If there was one thing Richard really hated, it was people who stated the obvious: the kind of people who came up to him and said things that he was incapable of failing to notice for himself, such as, for example, ‘It’s raining,’ or ‘The bottom just dropped out of your shopping bag and your food just fell into that puddle,’ or even, ‘Ooh. I bet that hurts.’ ‘You’re up, then,’ said Richard, and hated himself.
