It's Great - But What Is It For?
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
So, what do the penguins that take up 90% of your mind do? Do they have to do anything? (Have you ever tried making a penguin do something it doesn’t want to...?).
I’m not at all convinced that the penguins line up neatly stacked in their packing cases and quietly chat or play scrabble in an unobtrusive fashion. The amount of times a thought gets away just as you were about to grab hold of it occasionally makes me think that the penguins waddle out from their packing cases and pootle about moving things capriciously around. Or, even if they’re slightly less evil (and never underestimate the capacity of a penguin to be evil, after a certain Feathers McGraw), with that many inhabitants, things are going to get mislaid from time to time. Or eaten*.
But perhaps I’m a cynic (really?). The idea has been suggested that actually the penguins are entirely benevolent, and act as de facto librarians, tidying things up and organising them into some semblance of order. And I really do love this idea. But there is a feeling that the penguins vary from person to person and, much as I’ve ended up with the gene for unruly hair, I’ve also ended up with the gene for unruly penguins...
* Hmmm – maybe it’s not so much the dog that eats homework as the penguins that eat thoughts. No, that would have to be the madness hamsters...
