[lit-ideas] Re: Science Exam...
- From: Donal McEvoy <donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:35:43 +0100 (BST)
Thanks Andreas for this. Stephen Fry told an unrelated, surely apocryphal and
possibly very old story on his BBC show QI, which I will offer in paraphrase
form. It is perhaps quite interesting:
Herr Werner told the press conference that after due consideration Lucky
would remain on the state-approved list of guidedogs for the blind. "The fact
Lucky was possibly responsible for the deaths of each of her four owners so
far was one consideration yes, but in arriving at a final decision it had to
be borne in mind that guidedogs are nowadays very difficult to train - and
Lucky was wonderful in training, truly exceptional. Aside from occasional
attacks of asthma, she always shows a sweet and caring disposition. Also the
circumstances of each death had to be considered." When pressed for details
of those circumstances, Herr Werner said that the first fatal incident arose
when Lucky was guiding her owner across the street and Lucky suddenly stopped
for some reason but the owner continued on in front of a passing tram. In the
second Lucky was at a train platform and seems, perhaps in order to attract
their attention, to have nudged her owner in front of the 8.30 express which
does not stop but only passes through. In the third Lucky seems to have led
her owner through some very heavy and fast-moving traffic but panicked
halfway across and dashed back without the owner to the safe nearside. The
fourth, where the owner was found dead at the bottom of some stairs in a
highrise building with lifts, has still not been satisfactorily explained,
there being no witnesses." Asked whether Lucky's next owner would be informed
of this history, Herr Werner explained that not only was there a current
severe shortage of guidedogs and that there was therefore a clear demand for
Lucky's services, but it was felt that such knowledge might only make the
owner nervous. "And with a sensitive dog like Lucky, if the owner is nervous
they become nervous. And when Lucky becomes nervous, she's liable to panic."
Donal
On a slow news day
London
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