Tragicomix with a T

Did you ever have one of those weeks of unutterable ghastliness during which people do such incomprehensible things that you have to wonder if you or they are suffering from behavioural issues because one of you is surely nuts? Of course you have; welcome to my world. This has been one of those weeks, culminating in the craziness of this very day. Every single thing that I was afraid would happen did. What are the odds of that? After dealing with the fifth bit of insanity before I’d even had a chance to have breakfast, I literally thought my head might explode from sheer stress. And on and on it went. I actually began to harangue God, asking what kind of crazy universe this is that we live in. Close, close, close….to, to, to, to the edge, as the song goes. Then I popped out to the supermarket for a few minutes just to clear my head and tragedy slipped into comedy. As I came out, the heavens opened and poured what felt like 600 gallons of water on my head, presumably from my own personal thundercloud. That was the point at which I realised I was wearing the one pair of shoes I never, ever wear in the rain as the soles are apparently made of tracing paper. Squelching my way home, soaked to the skin, I actually had to burst out laughing. I mean, what no lightning strike, no attack by panthers or a plague of bloodsucking mites? It was so ludicrously over the top, by the time I got home I was practically skipping. And I thought to myself, ‘The devil always overplays his hand.’ If the day had ended with two ‘miseries’ less, I would have been upset for 2 weeks. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that the rain stopped as I put my key in the door.

In that spirit of cheerfulness, please feast your eyes on the pictures of pure loveliness attached to this post. As for Tragicomix with a T, that’s from Asterix  the Legionary. For reasons too obscure to explain, Asterix and Obelix go in search of Tragicomix who has been forcibly conscripted into the Roman army. Every time they asked a Roman official if he knew where Tragicomix was, the official would start looking down the list saying,’ Tragicomix, Tragicomix… is that with a ‘T’ as in “timeo danaos et dona ferentes?” That line never fails to make me laugh. I’m not sure about Greeks bearing gifts, but in God we trust…all others pay cash. Have a fabulous day.

(photos:Anna Torfs; The Beaumont, London; Junko Mori; DVF 2015; Doshi-Levien)