"Les Choses sont contre Nous"

The title phrase ("Things (i.e. objects) are against us") was created by Paul Jennings in his wonderful piece Resistentialism about which I wrote last March.

The Miscreant.
Picture: BBC

A friend sent me a BBC article today that rather reminded me of Jennings's brilliant work. The individual pictured above had had quite enough of his un-cooperative lawn mower and decided that the correct remedial tool was an implement like the one pictured below.

A sawn-off shotgun
Picture source: here

The police did not see the funny side of this and have charged the chap with disorderly conduct and possession of various weapons. He was not apologetic however, telling police:

"It's my lawn mower and my yard, so I can shoot it if I want."

A local retailer, Dick Wagner, of Wagner's Garden Mart in Milwaukee, came up with quite a dry comment:

"Anything not factory recommended would void the warranty."

I have to say that it is just as well that I did not have access to such deadly firepower when confronted with various recalcitrant objects, such as a brand-new video-cassette recorder and also a brand new printer, neither of which ever worked properly. In England, all I had available was a four-pound club hammer in the first case and my boots in the second! Both quite effective if not quite as dramatic.

Toujours, les choses sont contre nous!

Until the next time.