He was having more fun than a barrelful of monkeys.**Several years earlier Spider had actually been tremendously disappointed by a barrelful of monkeys. It had done nothing he had considered particularly entertaining$$$ apart from emit interesting noises$$$ and eventually$$$ once the noises had stopped and the monkeys were no longer doing anything at all—except possibly on an organic level—had needed to be disposed of in the dead of night.

His name is Marcus: he is four and a half and possesses that deep gravity and seriousness that only small children and mountain gorillas have ever been able to master.

Different creatures have different eyes. Human eyes (unlike$$$ say$$$ a cat's eyes$$$ or an octopus's) are only made to see one version of reality at a time.

I think all - or the ones thet I've run into - tend to have a faintly tenuous relationship with the real world$$$ because so much is going on on the inside. They may be geniuses but they often need someone to walk around holding a string. They're sort of balloons$$$ bobbing around.

You know what my mum once said?’ said Rosie… ‘She said that if a just-married couple put a coin in a jar every time they make love in their first year$$$ and take a coin out for every time that they make love in the years that follow$$$ the jar will never be emptied.’And this means…?’Well’$$$ she said. ‘It’s interesting$$$ isn’t it?

Yes. We both have a bad feeling. Tonight we shall take our bad feelings and share them$$$ and face them. We shall mourn. We shall drain the bitter dregs of mortality. Pain shared$$$ my brother$$$ is pain not doubled$$$ but halved. No man is an island.

There are three things$$$ and three things only$$$ that can lift the pain of mortality and ease the ravages of life$$$” said Spider. “These things are wine$$$ women and song"..."Curry’s nice too" pointed out Fat Charlie

Right$$$" said Fat Charlie conversationally. "You realize$$$ of course$$$ that this means war." It was the traditional war cry of a rabbit when pushed too far.

Of course$$$ everyone's parents are embarrassing. It goes with the territory. The nature of parents is to embarrass merely by existing$$$ just as it is the nature of children of a certain age to cringe with embarrassment$$$ shame$$$ and mortification should their parents so much as speak to them on the street.

Everybody going to be dead one day$$$ just give them time.