A Most Wonderful Lunch

Over the six weeks I’ve spent at the Appeals Court in Jönköping, well-needed lunch breaks have often come as welcome opportunities for rest and recreation for the old noggin after hours of fretting over cases, statute and paperwork. I usually find someone to have lunch with; either one of my two summer employed co-workers (law students from Stockholm and Uppsala University respectively) or some old friends from high school, or friends from even earlier on.

I haven’t ever brought food to work, I’m just too lazy to spend my evenings in front of the stove I gather. There’ll be enough of that come fall when school starts, thankyouverymuch.

But today was a special day. Tomorrow is my last day of work and therefore I had a marathon session presenting a whopping cool dozen of cases before a panel of judges so as to get the roster cleared, signed, sealed and delivered before I bust out of this place tomorrow afternoon. Anyway, I got into work extra early at 7AM and sat with the judges from 8:30 to 11:30 (my throat was parched in a big way come the ninth or tenth case…). And when I stumbled out of the session I had obviously totally missed planning any lunches and my coworkers weren’t ready for lunch that early anyways– so off I went alone to an Indian place maybe a 15 minute walk from the court.

I am nothing but a tad hyper when it comes to being alone; I seriously start squirming if I ever walk more than 10 minutes without my iPod and usually, if I have lunch by my lonesome, I am never really alone. The rigors of being a politics geek often means I have an episode of Face The Nation, Hardball with Chris Matthews or KCRW’s Left Right & Center to entertain me as I sit down to lunch – but today there was nothing in the playlist. I had spent a good couple of hours yesterday going through all the Sunday shows (and gawd, watching Al Gore on Meet The Press makes me want him to return to public office!) so there was no politics for the taking. Instead I got me some food, loosened the tie and sat down by the tables outside facing the street in the midday sunshine and put on a record called Magnolia Electric Co. by Songs: Ohia.

Songs: Ohia is a band I’ve known for years, it is basically a vehicle for the singer-songwriter Jason Molina to record and release records in a steady stream and a favorite among certain indiepeople. He must’ve released more than a dozen albums by now and I hadn’t ever really come around to listening to this one. Sitting there with my Indian food (manna from heaven for a part-time herbivore!) I had nothing to focus on except my nan bread, the people walking the streets in the warm sun and Jason Molina’s voice.

It was amazing, just glorious. This particular Songs: Ohia record (and you can hear an audio track from that album called Farewell Transmission up on the left in the youtube player) was a full-band outing with material foreshadowing his later work with his new band and sitting there, with a heavy head and a tired mind looking absentmindedly at the people streaming by – the music was just perfect. A lot of the songs seem to slowly creep up on you, envelop you and then slowly let you go. Guitars weaving in and out, Molina’s voice another instrument coming and going, talking about relationships, the world, Chicago – all that good stuff.
After my lunch I needed both the customary slug of Red Bull and a few minutes on a park bench in the sun to get my head working properly again but it was so worth it. Bliss.