You know, I've often wondered why people laugh at the picture of a big belly businessman slipping on a banana skin and falling on his bottom. We are to feel sorry for him.
The British are supposed to be famous for laughing at themselves, but even their sense of humour has a limit, as the British retailer Gerald Ratner found out to his cost.
It allows us to have perspective on our lives — the ability to not take ourselves too seriously, to laugh at ourselves, to see the bigger picture, and to see that things will work out.
And our ability to laugh at ourselves is one of our great national characteristics, just as well, you may say so, given some of the vicissitudes I have faced with frustratingly failing fountain pens this year.
No, he's been left out of all the fun, so I'd like him to be crying — that'll contrast nicely with the next picture, where he's laughing at the clowns in the carnival.