Anger management

Angry Cockney in the flat below is being angry again. This is what he does best, and how he earned his (fabulously witty) nickname.

I think he is a taxi driver by trade, which explains a) the fact that he watches TV at top volume at four in the morning and b) the black cab I often see him driving.

He seems to be angry all the time. Once I heard him having a full-blown row about batteries for the remote. Most of the time it's a hectoring tone though... "And anyway, I said to him that he couldn't go on doing that and he ONLY did. I was going all up and down looking for it and IT'S RIDICULOUS." I'm putting in my own words, because all I can hear is the muffled rise and fall of his very angry voice, unless I have my windows open.

I wonder if he genuinely does get high blood pressure at things like running out of toothpaste or finding out he's got odd socks on. It must be a very stressful lifestyle. It really sounds like my own personal (slightly muffled) episode of Eastenders.

On which note, I will regale you with my favourite Islington anecdote. Now, Islington is a real mixture of very posh and very rough. Wandering through the market one winter's day, I heard one woman (who would probably fall into the latter category), talking to her friend, who demographically I think would also be in this section. I believe the exact phrase was:

"And I told her, I did. I said if she facking did that a-facking-gain, I'd kick her in the facking cunt."

It made me giggle for at least ten minutes.