(25) A girl incorrectly says "Thirty-six"
On the morning of January 30th 1988 I went swimming at Bedford’s Robinson Pool.
On the way there I recalled a scene from an excellent 1970s TV sit-com called Going Straight
which starred Ronnie Barker as the ex-con, Fletcher.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronnie_Barker
Fletcher is in a café when he spots a young girl about to pilfer some goods. He issues a hearty "Hello luv!", which pre-empts her theft.
Then he buys her a cup of tea and asks how old she is.
Thirty-six", she replies, with obvious sarcasm.
"You look older", Fletcher snaps back.
See at 16:20 minutes in here - Going Straight - S1 E3 Going Sour (youtube.com) I had found that snippet of repartee very amusing and had several times thought about it over the preceding decade.
About one hour later I was resting at the pool’s shallow end.
To my right were two pre-teenage girls.
Suddenly the smaller of them exclaimed, "Thirty-Six??"
She had misinterpreted the figures 3’ 6", which were written at the pool side to indicate depth in feet and inches.
Comments