A Play on Words

When I was a young "clark" in a steamship office circa 1950 one of my duties was to peruse the cargo manifests from London & Liverpool and convert the British sterling into U.S. dollars. Their monetary system was based on twelfths before they went to decimal. It went something like this:
12 pence = 1 shilling........20 shillings = 1 pound. The key words that stand out are PENCE SHILLING. In circus parlance every carnival barker needs a shill. And I fear the poor Hoosier has made a deal with the devil and his life may never be the same again.
tjs

"Heads" of State

On this Bastille Day the French have a flair for pageantry which was displayed in the movie "The Day of the Jackal" which I have viewed three times. But I also read today that the Socialist President of France pays his hairdresser $10,000. per month which is a lot of Euros and equal to the wages of a government minister. I'm sure he throws in a few hot towels and some witch hazel and perfumery. It recalls our own experience with expensive haircuts when Bill Clinton had his tresses trimmed while Air Force One was parked on the tarmac. I only hope my barber doesn't read this and start calling his one chair establishment a "tonsorial parlor" - there goes my senior citizen rate.
tjs
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/14/world/europe/hollande-hairdresser-france.html?src=me

Quiet Time

Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg was musing about the tragedy to our nation if Donald Trump were elected. She said she might have to follow the advice of her late husband and move to New Zealand. It is very quiet down under. A friend honeymooned there and told me the most exciting thing to do on Saturday night was to go down to the town square and watch them shearing the sheep. But don't forget to mail in your absentee ballot.
tjs

Potpourri X

The postal service in Finland is offering to mow your lawn for a fee if you provide the mower. They would do this every Tuesday which is a slow mail day and would recoup lost revenues. There is no mention of snow shoveling which would think would be more of an inducement.

Time zones - In the U.S. we have four time zones and in Russia there are nine. But in China there is only one based on Beijing time. So the poor folks living 2000 miles from the capital have to start their day in the middle of the night. Can't believe Mao wrote this edict in his little "red" book.
tjs

Deja Vu Again

After an absence of many years the infamous Watergate Hotel is reopening under new owners on the banks of the Potomac River. To maintain a link to the past, room keys will instruct guests "No need to break in!" In addition the voice of former President Richard M. Nixon will soon be heard in the public bathrooms and provides the soundtrack for the hotel's phone system - which happens to get its number 617-1972 from the date of the famous break in. I think I would find an excuse to use the restroom. You can't make this stuff up.
tjs
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/09/style/watergate-hotel-is-back-and-banking-on-history-glamorous-or-scandalous.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fus&action=click&contentCollection=us&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=9&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0

Primarily Political XVI

There is a rumor that Donald Trump is seeking an exit strategy  which reminds one of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's famous quote "If nominated, I will not run - if elected, I will not serve." That's where the comparison ends. Except Trump couldn't qualify to be the general's orderly. Incidentally, Sherman's statue sits outside the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan a property Trump lost in one of his financial debacles.
tjs

A Cutting Remark

Sunday's Times did a story on one of the few smoked fish delis on the Upper East Side of Manhattan - a Chinese owned Jewish deli! A regular customer fussy about his salmon told the cutter "Not fatty enough" - a few more slices "Not yet" - after another "Better"........reminded me of the lady who asked the counterman for some lox -he cut a few slices and paused - she said "Cut -cut" - he resumed with his razor sharp knife and paused again - she again said "Cut -cut" - a few more and she said "I'll take those two". And he had a blade in his hand.
tjs
http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch/#/neighborhood%20joint