Monday, January 14, 2008

doctor's visit, coated fish, puffed up

When I was a child, and even when my children were children, the doctor used to visit on his rounds for relatively minor ailments. He would apply his stethoscope, listen to your chest and back, look down your throat ( say "say ah") and into your ears and scribble a prescription to be taken to the chemist. Doctors don't seem to visit you at home anymore, not at least in this parish, but computer experts do. My computer was not too well over the last couple of days, hence the absence of posts and the strange feeling of helplessness that came over me because I had as it were lost my voice. So it was a relief when the geek arrives with his silver box and mysterious vocabulary and an even greater relief now that things seem to have got back to normal.

In the supermarket, a notice indicates "Coated Fish".

A motorcycle at the entrance to the Grove is covered by some kind of plastic cloak to keep it dry. As I pass it, it comes to life inflated by gusts of wind, as though someone under the wrap is driving it, bent low of the handlebars, and swaying witht he machine as it takes imaginary bends at imaginary speess.

6 comments:

Lucy said...

Sorry to here your 'puter has not been well, glad to here it's on the mend!
I took a photo in Hongkong of a row of motorbikes in those things to protect against the sun. I titled it 'Moslem motorbikes' as it looked for all the world as though they were wearing burkahs!

Anonymous said...

Would you agree that a geek (or more especially a nerd) can be defined as someone who has skills we lack and that this is a state of affairs we resent?

Unknown said...

Ahoy, Barrett,
I have been reluctant to use the word geek and never used the word nerd. I'm not quite sure what either means. The young man who came to attend to my computer seemed to fit my approximate understanding of the first word pretty well, all the same. I certainly lack his skills, but I don't think I resent them. Most of us lack the skills of a brain surgeon but wouldn't describe one as a geek.

Anonymous said...

I'm told a geek may have wider horizons while a nerd's are limited to the monitor. I am sure you didn't intend it but both words are used pejoratively in the public prints. Why? Hence the possibility of resentment. We recognise the skills of plumbers, brain surgeons and bosuns in the Royal Navy yet don't feel the need to apply belittling nicknames. Is youth an unacceptable repository of skill?

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Thanks Barrett,
I shall be careful in future wishing to give no offence to those who know than me.