Life of Riley: Splash ... gurgle

Splash ... gurgle ... gurgle

A new year is soon to be born, remain with us for 12 months and then, I'm sure, depart like all the others. But the one that is soon to leave us, this year of 1998, was it a good year as good years go, do you think?

I ask you to take a moment of the little time we have left in 1998 to consider its appearance:

1. The temper of the year was too tempestuous.

2. The events of the year were too eventful.

3. The substance of the year was too substantial.

A simple yes or no will suffice. No need to rush, there's still a few weeks left. While you are considering your responses, please excuse me: I'll just slip into the tub for a soak.

Ahh ... that's better. There's nothing like it, is there? I could spend all day like this — immersed up to my chin with a paperback for company. But since you're here, I won't be rude and bury my nose in my latest read. We have business to attend to, you and I. Oh yes we do.

Imagine, if you will, that if I were to slip under the water holding my breath for a minute or so, I could transport myself to the future — to one year hence. What of it? What sort of world would I find when I next surface? It's a thought isn't it?

Idle notions like this come upon me so often when I'm doing my ablutions. A year hence, I wonder, how much of this year we're soon to bid farewell to will be extant (don't you like that word — "extant"?) come this time next year? Will the "Asian economic crisis" be upon us? Will that One Nation outfit still be breathing down our necks? In Indonesia, will Habibie be a habit or a has-been?

So much for theory. We can't go prattling on all day. Give me your hand. We part as comrades, you and I. Commence the count down when I'm under and don't go dragging me out short of three minutes. The future awaits me. See you then. Goodbye.

Splash ... gurgle ... gurgle.

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By Dave Riley

From GLW issue 344