Thursday, June 01, 2006

just in case, cheers, elder

Outside London Bridge, a roof is protected from burglars and graffiti writers by some rolls of barbed wire. A sign just behind it reads: Warning Barbed Wire.

Some people signing off on the phone say "cheers, bye." I realize that when I used the phone a lot, I picked up the habit, and used to wonder why. Cheers, alone was enough wasn't it, I used to think. But now I'm not so sure. Cheers, anyway.

Like flying saucers elder flowers hover over headgerows, and over solitary elder trees. Time for elder-flower cordial. I remember meeting an old admiral once, who used to make it and used it to flavour gin.

2 comments:

Lucas said...

I share your fascination with and usage of "Cheers" and, now, "bye" but what about "Yes...No" used to reiterate or share a sentiment? A kind of double positive!

Clare said...

I used to work under a news editor whose 'Cheersmatebye' sign off was used as office jargon for 'I'm not interested in excuses, just get on with producing copy.'