As a blatant hypocrite, one who deplores Jeff Bezos and all his works while making frequent use of Amazon, I was cheered to see that the people of Venice are not taking the forthcoming nuptials of Mr Amazon and his somewhat Amazonian bride lying down – and who can blame them? While no one could seriously claim that Venetians are great enemies of vulgar display, this occasion, which apparently involves hiring the whole island of San Giorgio Maggiore for three days (what will the resident monks make of it?), booking out all the most expensive hotels and boats and closing off parts of the city, is too much even for them. Surely the Venetian Resort at Las Vegas would have sufficed for Mr B, wouldn't it? Or perhaps he's a keen student of Palladio's architecture, who knows?
I wonder if any goodie bags from the festivities will turn up on Amazon...
Like the old anecdote, as usual often attributed to Churchill: what Venice has become has already been establiched, now they are simply haggling about the price.
ReplyDeleteThat's good – hadn't heard it before.
DeleteSo brilliant and agile was Winnie's mind that this clever anecdote usually sits at his door, but it is much earlier from an unknown source, and imagines a proposed 'transaction' between a man and a woman, where he asks whether she would 'sleep with him' for £5 million. She cautiously responds that she would. He then, cleverly, he asks her whether she would sleep with him for £5, to which she responds with something like "what kind of woman do you take me for?". The 'coup de grace' arrives, as Anon points out above, with the final thrust that the sort of woman she is had already been established - all that remained was to agree on a price. Churchill had an eye for the ladies, no doubt, but I cannot imagine him uttering such a misogynistic tale whilst searching for a cheap laugh at the expense of a woman.
ReplyDeleteGreat – thanks, Michael. And I'm sure you're right about Churchill.
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