Lesson 40 Food and talk
Was Mrs. Rumbold a good companion at dinner?
Last week at a dinner party, the hostess asked me to sit next to Mrs. Rumbold.
Mrs. Rumbold was a large, unsmiling lady in a tight black dress. She did not even look up
when I took my seat beside her. Her eyes were fixed on her plate and in a short time,
she was busy eating. I tried to make conversation. A new play is coming to The 'Globe'
soon, I said. Will you be seeing it? No, she answered.
Will you be spending your holidays abroad this year? I asked.
No, she answered.
Will you be staying in England? I asked. No, she answered.
In despair, I asked her whether she was enjoying her dinner.
Young man, she answered, if you ate more and talked less,
we would both enjoy our dinner!
Lesson 41 Do you call that a hat?
What kind of shopping does the writer enjoy, do you think?
Do you call that a hat? I said to my wife.
You needn't be so rude about it, my wife answered as she looked at herself in the mirror.
I sat down on one of those modern chairs with holes in it and waited.
We had been in the hat shop for half an hour and my wife was still in front of the mirror.
We mustn't buy things we don't need, I remarked suddenly.
I regretted saying it almost at once. You needn't have said that, my wife answered.
I needn't remind you of that terrible tie you bought yesterday.
I find it beautiful, I said. A man can never have too many ties.
And a woman can't have too many hats, she answered.
Ten minutes later we walked out of the shop together.
My wife was wearing a hat that looked like a lighthouse!
Lesson 42 Not very musical
What happened when the snake charmer began to play jazz?
As we had had a long walk through one of the markets of old Delhi,
we stopped at a square to have a rest. After a time, we noticed a snake charmer
with two large baskets at the other side of the square, so we went to have a look at him.
As soon as he saw us, he picked up a long pipe which was covered with coins and opened
one of the baskets. When he began to play a tune, we had our first glimpse of the snake.
It rose out of the basket and began to follow the movements of the pipe. We were very much
surprised when the snake charmer suddenly began to play jazz and modern pop songs.
The snake, however, continued to 'dance' slowly.
It obviously could not tell the difference between Indian music and jazz!