Word of the week - bricole

Defined as a stroke off a wall or cushion (in squash or billiards)I like two things, correction three things about this word. Firstly I think it sounds delicious. Secondly I like the fact that it seems to lend itself to use in other circumstances, "he negotiated himself out of difficulty deploying the splendid bricole of arranging for one of his friends to call his boss at precisely the right moment pretending to be......." kind of thing. Not that I have ever yet had cause to use it in any circumstance, except for talking about it for its own sake.

Lastly, it reminds me of the time I spent in the town of Pau in the South West of France. For some reason I joined a local boxing club and would turn up every week to an old place that reminded me very much of my old prep school gym but with every aspcet of that room augmented significantly; more smell of stale sweat, equipment which was even more delapidated, wooden floors even more dusty and worn out and with the sence of occasion enhanced by the addition of blood stains on the floor, these were not present in my old school gym. This establishment was headed by someone who I would describe as resembling the captain of the Vogon Destructor Ship (from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy). I suspect that a babel fish would have been of no help in trying to communicate with this man, I never understood a single thing he said. What I did like about him was the respect he was held in by the other part time pugilists. Every week after training, we would all (7 or 8 of us) decamp into the sauna which was the size of a large wardrobe. For the first several weeks I sat there and no one said a word to me. When someone finally did ask where I was from there was a lot of apologising; they had thought I was English (not Scottish) and everyone was my best friend after that.

Next door to the gym there was what I would call a Pelote Court although I am sure that, strictly speaking, it might have been called something else, especially now I have looked at "this". It was basically a carpark sized bit of land with a huge wall. In there I would occasionally see exponents with long banana-shaped bats hurling a ball at a phonomenal and frightening speed in great arcing bricoles.

Lilja 4-Ever ****

So you thought you had problems.......

Made in 2002 by the Swedish Director/Writer Lukas Moodysson who also made Together , which I enjoyed as well as something called Fucking Amal, which I have not seen. I saw an interview with him and he was big on responsibility. Music plays a major role in this film. According to imdb, he rates the most significant influence in his life as the Cure. I am now of a mind to make such a list of my own.

This is somehow both repugnant and very moving. If you want to know how lucky you are, watch this film.

"So, this one will be yours....

..., it has certain limitations which you will discover in due course, but it yours to develop and use throughout the experience. Abuse of it may result in the failure of a part which may not be replaceable. If a major element fails, the liklihood is that you will end up back here. Sign here and here, we take the full amount up front, there are no refunds".

"Any tips?"

"Remember that the object of the exercise is to enjoy yourself. Our other customers tell us that contributing in some way or other to the experience of others can be an effective way to do this. Abuse of the mechanism through over use of drugs such as adrenalin (which you can read about in the handbook) for example, typically foreshortens the experience".