Friday 4 October 2013

On Teeth and the Gallows Effect.

I was rather down last night, having received some disturbing news from dear Medeea, the splendid Romanian dentist. Mr Rob told me today that everything will be all right, and the news isn’t quite as disturbing as I thought it was.

He knows about these things, you see, along with many others. All I know about are gods, monsters, and how to interpret the look in a lady’s eye. That’s a mixed blessing when you can hear the cogs at the end of the conveyor belt humming quietly on the breeze coming off the sea.

And talking of nice turns of phrase, how about this one from the Tom Conti character in the film Reuben, Reuben? (The connection is apposite, though not quite as apposite as I thought it was.)

He plays the part of a drunken, womanising poet getting through life on the skill of his wits in deepest Connecticut. When a middle aged woman undresses for him, he mutters:

Deprived of their support
They drop
Like hanged men

I would never be so insensitive, of course. But then, I would never find myself in that situation.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Jeff, I think this book by Ram Dass, a truly great man, is just what you need Still here by Ram Dass (link takes you to Amazon)

Rob.

JJ said...

OK, Mr Rob. I'll take a look.