RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34047, 10 January 1976, Page 16

RANDOM REMINDER

DOUBLE BILL

There is room for rebuke in finding amusement in the misfortunes of others: but it does not matter so much if the victims of evil chance themselves find the whole thing uproarious. They are senior citizens, but only by a bit. And he is a keen bowler with one of the suburban clubs. A week or two ago he was playing a match and delivered a bowl which promised much, in the context of the match., The drama heightened as the bowl neared the head.: and the player, holding his breath, took a step! backwards. while still j

I gazing intently to the fore. He trod on another bowl, fell over and broke ;an ankle. That ended his bowls for a while. He was laid up at home, leg trussed. And he was resting the injured member on a chair on New Year’s Eve, while his wife " prepared one of his favourite foods — deep-fried potato chips. There was a telephone call while she was thus engaged; it was their (daughter, in Auckland, to wish them a happy new year. Naturally, the lady fell deep in conversation with her daughter. The small talk ended!

when the pan on the stove burst into a violent sheet of flame. It was action stations, of course. The injured bowling warrior, gammy leg and all, gobbled at high speed, looking like a Chelsea pensioner at the annual sports, to save the situation. He decided the best course was to seize a mat and smother the flames with it. In this enterprise he succeeded admirably. But when he whipped the rug up, he overlooked the fact that his wife was, at the time, standing on it. 'Over she went. The result? A broken ankle.