Take a rest, Bill

Does your bar reviewer Bill Blade (Good ol' boys and girls aplenty at D's Place, The Jakarta Post, Sunday, Feb. 17), breakfast on cliches? Not so long ago we had him writing of Jl. Jaksa as "Jakarta's very own street of shame", a description, by the way, that left most of its regular customers, the very "ne'er do well expats" such as myself to whom he referred, quite speechless for once.

Now we have him breathlessly describing "D's Place" on Jl. Falatehan as an "almost original state-of-the art honky-tonk", "like some feisty red-blooded Texas steer about to kick you in the guts". And this emporium is said to be "lurking right there". Funny, the "ne'er do wells" were said to be "lurking in Jaksa's dingy bars".

Bill should lie down and take a long rest. Writing that must have taken the wind out of him. Need a cold towel to mop his fevered forehead?

Customers "hootin' and guffawin' at the tops of their voices"? Of course that can only happen in "a real honky-tonk", eh Bill? Wouldn't happen in a rugby club or a Dublin pub, would it? Take an Alka-Seltzer or two, please.

DAVID JARDINE

Jakarta