Mark with snake

Mark and I were having a quiet drink with a buxom young lass who was in town with the circus. Her job involved lying in a small room behind a pane of glass, surrounded by snakes. Not venomous critters like the cobra, mind you, just the squeeze-you-till-you-suffocate kind of python. As luck would have it, the snake charmer had brought one of her colleagues along to the pub, and after she had assured us that "They only squeeze, if they feel you're tense . . .", Mark decided to give it a go. I would have, too, of course, but I had some important exams to take the next day and was slightly on edge. Would have been a pity to let exam nerves spoil what was otherwise a very relaxing evening. And, by the way, if you ever get the chance, stroke a python. Remember, you read it here first.