tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13609842.post7833962823698869202..comments2023-10-30T09:26:32.732+00:00Comments on Now's the time: gulls, chasing, smileAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06972049290586377462noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13609842.post-15305988127361977682010-12-11T11:58:34.637+00:002010-12-11T11:58:34.637+00:00I was afraid that I might have given the impressio...I was afraid that I might have given the impression that the smile was hard to summon. In fact I don't think I can smile to order. In this case I was first of all disposed to smile because the post office man I spoke to was immediately sympathetic, and I was easily able when the worried looking PO manager arrived to see the funny side of the saga - the blame-passing and the confusion, some of which I didn't bother to relate, before I climbed the hill to the Post Office. I drew the lesson that it pays to be friendly when complaining and to see how ridiculous institutions and infrastructures can be.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06972049290586377462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13609842.post-83485845931700891842010-12-11T10:53:45.123+00:002010-12-11T10:53:45.123+00:00I am transfixed by trying to imagine the nature of...I am transfixed by trying to imagine the nature of that hurriedly mobilised smile. It can't have been self-evidently sincere, surely more of a rictus, a word I have a belated need to verify ("An unnatural gaping grin or grimace." OR "The size of the opening of a bird's beak or a fish's mouth."). Perhaps not a rictus, then. Not that I'm suggesting any further analysis. It worked so don't try to fix it.<br /><br />At the bottom of all this are some dimly perceived threads connected to our different approaches to the subject of embarrassment. However, let's take the butterfly off the wheel and dwell happily on what I would describe as a major victory. How often does overt planning, however impromptu, work in human relationships?Roderick Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16828395545197001637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13609842.post-74398684118304432592010-12-10T17:02:17.768+00:002010-12-10T17:02:17.768+00:00Ah, the little white lie and a smile for a woman w...Ah, the little white lie and a smile for a woman won the battle :-)marja-leenahttp://www.marja-leena-rathje.infonoreply@blogger.com