#starters

Too often we only identify the crucial points in our lives in retrospect. At the time we are too absorbed in the fetid detail of the moment to spot where it is leading us. But not this time. I was experiencing one of my dad’s deafening moments. If my life could be understood as a meal of many courses (and let’s be honest, much of it actually was), then I had finished the starters and I was limbering up for the main event. So far, of course, I had made a stinking mess of it. I had spilled the wine. I had dropped my cutlery on the floor and sprayed the fine white linen with sauce. I had even spat out some of my food because I didn’t like the taste of it. “But it doesn’t matter because, look, here come the waiters. They are scraping away the debris with their little horn and steel blades, pulled with studied grace from the hidden pockets of their white aprons. They are laying new tablecloths, arranging new cutlery, placing before me great domed wine glasses, newly polished to a sparkle. There are more dishes to come, more flavors to try, and this time I will not spill or spit or drop or splash. I will not push the plate away from me, the food only half eaten. I am ready for everything they are preparing to serve me. Be in no doubt; it will all be fine.” (pp.115-6) ↗

— Jay Rayner

#apron #courses #crucial-points #cutlery #deafening-moments

For starters, this country embodies something utterly unique: History's first democratic empire. Beginning in the post war era, we have used free trade and democracy to create a series of interlocking relationships that end war. ↗

— Armstrong Williams

#country #create #democracy #democratic #embodies

There are better starters than me but I'm a strong finisher. ↗

— Usain Bolt

#i #me #starters #strong #than

Global trade has advantages. For starters, it allows those of us who live through winter to eat fresh produce year-round. And it provides economic benefits to farmers who grow that food. ↗

— David Suzuki

#allows #benefits #eat #economic #economic benefits

I can't think of any NBA team over the last few years that lost three starters. And we replaced them basically with three guys who really haven't played in this league. ↗

— Isaiah Thomas

#basically #few #guys #haven #i

I think it is more of an intuitive, circular kind of personality, for starters. And, as I say of horses, the secret to breeding great horses is the three B's: bones, brains, and balance. If you look at art, it shares some of the same qualities. ↗

— Alice Walton

#balance #bones #brains #breeding #circular

Well, for starters, we have to do more to create demand for new technologies that can reduce our dependence on foreign oil and environmental degradation. ↗

— Sherwood Boehlert

#degradation #demand #dependence #environmental #foreign

WIth football you can have up to 28 guys you consider starters, and if they can pick up the slack when some aren't playing so well, you don't have to turn those two game losing streaks into six-game losing streaks. ↗

— Tom Brady

#football #game #guys #into #losing