Tuesday, January 09, 2007

AS NOTED BY CAPTAIN JOY

THIS IS NOT A HOBO, but a chimney sweep, guarding tea.

STILL, it is lovely, and leads me to wonder once again

WHEN WILL CAPTAIN JOY MAKE ADMIRAL.

OF COURSE, shaking hands with a chimney sweep will not bring bring you luck. That is a myth perpetuated by Disney.

BUT NOT LONG AGO I consulted a contemporary, non-top-hatted chimney sweep who, EVEN THOUGH HE LOOKS LIKE A NORMAL, UN-COCKNEY HUMAN, told me he is constantly accosted by old women looking to touch him and thus ward off their horrible fates.

SPECIFICALLY, he said, women of Polish extraction want to pinch him as that is the custom for squeezing out good luck from a chimney sweep in that country.

I LAMENTED this unfortunate occupational hazard, and then I briefly throttled him. We all have our traditions.

That is all.

3 comments:

boostventilator said...

Allo,

How does it relate to chimley sweeps? What about those poor sods?

Cheerio,
Iain

Anonymous said...

Perhaps hoboes have just taken to living in uninhabited chimneys?
I think I read a story about that once.
Or maybe that was a corpse stuffed up a chimney...

juniper pearl said...

throttling is also a successful means of winning good luck when it is applied to a person carrying a rabbit's foot, particularly the left hind foot. somehow the lore surrounding the charm got confused over time, and this is why so many people now think the furry talisman holds no power; but they are mistaken.