Have You Been Allotted?
Sunday, February 20, 2011
On our first encounter, the Alot very nearly made me cry – whether from utter hilarity or the sheer unexpected joy and relief that somebody else looked at the world that way. You’re not barking mad and alone! he grunted Other people are barking mad in just the same way! But they can make it funny, and drawl cool pictures as well as being a stickler for correct phrasing and punctuation*.
The Alot was introduced to me by email (everybody meets online now, even improbable grammatical creatures) by a sporty, bouncy friend who (the Sportalot?) and he brought a much-needed smile to a tired Friday afternoon. My attempts to convey my excitement about the Alot to the Other Penguin resulted in further amusement, but mostly to him!
That very weekend, while pottering through Paddington, a shop window grabbed my attention. Nothing unusual there – window displays grab my attention just like children grab jellybeans. And this was the relatively-newly-opened Romance Was Born store – not exacly a mecca for muted understatement under any circumstances, the fact that the window didn’t contain a circus act or dancing girls was perhaps cause to remark.
This was what I’d seen...
Displayed on a circular table in the middle of the shop was a neon-furred Alot. Talk about a makeover! There was excited jumping about and squeaking at the Other Penguin.
I love the idea of having an Alot of my own (it's so adaptable, it would be the perfect pet. And there are so many of them!). And I bet they love cake, too...
* Using spaces between what ought to be two words possibly doesn’t quite qualify as punctuation. Whether there’s a specific word for it I’m clearly not enough of a stickler (or a fusspot) to know. But you know what I mean, hopefully!
