Some of the weirdness of the world!

Of all the problems you could imagine the police facing, the oddest must be an invasion of fleas. Yes, fleas! Apparently a police station in north-east Paris had to evacuated on Sunday for just that reason. It began about three weeks ago and has continued until working conditions became intolerable and several policemen were bitten. Not only that, but some of them inadvertently took fleas home with them, causing havoc on the domestic front too. The police station has been closed for proper fumigation.

I am waiting for someone to spin this as a left-wing threat against the establishment, a weird new kind of terrorism or the revelation that someone was taking revenge for something that happened long ago. It is of course possible that I watch and read too many detective stories and police dramas and my view of such things has become skewed.

Or maybe I am just out of touch with the modern world.

In a bit of fashion reporting in yesterday’s paper I was brought up to date with the latest trends in weddings. The item featured lots of trouser outfits for brides. This has become a “thing” lately. Some of the outfits were quite elaborate so I wonder if they will moulder in the back of a wardrobe, as many frothy, meringue-style dresses do, never to be worn again. After all, white trousers are not very practical.

Another “thing” is the bride having more than one outfit for the wedding day. This is not the old idea of a wedding dress and a “going away on your honeymoon” outfit. No, this is a dress, or now also possibly trousers, for the actual ceremony, something different for the wedding breakfast (even if the wedding breakfast is really a late lunch!) and yet another outfit for dancing at the “evening do”.

Then it seems there are more and more weddings that last several days. I can understand a register office ceremony followed by a religious ceremony or blessing in a place which does not have a license to perform registered weddings. But the item I read suggested that some people just have an extended wedding celebration anyway. Considering how expensive a one-day wedding can be, some people must have more money than sense.

Things have changed a lot since we went to the register office with a bunch of friends!

Here is another tale of extravagance:- I read that when Donald Trump became POTUS he asked the Guggenheim to lend him a Van Gogh to put in his presidential quarters in the White House. I believe that presidents choosing works of art to decorate their White House home is a long-standing tradition. However, the Guggenheim refused to lend him a Van Gogh and offered him a solid 18-carat gold toilet, a work by Maurizio Cattelan instead. I have no idea which work of art Mr Trump finally accepted but he must have refused the toilet (maybe he already had a gold loo in Trump Tower) as it is now going to be displayed at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire.

It will be plumbed in and will be a working toilet. Is this real life or art? I wonder! Visitors will be able to use the toilet and enjoy the questionable thrill of sitting on a golden throne to do their number one or number two. Quite why you would want to is beyond me!

Reports say there will be enhanced security - is there a fear that someone might un-plumb it and walk off with it? - but it remains unclear whether there will be a queuing system, booked slots or even a coin in the slot and how long visitors can spend in the luxury loo is equally vague.

Life is indeed strange!

And, finally, here is proof that the English language can also be strange: “All the faith he had had had had no effect on the outcome of his life.”

Explain that to a student of English as a foreign language!