Thursday, 17 August 2017

Lost property and carrots -落とし物と人参-


C-class narcotics;
Anti-biotics;
[I’ve got] holes in my pockets.
I lost it all.
All that I’d like is to know,
Just where do those lost things go,
hen they slip from my hand?”
From the Divine Comedy song, “Lost property”

There was an odd story from Canada this week involving a carrot and a diamond wedding ring.
11 years ago a Canadian woman lost her diamond ring while working on her farm.  Of course she searched for the valuable ring but couldn’t find it.  Then this week her daughter pulled up some carrots.  What did she find but one carrot which had grown right through the middle of the diamond ring.  This caused it to be brought to the surface and found after all those years in the ground.
It sounds like a fairy story, doesn’t it?  Perhaps the lady should have rubbed the ring and made three wishes.  Or kissed the carrot and watched as it turned into a handsome prince.  Maybe if the carrot accepted her wedding ring on its “finger”, the woman should now be considered legally married to the vegetable.
I think she just cleaned the ring and ate the carrot.
But I love the idea of a treasured possession somehow, magically, coming back.  In the song “Lost property”, the singer lists a great many things he has lost over the course of his life, from a tennis racket to a sheepskin jacket.  Then one day in a dream he finds everything he has ever lost gathered together into a huge pile, and he cries tears of joy.
What a lovely thought.  I’m going to eat more carrots in future.

Vocabulary:
C-class narcotics – In Britain, illegal drugs are divided into different classes.  C-class narcotics are considered less dangerous than A-class or B-class ones, but are still illegal
anti-biotics – drugs taken to kill harmful bacteria
to slip from one’s hand – to fall out of one’s hand; to be lost
odd - strange
a fairy story – a traditional children’s story involving magic
a possession – something owned; something which belongs to someone

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