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Silly Chap

Saturday, January 24, 2004

 

I promised you “funny”. This just about qualifies, I think.

A rainy night in Northampton: my son is out celebrating the birthday of his friend. His friend is very drunk; drunk enough to push his luck with the policemen they encounter stalking the sodden, town-centre street, bent, stiff, from the waist, scanning the gum-spackled block-paving for some object seemingly lost.

Clownish in his intoxication, the drunk friend mimics the posture of the cops, aids their search for a while before enquiring with a bleary smile: “So what have you lost?”. Many of the local force would have Tasered the lad in a trice for his cheek, but on this occasion the response was deadpan: “We’re looking for an ear.”

A few minutes earlier, it transpires, a witness observed another inebriate approach a group of hopeful travellers waiting in line at a taxi rank. “What are you fucking coons all waiting for?” the silly chap enquired.