h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

There is something odd about the English upper classes. Maybe it's just the result of old fashioned privilege colliding with a more egalitarian age.

I knew a man at work, in the British civil service, who illustrated this oddness. I'll call him Cecil. He was a Clerical Officer, which was about the lowest grade, and I was his boss. This was uncomfortable, because of his attitude. He was fond of saying that he was of aristocratic family and knew Princess Margaret. He boasted that he had worked in the City, where he had a company car.

Obviously, something bad had happened. I think he had fallen out with his family, and he'd had cancer. Somehow, he'd ended up living in a Housing Association flat (subsidised flats for low-waged people) where his next door neighbour was a schizophrenic man who used to bang on the wall.

Cecil had an ambition to act. However, he didn't do the sensible things like auditioning for crowd scenes, or joining an amateur dramatic group. He knew someone who was putting on a West End play and managed to get a role. I have no idea if he was any good.

You and Dmitri seem to consider such people to be unusual. Dmitri asks "Do you know anyone like that?" My dear boy, I don't know anyone who isn't like that.

We all have different experiences, Chris - that's why I love reading about them. If you know people like *that*, you would probably find my grandparents pretty unusual types: A87911904

Thanks for that story, MVP. Cecil sounds like another one of whatever-that-is.

My father-in-law suffered dementia for the last few years of his life which meant that the 'Hunt the Dentures' game featured heavily in our lives. Now, of course, not only do I always know where my towel is, I also always know where my teeth are...

With me, it's glasses. I wore them from morn to night from the time I was eight years old. If I could see what was in front of me, it meant they were on my nose.

Then I got cataracts. Now I have implants. And reading glasses, which I constantly misplace.