep Googling.
I’ll be back later this week with another blog. If you haven’t sent me a video of you nose rubbing yet then please do. Email them to david@davideagle.co.uk And let’s beat The Kooks! I’d strongly advise you to get involved. After all, I’ve learnt a thing or two about killing people since we last spoke. So, get involved. You nose it makes sense!
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