A can of worms

[abu nuwas]

You know Russian? Crikey you are clever....I shall not attempt to argue with you any more, you are bound to win! (well, you may appear to win - but that's another story)

I have never much admired 'cleverness'; I gladly suffer fools, feeling more at home in their company. Anyway, the Russian is now gone where rust goes -- tho I used to read it easily, and speak quite fluently, which was helpful when, for example, my late wife's Russian granny got in a state after I had changed a light-bulb, as she had no money with which to pay the poor electrician (me), and when the sweet old lady muttered about the maid they had -an antique Irishwoman - with whom she was convinced the grandfather was having an affair. Some of the things she said were not at all pretty, and centred on the idea of calling her a prostitute -in Russian. At which the maid would say 'That's right dear' . It was like something from the Theatre of the Absurd, which I loved a good deal at the time. Now, I am the maid and the granny in male form. Oh, the lost and April days! Shit, I think this is a non-rambling thread!