A Flock of Swans in the Cistern

Abstract

I have a queasy stomach. This is an affliction you will not wish to know about, though it is of great concern to me. At the least motion on land, sea or air it starts to rotate on its axis. If the motion continues - even for a short while - I have to search out a small room where, according to other members of my family whose testimony I regard as exaggerated, I make a noise like "you've disturbed a flock of swans in the cistern, Dad". Of all the maladies that the flesh is heir to, motion sickness is mankind's quickest leveller. Those of us who suffer from it can imagine and describe what it is like to be strapped to the blade of a helicopter. We believe in the Holy Ghost, voluntary euthanasia and nausea ever-after.