Putney Ferret

Geoff Fox gazed at the café opposite and pondered. How come so many of Putney Ferret’s male café-going residents sported signet rings? And how come they all seem to congregate in the same places, dress identically, carry the same pose? Geoff focused on one such specimen presently sat at the table nearest the café door. As his housemate of some three years, this was someone he knew all too well, and by the self-satisfied look on his face, someone clearly oblivious to what was about to befall him. ~ ~ ~ Opposite Number 47 stood the ‘Latte Pharté’ café, the caffeinated jewel of Putney Ferret (pronounced fe'ray). It had a vivid blue and cherry frontage, housed in a well-appointed late-Victorian terrace. Mounted on its wall was a small, polished brass plaque that read “2009 Café with Best Ambience Award”. It was bestowed by ‘The Putney Ferret Café-Society Association’, a local club founded a couple of years ago and which enthusiastically ‘plaqued’ several local cafes for a variety of merits, including “Most Comfortable Sofa”, “Best Ambience for Tweeting” and “Best Cappuccino Foam Swirl”. ~ ~ ~ Geoff spied his target, sitting outside the café opposite. An individual who loved preening in public yet possessed a deep and proven aversion to public humiliation. Which was unfortunate because publicly humiliating this particular housemate was Geoff’s third favourite pastime. Putney Ferret: How selfish can you be?