Wednesday 7 May 2014

Behind closed doors


I saw this for the first time yesterday, and liked it so much that I almost bought it. I think that this instruction has - in one way or another - been given to almost every child in every country in the Western world. I know it would have applied to my provincial Surrey household.

I particularly like the knowing look on the face of Dad, juxtaposed to the manic expression of the girl. A picture is worth a thousand words, but the words might be encrypted.

33 comments:

  1. Hello Tom:

    Indeed! But what, we ask ourselves, is 'Normal'??

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    1. Judging by your Wikipedia entry, you would be the last people qualified to answer that question - no offence intended!

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    2. Actually, I've just checked, and it seems I am slandering you. The only entry I can find is this:

      Hattat Aziz Efendi (1871–1934) (خطاط عزیز افندی) was an Ottoman calligrapher

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    3. Ah, Tom, not us!! Only three t's!! WE keep a very low profile(!!!) and, as far as we know, do not appear on Wikipedia. Certainly not put there by us!!

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    4. Yes, but I know I have read something about you somewhere else - maybe you had it taken down...

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    5. Google the name and too much is revealed!! Now, running you to ground is proving very much more difficult!

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    6. I - unlike H.I. - don't even come up under my real name. Nice work, eh?

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  2. I don't recall ever being instructed thus.

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    1. There are some lies you just cannot get away with, no matter how big.

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    2. Not bad, thanks. Why do you ask?

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    3. Your comments have an edge to them that suggests this to me.

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    4. What happened to blue eyes?

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    5. I had to focus my words for a different thing yesterday, so you might have picked up on that.

      Old blue-eyes has gone. If you didn't save him, then it's too late.

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    6. Hope it went satisfactorily whatever.
      I don't save blog stuff.

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  3. Dad looks exhausted - being 'normal' is so tiring. Interesting thing: to me the text looks like a warning.

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    1. Not as exhausted as the rest of the family.

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  4. Bizarre. I think they look anything but normal.

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  5. Brilliant. I'd like a copy.....er........for a friend......where did you find it?

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    1. In a retro shop in Bath, but why don't you just rip it off from here, like I did?

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  6. Perhaps everyone thinks their family is normal - it certainly is for them.

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    1. Anyone who grows up thinking their family is normal hasn't got a chance.

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  7. Mum and Dad look like they drink Horlicks. Mum uses Colgate. Dad smokes St. Bruno. The twins, they just have to be twins, are just oh my god completely insane.

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    1. My mum and dad looked the same when they were twenty five....but they drank gin

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    2. Dad drinks, Mum takes amphetamines, Boy ties a rope round his neck and wanks, and Girl will eventually kill Dad for years of abuse.

      Simples.

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    3. H.I. loved her egg too - thanks again.

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  8. And the children grow up to realize there is not such thing as a normal family. Some laugh about it, some don't.

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  9. Never met a normal family, I always say normal is odd.
    Merle..................

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    Replies
    1. Very true - normal people can be spotted a mile off by wary children.

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