The thoughts of Chairman Dad
I’m up on the Borders at the moment visiting my Dad. One of the things I love about him - one of the many things - is his wonderful ability to make a quick, incisive and memorable observation. I've given up trying to work out if they're aphorisms or maxims but, whatever they are, they're good and I've pinched many of them, as anybody who's worked with me can testify.
A quick run through some of my favourites:
"Every silver lining has a cloud". This one could have been said by Puddleglum, the Marshwiggle in CS Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. Like many folk, Dad doesn't like to tempt fate but he takes it further by expecting something negative to occur after a positive outcome.
"Doing good around here is like pissing yourself in a dark suit - you get a nice warm feeling but nobody else notices". Enough said!
"He fought for centre stage and then didn't know what the hell to do with it". Usually targeted at politicians (he saves a lot of his best ones for them) but occasionally used more widely. Although the saying/maxim/aphorism predates Boris Johnson by many years, Our Dear Leader has been on its receiving end more than most.
"He has delusions of adequacy". Some might say that that's two in a row for Boris but I couldn't possibly comment!
"How do you spell incompetent?" Used in relation to a former work colleague of his ("Come in ****, I’m just doing your annual report. How do you spell incompetent?"), this was an example of Chairman Dad bringing levity to a situation - but only once he was sure the recipient would take it the right way!
The pictures were taken on a very quick visit to Venice in mid February last year just days before the travel restrictions were implemented.
