Thought For The Day

     At Madam Professor’s art seminar there was a man tearing pages out of a book, and to Number 6 the man appeared to be doing just that. But not to Madam Professor, according to her he’s creating a fresh concept, destruction arising out of the ashes. Perhaps he just didn’t like the book, perhaps it reminded him of something unpleasant. Or perhaps he just didn’t like books in general. Then there was, according to Number 6, a woman standing on her head, but no, you see that’s an easy mistake to make. Again according to Madam Professor the woman is developing a new perspective, but why can she not simply be standing on her head, why complicate it and for what, art’s sake? And finally a man is sitting in a chair, he’s asleep, apparently the mind learns only when it wants to. But then the man might simply be tired, or had become bored. I remember becoming bored once, it was during a screening of ‘Brand,’ Patrick McGoohan was playing Brand. I do not care for Ibsen’s plays, they are too dark and damned depressing for me. Anyway there he was, McGoohan as Brand, ranting and raving about something. Eventually I fell asleep, and about half an hour later I woke up. And there he was, this Brand, still in the same place, still ranting and raving on about something and I felt as though I had missed nothing! After the screening people were saying marvellous things about it, how wonderful Patrick McGoohan’s performance was, they enthused about it, and coming out with the most profound things. But you see I didn’t get it, if truth be told I didn’t want to get it, and as far as I was concerned Patrick McGoohan was simply playing the role of another angry man, he was good at that. For me people were seeing things I couldn’t, or they were simply trying to sound clever, which is worse. I’m like Number 6, if I see a man tearing up a book that’s just what he’s doing no matter what the interpretation. A woman standing on her head is doing nothing more than that, perhaps she likes to feel the blood rushing to her head! As for the man asleep in the chair, well that was me!

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