Wacky World

Me tricks imperial

"These words [below] must be greatly astonished to find themselves together [with the above picture], for assuredly they had not met before." - apologies to Father Bouheurs (1671);

Ionesco's Rhinocéros made a big impression on me in my teens when I was doing a group conversation course at the Alliance Française. I remember jade-eyed monsieur Leroux, who was not dark-haired like handsome Jean-Jacques (the other instructor). I remember because I made him collapse in a hopeless fit of laughter one day by saying 'Je fais flotter le métro'… so when I came across a reference to the play in The Crooked Timber last night, I had a wish to read it again.

Watch this; it's great:

Did you see the Citroën?!

There's just something about black-and-white videos. Now I want to read Les Chaises.

Could science help the real rhinoceros with the sad astonishment of being in this strange world of weird human hang-ups, and why does the metro keep getting flooded?