Psychoanalysis

Maria overheard Aila playing with some little wooden animals. The giraffe was the bad guy. He locked the lion, zebra and elephant in the dungeon (a Kleenex box), and then Maria heard the giraffe say, "Ok, now I'm going to pay some bills."

Maria: Do I represent the evil, bill-paying giraffe in this scenario??

A-L: No, you're totally one of their horses. The mother horse. The one that's Aila's favourite.

Maria: You mean the old grey mare? What are you trying to say?

A-L: No, no, the black beauty. The mother horse. And if it's any consolation, I think I'm the doll that sleeps by the handbags.

Fun With English

The other morning I heard Ted and Justyna having what seemed like a very serious conversation. It was 8:30 a.m., and Justyna was half asleep, so I interrupted...

A-L: Are you ok?

Ted: tennis problem

A-L: Whuh? Tennis problem?? I don't understand.

And then Ted mimed a gentle back-hand over the imaginary net in Justyna's room. Can you get tennis elbow working at the Sheraton? Did he not qualify for Wimbledon? Did he lose his sweatbands? What possible "tennis problem" could Ted have?

Ted: Ping-pong table. Problem.

Turns out he ordered a ping-pong table for his kids, Angela and Patrick, from the Polish equivalent of eBay, and they weren't going to allow Ted to pay on delivery. Tennis problem.

Checkal-Ecker

Dear Sara and Brad,

Many, many congratulations on your engagement. Will you hyphenate, Sara Checkal-Ecker? Or, will you create a new lastname, Brad Checkaler?

Happy Happy Day.

Much love from Edinburgh.