Never mind, just give us five cubits

It is heartwarming to discover, sometimes, that the deaf are not the only people who sometimes seem to be wandering around in a world all our own, having an entirely different conversation than the one the person we're talking to is having.

Husband's latest project involves a guitar amp, a speaker, a soldering iron, marr connectors and 18/2 gauge electrical wire, among other things. In order to get that wire, last Saturday we did what all Good Canadians do on Saturday and went to Canadian Tire.

Having located a big old roll of the proper wire, we caught the attention of a department attendant.

Attendant: "Hi. Can I help you?"

Husband: "Yes. I'd like 8 feet of this wire."

Attendant: "We don't sell it in feet. We sell it in metres."

Husband: "Oh. Okay. I'll take three metres of it then."

The attendant pulls a great yank of wire off the roll and lays it out straight on the floor at Husband's feet.

Husband: "What are you doing?"

Attendant: "I'm measuring it. The tiles are a foot wide." He counts off eight tiles.

Husband looks at him uncomprehendingly.

Attendant: "We don't have a yardstick."

"It was like a Monty Python skit," Husband said later. "I kept expecting Graham Chapman to turn up in a WWI uniform and interrupt it."

ronnie