improvised theatre

October 14, 2004

Delayed revenge obstructed by difficult rhyme

On my way into Cambridge today I got stuck at some traffic lights behind two middle-aged female cyclists engrossed in conversation. When the lights changed they continued talking, oblivious to the fact that they were causing an obstruction to all the other two-wheeled roadusers, viz. me.

I was reminded of an incident that took place when I was still at primary school; standing in the early morning line of children entering the school after the bell had gone, I was so deep in conversation with my best friend (we were probably talking about Daleks) that one of the parents felt it was necessary to tap me on the shoulder and say "less talking, more walking!" I remember being quite indignant at the time - she wasn't my parent, after all, she was clearly just taking advantage of her superior age to tell me off.

How nice, then, to be in a situation this morning where I could now turn the very same comment around and deliver it to two women of similarly advanced years!

Except that they were on bikes, so "less talking, more walking" would have been inappropriate, and I was still trying to think of a word for "talking" that rhymed with "cycling" when they noticed the lights had changed and moved off.

Posted by James Lark at October 14, 2004 09:51 AM
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