One World, One Chutney

     Arguably the most complex character among us, Uncle Cymbeline is, at the same time, probably the least enigmatic.  At 71, the man – you can see it as his nose hairs continue their soft susurrations in the back of the van – is a tower of gourmandise.  He loves cakes, adores cakes – listen to the way he pronounces the word ‘choux’.  The man lets the word linger on his lips like a small dab of pastry dough itself.  Then he breathes it in and rolls it around his tongue for as long as possible.  At last the word is emitted so lovingly, so reluctantly, so dwellingly that by the time it takes form on the airwaves, Uncle Cymbeline has managed to endow the very idea with several syllables. 

Illustration © ZEBEDEE HELM 2010