11 Sept 2008

Hell is....

Today everyone is selling and no-one wants to buy except the chap who wanted Frankenstein. I have three but I just don't have the right edition for him. He declared himself shocked: 'I thought you'd make an effort to have that in stock.'

Why?

Happily Tom could give me a few hours away from this, which was just as well for the customer's sake really. I spent part of the time doing my bit toward equiping Sandy for a trip up the Amazon, a plastic cup, plate, bowl and a smart set of stainless steel eating gear, though in our day it was a whittled hazel stick with which we speared sausages and stirred the beans. After that I set sail for the Captain's table, which was crowded. I had hoped to sit in solitude reading 'The Black Swan' and having Thoughts but one of those Women Who Like to Talk joined me and Talked although I did my best to ignore her, fixing a yellow and black striped 'keep out' aura around myself. I did manage to snatch a sentence or two from my book. One in particular seemed apt: 'We are social animals; hell is other people.'

Note that it is all one sentence. I think it's neat.

1 comment:

Gillian said...

So true!. I've been doing a lot of rambling lately and today about twenty turned up because the day was drier. As we walk we talk or not as we feel but today, at lunch we all sat and ate in silence staring at a fast flowing beck tumbling down the fell. Then got up and walked on quietly for three hours. BLISS . Company but no bother.
Cheers Gillian