Surreal Thought of the day

So - I'm at a Jazz night and there is a chap who plays the Washboard.

Anyone under the age of 50 may want to be excused at this point. A Washboard is a corrugated piece of metal they used to wash clothes against and scrub them with a brush years ago.

OK - In a Jazz band they washboard is played with metal thimbles - here we go again. Thimbles are things for protecting your fingers when sewing (please don't ask me to explain what sewing is!!!).

So sticking thimbles on your fingers and rubbing those up and down a galvanised and corrugated board makes a rasping sound ideal for Jazz songs. PHEW - so far so good. I wished I'd thought how hard this was going to be before I started writing it :-)

The surreal thought is this. The chap that plays this turns up tonight night with his wife. Go back 50 or 60 years when they are courting and she takes him home to meet her parents. Can you imagine what the conversation would go like?

Father: "So what do you do for a living?"
Player: "I play a Washboard"
Father: (somewhat taken aback but being British) "Will it keep my girl in the style to which she has become accustomed?"
Player: "I don't know, what instrument does she play?"
Father: "So what do you actually do playing a washboard?"
Player: "I put on a bunch of metal thimbles and strap this washboard around my neck and run my fingers up and down it to make a sound."
Father: (Looking curiously at his pipe which has begun to sag out of his mouth and taking a large swig of his Whisky) "And you make money doing this?"
Player: "Well yes, kind of"
Father: "Mother - come out here and listen to this" (Waves Pipe in the air in a beckoning way)
Mother: "Yes Dear?"
Father: "Doris's boyfriend plays HIS washboard and makes money doing so. How come you just wash the clothes and I've so far had no return on investment?"
Mother: "You are such a Banker!"


OK - OK - I have probably just proved why you shouldn't do these Heart control drugs!

Kids - don't do drugs......

:-)