One of the reasons my wife Maria and I go out is to socialise and have a laugh.
Some may prefer a meal in a restaurant where they can concentrate on food and a fine wine. Others may enjoy the challenge of an intense game of snooker or pool or to pit their wits in a chess match. Sorry, we are of simple tastes. We prefer a laugh.
As Charlie Chaplin said: “A day without laughter is a day wasted.”
And yet an international study says the British have the world’s highest rate of severe gelotophobia: which is a fear of laughter.
All I can say is that they’d better avoid Wimps, Jamie, Rag and Krusty on a Sunday night.
It seems hard to believe that the nation that produced Chaplin, Tommy Cooper, Les Dawson, and Morecambe and Wise, also has 13% of its population suffering from a phobia that, in its severest form, can be extremely debilitating.
Which is sad. Life is better when you’re laughing.
I can’t imagine a world without the giggle factor that was evoked this week by the joke about two lads from Barnsley who spent too long in the pub and missed the last bus home.
“Never mind,” said Ashley. “We’ll go to the bus station and steal a bus. The roads are quiet. No-one will notice.”
They staggered round the darkened bus station and Willie said: “It’s no good. There isn’t a number 23 in the place.”
”Tha’ daft so-and-so,” said Ashley. “We’ll take a 25 and walk from the roundabout.”
