Geoff Brookes's Blog
February 25, 2021
Keeping your fingers to yourself
I have been proof-reading this week and it never goes well. My mind is far too ill-disciplined for me to be very good at it. I also, have, an, uncertain, relationship, with, commas, for, example, which, always, gets, on, my, nerves. But proof reading is something that has to be done; I must offer proper respect to anyone brave enough to read my work. So yes, I put it off for as long as I can, and like everyone I have a number of avoidance strategies. Making bread is a good one. Then there is shuffling papers and inevitably, researching strange things lost deep within the jungle of the internet. Soon I start to regret ever getting involved in this writing caper. Was it really sensible? But then, eventually, after a few sighs and a cup of tea, I, go, back, to, offering, strict, discipline, to, commas,
But I certainly wouldn’t go as far as Gabriel Davies, who in April 1846 made a decision even more unwise than my own. Gabriel, you see, joined the army whilst drunk. Not the cleverest thing to do, you might think, and naturally he soon started to regret his action. According to the Cambrian newspaper, this is what happened next...
“He cut one of the fingers of his left hand in a dreadful manner with a knife. Afterwards he tried to wrench it off with his teeth, but not succeeding as soon as he wished, he proceeded to the yard at the back of the house where he had been drinking and having obtained a hatchet laid the finger on a block of wood and chopped it off at once.”
I’ll stick to making bread, I think.
But I certainly wouldn’t go as far as Gabriel Davies, who in April 1846 made a decision even more unwise than my own. Gabriel, you see, joined the army whilst drunk. Not the cleverest thing to do, you might think, and naturally he soon started to regret his action. According to the Cambrian newspaper, this is what happened next...
“He cut one of the fingers of his left hand in a dreadful manner with a knife. Afterwards he tried to wrench it off with his teeth, but not succeeding as soon as he wished, he proceeded to the yard at the back of the house where he had been drinking and having obtained a hatchet laid the finger on a block of wood and chopped it off at once.”
I’ll stick to making bread, I think.
