Club Tropicana

Excerpt from 'Death is the Ultimate Orgasm' by Robin Wheeler, released worldwide on 31 October 2018:

I am at the burger joint. The waitress has just taken my order for a beer and backed up my interest in the food special advertised on the table display. 

"This," she said passionately as she placed her hand on the promotion stand, "is amazing!"

"I got that sense from reading about it," I replied, buying some time to behold her. 

"I'll bring you the menu to look at,” she smiled appetisingly, “but this..." 

A beer and that, I thought. Two beers.

I am feeling the lift that comes from an uplifting environment. It reminds me of Thailand. That's why we go there, and why I come here on a Thursday afternoon. Gentle buoyancy. Quiet happy hour, sweet scents from hookahs, and well-chosen classic rock music. Cold beer, flashing car windows in the setting sun, raucous bikes, and show-off modified cars roaring past more than occasionally.

That's Bedfordview for you, where I grew up and still live. The high school is over the road where thirty one graduation classes have passed through since I did. Fuck me! 

Let's get back to the cheerfulness, and back to 1983, when I was into music in a big way and at the beginning of my sexual prime.

Wham! released “Club Tropicana”, their forth single from their first album Fantastic, and the video featured George and Andrew in Ibiza playing the role of air stewards who have a great time on the island despite missing a chance with two hostesses played by the backing singers Shirley and Dee. The visual and sonic imagery of that song has surely stayed with me and informed some of my passions in the ensuing thirty five years. Beach life, sunset swims, warm water, and women. 

Exotic pleasures appeal to me. I am happy in the sunshine. It feels free and makes me happy.

 'Death is the Ultimate Orgasm' by Robin Wheeler is on Amazon.com from 31 October 2018