Addendum

The reaction to my post about the removal of unwanted ear hair is instructive, and has provided me with an interesting insight into friends, colleagues and fellow bloggers. Firstly though, I must make a correction: it has been sniffily pointed out that 'depillation' has only one 'l'. Now, I could have skulked back to the post and sneakily edited away the error but it would have seemed at odds with my boldness in attempting to vanquish my unwanted aural fauna - so, let it stand I say.

Other comments have aligned themselves broadly into a number of camps: there has been the Gok Wan camp - and I do mean camp - who champion the eau naturale stance - let it flourish they say; I remain unconvinced. Mrs C's comment was pretty much what I would have expected - and others who know me well have reacted in similar vein - they have listened to, or read the tale, and then shook there heads with a bemused, unsurprised and resigned look on their faces that said: it could have been worse. And finally the pragmatists with the view championed by my son Tom who listened with interest, examined my singed ear and was impressed by the falling skin flakes but then simply asked me: if I wanted my ear hair removing a la Turkish barber why did I not simply go to Google and find one.

Finally, whilst we are talking of camp, I caught a tram across town the other day; there was disruption to the Metrolink and I passed the time of day with a chap in my carriage comparing the quality of public transport in Manchester with other parts of the UK and Europe. He was clearly well educated and well travelled, he wore an expensive business suit and carried a top quality leather brief case. The conversation was unremarkable until his parting shot as he left the tram at Shude Hill; darting through the closing doors he said:
"I don't know, I should have stayed in bloody Torquay giving blow jobs to sailors on the beach, ta ta."
and, with that, he was gone and I was left open mouthed on my way to Victoria Station.
What's the phrase? - nowt as queer as folk, that's it.