Foolish self-bet
I never really needed much persuasion to do something stupid. I'm more sensible these days, but as a lad, I would pad out the days by setting myself little challenges. Such as the day I crammed a slice of bread into my mouth in one go.

'Hmm', I think, 'I bet I can get another one in there'. And putting my dough where my mouth was, I fitted deed to thought.

It turned out to be quite difficult to chew two pieces of bread at once. In fact, it was rather difficult to breathe as well. I started to show a certain amount of surprise and concern about the issue, while my friends looked on in interest. 'He's turning purple', one said. 'Should we do something about it?'

And then with one almighty chew and a bit of back-of-the-throat action (my years of training eating spaghetti without using my teeth came in handy here), a small bolus broke off and made its way into my throat, fortunately down the correct pipe. That gave me the purchase I needed, and within a little while the whole brace of mother's pride was gone and I was victorious.

Everyone shrugged and went back to their food. There wasn't a lot to be said.
( flatfrog Staring vacantly into space, Fri 8 May 2009, 11:35, Reply)