“Distracted from distraction by distraction,” wrote TS Eliot about second-quarter results season. About a hundred UK and European large-cap companies chose the last Thursday in July for an interim update, plus another 100 or so in the US. The choice was probably very convenient for executives, who could achieve inbox zero before they jet off to Mustique, but is actual hell for everyone else. It’s like DDOS by RNS out there this morning........MUCH MORE
(fraud, scandal, Wirecard. but I repeat myself)
Granted it is not:
“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Four shots ripped into my groin, and I was off
on the biggest adventure of my life … But first let me tell you a little about myself....
-Max Shulman Sleep Till Noon (Doubleday, 1950)But then, what is?
Readers who have been with us for a while know that I collect first lines (and first paras, first pages, first editions etc.)
Some day I would like to be able to signal to the reader that something is askew, along the lines of:
"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."But I am not George Orwell, and it is not 1984 so it takes thousands of pixels before the reader thinks "There's something wrong here"
I've totally given up on trying to equal, much less surpass:
"I am on the train from Geneva to Zurich, bound for the annual forecasting dinner of the Swiss Chartered Financial Analyst society...."*That's Mr. Elder's confrere in the mosh pit that is Alphaville Towers, Izabella Kaminska in 2014.
Speaking of mosh pits, I can't even match:
"Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious were both punched in the face by girl fans as the Sex Pistols performed today deep in the heart of Texas."From Open Culture's "The Sex Pistols Do Dallas: A Strange Concert from the Strangest Tour in History (January 10, 1978)"
*Great First Lines: Econo-luxury Edition
Izabella Kaminska writing for the paper rather than for Alphaville.
