RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31162, 12 September 1966, Page 24

RANDOM REMINDER

CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE

Man’s inhumanity to man continues unabated, even in a suburban street when neighbour meets neighbour. And even this explanation of a curious set of circumstances will no doubt be viewed with quiet misgiving by one of the parties, concerned. The central character in this sad story is a splendid and resolute fellow —so splendid and resolute that he allowed his wife to earn a driving licence and even permitted her to take the car sometimes, while he used the bus to get to and from work. One winter evening, he left his office as dusk was falling, and found his way to his bus stop without faltering, or failing to negotiate the many snares and pitfalls on the way, such as hotel bars. So it was a virtuous creature who swung up the drive some time soon after 5 p.m. His wife had bad news for him, however. She had had the car out.

she said, but it was making a dreadful knocking, bumping noise at the rear and she could not quite get it home. She had left it, she said, by a lamppost just a few yards away. Diffie, he thought, or big end, or something equally technical. He went to the lamp-post which, it must be stated, had not provided any illumination for some months. The failure of the light had been a blessing to the man and his wife, because when it was going, it shone into their bedroom. window, and they preferred it extinct When he reached the car, he discovered it was simply a matter of a flat back tyre. He got to work, jacked up the car, and removed the wheel, which he flung against the lamp-post. This minor impact had a remarkable result. The lamp above came on. It helped him finish the work of replacing the wheel and putting the tools and the flat tyre into the boot

It then occurred to him that if he had been ab'e to turn on the street lamp simply by tossing a wheel against it. a little personal pressure should be able to turn it off again, and that was the way he wanted it. So he flung his arms about the post and began to heave into it. like a footballer attacking a scrum machine. That's what he was doing when his neighbour found him. And no amount of breathless explanation could convince the goodhearted neighbour that our man should not be taken by the arm, and escorted gently home, while being provided with soothing words. The time, of course, was just after 6 p.m. No, the neighbour won't believe it, if he reads this. There is one other conclusion which it seems reasonable to draw. If the neighbour made a mistake, he probably based his false premise on past performance.