Have you ever undergone the exquisite torture of desperately needing to laugh at a very inappropriate time?
Happened to me at a meeting at a sister company. I excused myself, found the toilets and - blessed relief - bellowed with laughter. Someone walked out of one of the stalls. I tried to greet him but all I could manage was 'hahaha'. He looked frightened. He also didn't wash his hands.
I had a similar experience listening to the political woes of a friend from Kakistan. It was over a glass of President's Punch at the Saxonworld Shebeen. (Well within curfew and boozing hours, of course).
His president reshuffled his lame-duck cabinet. The problem was that the shuffle resembled a before - and - after Taliban photo album. The new speaker had not only duffed up her previous portfolio but now had allegations hanging around her neck to rival the Ancient Mariner's albatross. Adding insult to injury, he said, was her speech about the joys of democracy. He quoted my own favourite Auden verses:
Exiled Thucydides knew
All a speech can say about democracy
And what dictators do
The elderly rubbish they talk
He paused angrily.
"What are you laughing at? It's not funny at all."
"Actually it's a cross between Catch 22 and Nineteen Eighty -Four". I replied. "Darkly hilarious."
Getting up off the floor: "It's a miracle that you still have something vaguely resembling a country."
"Barely", he muttered. Then sombrely: "Well you may laugh. You'll never have to go through that."
"No", I replied. "In our country, we're not that stup.., I mean, crazy."
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