On Corridors

The night corridor...

Photo by grantthai
The building I work in has some very long corridors. (not shown in the pic). They are about 60m long and every time I walk down them I always like to imagine that they are flooded with warm and clear water and that it is normal, in my company, to swim to the various meeting rooms and labs.

The other thing I am always tempted to do when walking down these corridors, and no one is about, is to cartwheel. I once gave-in to this temptation. I looked behind me: no one there; ahead of me the coast was clear, too. One last look behind me and then take a little run, turn sideways, arms up and hop to complete a perfectly executed cartwheel. My legs were entirely straight and I was aligned parallel to the walls. Even while I was completing the rotation I heard the commentary in my head announcing the judges' score:

"Oh it was perfect, surely the judges will award him maximum points. And they do: 10.0-10.0-10.0-10.0. What a sensation! This guarantees him a gold medal."

Imagine then my surprise when upon returning to a more orthodox upright position I find a small crowd of people coming towards me. Not one of them said a word. Not a comment, not a smile, nothing. Everyone behaved as thought cartwheeling was a normal mode of locomotion.

This is why I love living in England.