Sometimes I see, going down our road, a guy on a bicycle. He is cycling serenely almost in the gutter, happily oblivious to everyone around him – and on the wrong side of the road. This is no ipod-plugged hoodie, it’s a middle-aged Asian man. And it set me wondering: presumably he is aware that even cyclists are supposed to ride on the left; but perhaps he thinks he’s so small and insignificant that it doesn’t matter. And sometimes I feel that’s how our life is: going slowly the wrong way down the road and about to be hit at any moment by a perfectly legitimate bus full of self-righteous shoppers who are going the Right Way. It reminds me of that story about a school sports’ day where one child is running the wrong way and his mother turns to the other mothers and says: ‘Look! My son’s the only one going the right way!’
O delicate Ariel!
Now: here’s a quiz for you. Is the above:
a) an ad for washing powder
b) a quote from ‘The Tempest’, or
c) my comment on hearing that the ariel on Mark’s radio had snapped.
The answer is of course c): radio ariels are the bane of our lives and we have a collection of perfectly good radios – wind-up, solar-powered, wind-and-wave-powered – which are in the peak of condition, except that their ariels have snapped. Ariels are a pain because although you can cobble them together for a while if they snap in the middle, if they break off at the base you’ve got no chance. Even super-glue won’t cut it. The current radio, bought at Xmas, is practically bomb-proof: protected by an outer coating of rubber, if dropped from an upstairs window it would bounce; and yet the ariel is as fragile as a communion wafer. Mm – interesting comparison, that, since both put you in touch with the ether.
Cloudy with a chance of veggie sausages
Today we are going to a barbecue. Let’s hope the rain holds off.
Kirk out
Sarada Gray 