To prevent Geary from the merest hint of monism, let me express solidarity. I
have never heard anyone say, "For once in a way," never seen it written
elsewhere, never imagined a character saying such a thing. No doubt P. G.
Wodehouse's failure to learn to drive is important here. He imagines ways as a
pedestrian or a driven man might, not as a continuum that requires
concentration but rather as a stretch of Macadam with "onces" in.
"Oh look," says the passenger, "there's a once."
"Not now," says the driver, "I'm minding the bicyclist, who's in the way."
Life was a lot simpler when, as the brass plaque on the end of a bridge in
Perth reminds us, drivers were required to have a man carrying a flag walk in
front before they could cross over. There were no piddling signs and
simulacra; there was a proper man with a flag to show the way.
David Ritchie,
Portland,
West End of the Road
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