We interrupt this lugubrious enterprise in favour of Fintan

Like you, dear reader,

I squirm at assertions

of personal privilege,

among those who assert

an empathy for customs

in common. Just now on

the other hand, Fintan

executed his signature

flying leap into a dir-

ector's chair which or-

dinarily accommodates

only your devoted ser-

vant, at this Louis XV

desk snaffled from the

auction of Mrs Hunting-

ton's things, eons ago.

My mother's cigarettes

embellish its descent.

But if you, as I some-

times do in Summer, re-

pair to the pantry for

a revivification of a

moderate gin and tonic,

and find your English

dog contesting your sin-

ecure in a bound which

tumbles it over into a

sarouk that shouldn't be

there, you are left with

the choice of marveling

at the élan of his geste,

or scolding an innocent

for his love.

Ah. Your verdict?