mostly david ephgrave

Today I had my hair cut twice. This might sound like the height of excess. Perhaps you think I’ve got a problem: an addiction to trimming that’s never satiated. Either that, or my hair just grows at an alarming rate. Neither of the above are true; the reason for today’s literal double-header was the first haircut was so disastrous I needed another barber to clean up the hatchet job. I’ve visited the first shop previously without incident. I’m usually quite happy with the results. I’d never seen this particular guy in there before, though; I’m starting to wonder if he was just another customer chancing his arm.  It certainly didn't seem like he'd ever held a pair of scissors. He was the only person in the shop when I arrived. Perhaps the real barber was being held hostage in a room around the back. (Should I phone someone about this?) I didn’t realise how bad my haircut was until the last few snips. This showed t...

Right now I really need a haircut. It’s become massive and unruly; a bit like Russia in the early 1900’s. The reason I haven’t had it done is simple: I haven’t settled on where to go. For the best part of thirteen years my hair was cut by the same man. He ran the barbershop on Redhill Road and I lived in the flat above it. We started out as just landlord and tenant – but pretty soon the convenience of a downstairs trim proved too alluring. We used to spend a lot of our time talking about music. He told me how he was slowly, meticulously copying all of his vinyl onto CD, and then selling the original records via eBay. He also gave me a heads-up on a German website where you could download rare music legally for half the price of that in the UK; he had an eye for a bargain, that man. The German for ‘bargain’ is Schnäppchen. He knew that I was in a band - how could he not; I was often practising in the flat upstairs - and would ask me about the gigs that I ...