I spent the month of January immersed in mystery novels from the 1800's- escaping my woes or preparing for the debut of my own novel, depending on which lens you prefer to view things. I have mentioned already that I did try to read with a 'writer's eye' in order to add some viable worth to all those hours I spent tucked away with my kindle.
In the end, I felt as though all I picked up was some out-of-date slang and an insatiable urge to go to a diner. Around this time, a Facebook friend, one of those fabled we-were-friends-in-high-school-let's-be-friends-again-now-that-we're-grown started posting about how much she missed the diners in NY. Diners we had grown up around and passed all of our childhood milestones in. Celebrating football wins, sharing gossip, cutting school, enjoying a midnight snack and devouring a 3 am breakfast.
Diners were for getting warm on winter nights and nursing a cup of $1.00 coffee for hours while pondering the big ideas about life. They were places to meet people and avoid people. I could be just as likely to be found sitting alone in a booth with a sketch pad as surrounded by a group of friends. A fine place to be anonymous, catch snippets of other peoples' conversations and imagine what life would be like if.....
Coincidentally, I recently ran across this article in the BBC about American diners. It's not the first time they have written about diners and American life. Apparently the subject is popular enough to warrant a second run. While searching for that first article I came across this one from 2011. The two are quite similar but I remembered the line about a diner being a great place to bring two characters together- mentioned in the 2015 article and not in the 2011.
Turns out my nostalgia for not only the food but the mood of a US diner stems from a storyteller's cheap trick. It's not just the American in me but the writer in me. I can wrap this up by saying, finally, I might have proof that those hours were not wasted. Words for a smaller book have been flowing through my mind and this soccer holiday (yes, jours fériés, for winning the cup) might be the perfect chance to put them to type.
