... but it's taken me some time to get over everything and get back from an even keel! I don't talk about it much, but I DO have M.E. and doing something like a tour means I have to lie quite low for some time afterwards before normal service is resumed. In this instance I'm quite grateful Troll toddled back off to the Algerian Autistic Man Camp pretty soon after I got back, because he, unlike Mini, is not content if there is too much slinging together of varying forms of pasta... Mini would happily eat pasta for breakfast if I let him, so suffice it to say he's been a happy bunny for the last two weeks!
Anyway, enough excuses...
The tour. As you may have gathered this was a great success both artistically and socially. We had a hat-trick of standing ovations, got onto French TV and had a rave write up in the press, so everybody is happy. We also had an absolutely fab time reverting to teenager-dom when we weren't being terribly serious artistes; everybody said they didn't want the tour to end and real life to begin again so we must be doing something right. Enough cremant was imbibed and snails eaten to maintain our honour and nobody was arrested... not quite anyway...
One thing which struck me in particular was the way in which group mentality can be a positive force. Without mentioning names there was one of our number who, let us say, does lack a few social graces (mostly I suspect, because his daft wife hasn't walloped some notion of respect and manners into him over the years, but that's mere speculation on my part) and initially this was a bit of an issue. However, by the end of the week, he'd almost grasped the notion that saying 'please' and 'thank you', even to people he considered friends, was actually a good idea. Let's hope his progress continues - but this is not the main point I'm trying to make. Rather, it is that if any change in his attitude has been achieved it's been done through good humour, a bit of gentle (and not-so-gentle it has to be said!) ribbing, and, most importantly, everybody else setting a good example. In short, amongst ourselves it was the culture to be polite and so it became harder NOT to follow suit. I don't expect the guy to change overnight, but I am hopeful he'll get the idea that if he wants to be treated with respect he has to show some to the rest of us too. Watch this space!
Now, here's a thought... what if the Dodecantus ethos could be extended to the world at large? WHAT IF - perish the thought - people by and large WERE actually polite to each other and showed some respect and love for those around them? Would we actually see the rude, self-centred, crew shaping up as they realised it made sense to play nicely? Or would they just make little ill-mannered ghettos for themselves and their like-minded pals and stay there?? There's a thought to ponder whilst I go and make some more pasta....
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