Quote of the day and subsequent explanations...

"Even I'm degraded by that!" ~ The Duke

For those of you who aren't too familiar with this fellow blogger, this quote may seem fairly run-of-the-mill.
But for those of you who do, you'll realize that offending this fellow is quite a difficult task... especially after several drinks had been consumed, as they had at this point...

***

We were sitting, somewhat conspicuously, at the pub in the lower level of our hotel. Feeling somewhat low-key, rather than venturing into the town's nightlife, we had decided to watch the hockey game and have a few beverages at the easiest location.

A few beverages turned into more... it could have been that they had candy apple martinis, which are a serious weakness of mine... but we somehow ended up remaining at this pub (it called itself an English pub... what made it particularly English is hard to say... I guess us Canadians feel better drinking in a pub that is somehow European, rather than generic) past closing, even though it meant watching championship curling. Despite the fact that we weren't in an especially rural area, this pub felt a little small town. Not only were we the youngest and the only group that didn't know someone else, but I was also dressed the most provacatively of anyone there... in jeans and a t-shirt.

... that is, until she walked in.

She appeared to be in her early to mid-20s, with long blonde hair, and was wearing a small red cocktail dress.
What made her even more noticeable was the fact that she was accompanying a fellow, who was clearly known by nearly everyone in the bar, who was closer to three times her age than double.

She was clearly an escort.

Countless times, another older man would walk by, and feel compelled to stop and inquire about this new "friend" of his. Some were polite, and just shook her hand.
Others acted like they, too, had some sort of right to her. They would demand that she (and no one else at their table, including another woman closer to their age) get up to give them a hug goodbye. One fellow actually yelled out "You've really won the lottery with this guy!" (provoking the Duke's comment)

I wondered what on earth the man's motivation could have been. Perhaps he was trying to convince his social circle that he was still desirable. But his ruse was so transparent... everyone at the bar saw through it. And I don't know who I felt more sorry for- him for being so lonely that he needed to put on this act, or her for having to play along with his pretense, and deal with all the looks and backhanded comments.