SOS Gab & Eti 1.3

“An ointment made of the juice, oil, and a little wax, is singularly good to
rub cold and benumbed members.” Nicholas Culpeper.

In line with the current topic we are reminded that a character in Ken
Kesey's book Sometimes a Great Lotion (desperate in need at this point in the
narrative) used pages torn out of the Tibetan Book of the Dead in practice of
her daily constitution. Thank God that Old George did not, as far as GWSH
will confirm, likewise find himself compressed too often to rely upon signed
paperwork laying convenient at hand. Otherwise the population of Boston would
probably still be stuck using soggy tea leaves, which, as I have heard
rumored, causes one to remain consistently flushed and stiff in demeanor and
is only moderated by a late-night flagon of Jamaican spiced-rum. Probably
just another one of those bothersome urban myths.

Plugged up or otherwise defective plumbing is not of much good to a democracy
and I would think the political scientists of academe would do well to
contemplate the historical significance of single occupancy structures. There
could be a whole new international movement, S. O. S. (Save Our Structures).

"We call a shack a shack and not a structure." Mies van der Rohe.

There are always detractors from any noble movements, and when they come down
too abundantly, all conveniences have their inconveniences.

I'd be curious to know where Marco Polo stopped off during his travels. I
would not in the least be shocked, as with so many other claims of cultural
superiority, to find that the Chinese are thousands of years ahead of the
West in development of specific composting technology. There has to be a text
on the feng shui of one-holer jakes. I can just imagine things like, "Do not
place door of mouse in dragon mouth.", or, " Better a lizard in the well than
a poot in the toot." You know, those sort of thing that seem to lose all
sense in translation but sound kool and mysterious just the same.

To be continued..... on the bus, again..... well, almost on the bus, cross
your legs and hold it.....

Copyright 1997 Ken Follett
[log in to unmask]