-See David Bowie died.
-See now – that makes no f*ckin’ sense. Wha’ you just said.
-I know wha’ yeh mean. How can Bowie be dead? He was never alive, like the rest of us.
-Tha’ makes no f*ckin’ sense either. But it’s bang on.
-I remember once, I was havin’ me breakfast. An’ I saw me da starin’ at me. So, I said, ‘Wha’?’ An’ he says, ‘Are yeh goin’ to work lookin’ like tha’?’ I still servin’ me time and, like, I was wearin’ me work clothes. An’ me overalls were in me bag. So I didn’t know what he was on abou’. ‘Get up an’ look at yourself in the fuckin’ mirror,’ he says. I was still wearin’ me Aladdin Sane paint. Across me face, like.
-You were ou’ the night before.
-Not really. Only down the road. Sittin’ on the wall beside the chipper, with the lads. Sneerin’ at the f*ckin’ world. But that was what it was like. Bowie was our God.
-He has a new record ou’. Last week, just. Know how I know?
-How?
-Me granddaughter. She showed me his video. ‘Blackstar’. Unbelievable. Brillant. Scary.
-Business as usual.
-Exactly.
-It’s so f*ckin’ sad.
-Yeah.
[This post first appeared on Roddy Doyle's Facebook page.]