Extremely Dangerous (ED! #07)

Why yes I am having a nice holiday, thankyou very much for asking.

Not often I get some time to myself, so taking a break this week is really quite refreshing. Nothing to do, and all day to do it in..

Well, OK, that's not strictly true - there are still things that would fall apart if I didn't do them, and I'm still doing those, but I am definitely in a holiday kind of relaxation groove right about now.

By way of testament to my relaxation, I was laying on my bed last night at about a quarter to one (in the morning) and it occured to me that I really really really needed a shave.

I'm not a particularly hairy guy, but shaving is so awkward and complicated - and after the best part of six years of doing it I still can't get it right - so it's not something I do unless I have to. When I'm bumming around at home, I let things slip a bit.

Anyway, last night I became so infuriated with this itchy foliage growing on my lower face area that I decided a shave was in order.

Nothing really unusual in that, I admit, but it serves as a link into what struck me as interesting, specifically my tin of shaving foam.

I can hear what's going through your mind right now.. "He's going to talk about shaving foam, this is going to be even less interesting than the one about the poo.." - but no!

What struck me as interesting about the shaving foam was not its foamy nature but the printing on the can.

Always read the label, as they say.

Anyway, my eye suddenly noticed a symbol I had not noticed before. A picture of a happy little blazing inferno - printed in red no less - together with the inspiring legend "EXTREMELY FLAMMABLE".

Extremely!

Shaving foam? Extremely Flammable? No, not to worry, thought I, it's because it's an aerosol.

To test my hypothesis I reached for a nearby can of deodorant. No pictures of fire, but some bold printing: FLAMMABLE.

Oh, just flammable. Not 'Extremely' flammable like that dangerous shaving foam stuff. Well, obvious really, I mean I should have seen that coming.

Should I be worried about this? Well of course I shouldn't but it still made me wonder.

I associate words like 'flammable' with things which are liable to get spontaneously hot - petrol, chip pans, our old teletext transmission system, that kind of thing.

'Extremely Flammable' conjures up images of more exteme dangerousness in my mind - this is a "step away from the vehicle" fence-it-off-with -yellow-tape kind of deal.

However, after much observation, I saw no evidence that my 'extremely' dangerous tin of shaving foam was going to injure me in any way, and I got on with it and had a shave.

And just think, had I not noticed that, I wouldn't have written the last seven pages.

Perhaps they'll take all the warning labels off anything I'm likely to come in contact with now. An inspired artist is a dangerous thing.