Listen / Read
A little anecdotal reminiscence from Lionel today. He says reading Bede and glimpsing unintentionally exposed lady bits made him an English gentleman and an ideal candidate for the rabbinate.
I’ve never read Bede but I’m trying to cast my mind back and recall whether I’ve caught an eyeful of a woman who didn’t intend me to. I did once walk into an occupied unisex toilet. It had a dodgy lock which had a tendency to slip back down into the unlocked position without the occupant realising it. Seeing that the lock read ‘unoccupied’ I entered and discovered a lady having a lady wee-wee as ladies do. We were both mortified and neither of us ever mentioned it ever again. So I suppose we English ladies and gents do only see what we’re supposed to see.
I do however recall telling another gentleman what I’d seen, so perhaps I’m not an English gentleman after all. Not that that was necessarily to the lady’s detriment; the gentleman I informed of my unfortunate toilet encounter went on to woo the very lady I had disturbed mid-wee-wee. They had a brief and unfulfilling affair that ended in distinct awkwardness and mutual estrangement. I only hope wee-wee didn’t have anything to with that as well.
So I may not be a very good English gentleman, or a suitable candidate for the rabbinate, but at least I know now never to trust a toilet lock.