Living in Interesting Times

Looks can, as we all know, be deceptive. Seemingly harmless things can turn out to be quite lethal, while the big, armed man in armour can turn out to be Constable Haddock (definitely human).

Thus, I stopped dead in my track a few days ago when, turning into the men’s lord’s room outside the Dysk, I saw this:


Now, we all know and, well, not so much love as ignore these, which call out to the world that (often contrary to empirical data) the floor is, in fact, wet.

But, bearing in mind what we all know about the eyes[1] not seeing what’s actually there, I urge you to take another good look at this one.

I think you can see why this made me hesitate. “Hazardous” is an adjective I would usually apply to things like narrow paths on sheer mountainsides or maybe the Shades, and not a slightly moist floor that may or may not have been wet at some point.

However, after a close scrutiny of the flat thing with taps for handwashing, the floor, the roof and the ...objects mounted on the other wall what I am not going to name... I went in, only slightly jittery, and after a while, left. And, no matter what the hazard was, I’ve lived to tell this tale.


[1] Well, actually, it’s the mind doing the job. But, being the one making the meaning of things, the mind blames the eyes. That’s because it means. Sorry, it’s mean. I mean.

Elias