Rules of engagement

On the surface, a minor topic - I'd say it's a vital topic for the world, as vital as resisting these jabs, these jab passports, and I only started thinking that by reading and hearing what others were saying about it as a young man.  Observing people.

You might recall a post or two on dancing - when the touching stopped, when they started standing a yard and a half away and just gyrating, calling it dancing.  I can say for sure before 1968 and possibly around the time of The Twist.  

It coincided with the new promiscuousness - before that, the only way to touch was at a dance or in these social mores for walking down a street. Or to marry the lady before you got to the prize.  Air of mystery?  Anyone remember that?

What do you observe in that picture?  Look at his right shoulder.  The whole body language is cooperative - if they're not literally turned into one another as they perambulate, then his holding her bag is a nice move but I'd say this - one did not walk about hands in pockets in those days - in this case though, it would probably be better to so that her hand could rest lower.

Of all the ways of moving about with one's lady, that's about the best IMHO - it gives her support on those heels, she can also insta-direct him with that hand, setting the pace, if she is standing behind, arm through. It also suits a woman better side by side and ever so slightly out of view - she can make all her moves surreptitiously.  Far from being obsequious, she's in a position of control, though he gives the appearance of being.  Everyone's happy.

Tom Paine once said to me about my blogging being from a personal point of view. Well yes, guilty, why not, and in turn, readers reflect on their own situations - how world events impact them.  Again - why not?  So here are some anecdotes coming up.

She was an ex-student, of a death cult demographic, although there were almost none of that type over there, they were largely integrated into Russian life.  We stepped out after meeting up again and what stunned me was how she went straight for the arm through mine, as it had happened a few times before to me - once with a Russian, once with this ethnicity - a lingering legacy from the old days.  It was so natural and she was able to control the situation so subtly.  Another time, in winter, it saved her when her heel gave way on icy steps - it was sane, it was elegant, it said nothing more than what it was, it substituted for the full-on thing.

Of all the modes of double-perambulation, this to my mind beats hand in hand, arms around each other - it was just 'good form' and I tested it out on a plane journey stop in some airport I forget. The lady had been sitting next to me, we'd spoken of life, the universe and everything and I asked her if she ever walked arm in arm. She was British, going out to meet some man in Oz but here we were. She laughed out loud, then had second thoughts - she'd seen those films of yore and here was this man slightly crooking his elbow out - so she took it. I'd lay money we were admired rather than laughed at.

In both those pictures, unlike last evening's, there's this inducement for her to at least act as a lady and for him to act in manly manner, it was just what people did. I'm not particularly more manly than anyone, probably less but these sorts of things were just de rigeur, e.g. walking on the outside of the path - I'm horrified when I see the man skulking on the inside and letting her take the road grime. 

And now, before you scream: 'Not before brunch, not before brunch, purr-lease!' ... sorry but there is one thing I can admire Boris for, other than his eloquence:

Not unlike those ice dancers, all the required elements are there, it just 'is'.  I'd like to see him do a U turn, throw off his graceless controllers, denounce jabs and return the country to a time of chivalry and elegance ... of sorts. That and a basic belief in our culture and heritage would go a long way to resolving so many breakdowns and stopping the godless horror pouring into the country.

And please don't say it's just for the nobs, arm in arm - working class people equally stepped out thus, pre-flapper times. Remember that shot from last evening?  1928 - the decade when women threw off all decorum and acted as prats, men became F. Scott Fitzgerald greedy.

Seen in a sorority changing room:

There's a tale behind that sign - some time after that photo, a delegation of feminazi students demanded it be taken down.  The administration readily capitulated, and with it went society.