Oh Harry, isn't it Horrible....?

when you're 'ot and in a 'urry and 'ave to 'old etc etc

There is a rumour circulating that a teenager - unrelated by blood and thus unforced by a parent- is reading my blog.

This teenager, lets call him Harry for convenience, is possibly going to study foreign languages at Cambridge University and so there is a (very) outside chance that my blog will be seen by others in those hallowed halls.

I had better smarten up my spellinge then.

I bumped into Harry last week while he was doing some volunteer work with the Resto du Coeur organisation here in France, partly to help improve his spoken French.

I asked him how it was going, in English, and he said – “yeah”; like most teenagers I know he has simplified communication to grunts and groans.

It turned out that during the evening soup shift, whilst serving, he had got into a discussion with a local (therefore French) and conversation had drifted to war.

According to his interlocutor, I hope that’s the right word used in Cambridge, the First World War had been “physical”, the Second World War had been “emotional” and the Third World War will be “de l’esprit”.

A pretty interesting idea to share over a bowl of soup, don’t you think?

Now I’m not sure how to translate this to get the right feeling, “of the mind” seems too literal but weak, "intellectual" has a nice “al” ending or we could try “spirit”.

But more importantly i'm not sure what it all meant. Physical, i can understand - barbed wire, blood and mud, Emotional? - anti fascism perhaps? But intellectual/mind or spirit?

I looked at Harry -"yeah and?" - i too can speak teen.

Harry explained -"yeah!".

Ok, that's cleared that up.


(might be continued, might not.)


P.S. ONLY TWO MORE DAYS TO WIN THE BIG PRIZE IN The Bitsnbobs Quiz of the Year.