When semi-flexible is as good as it’s going to get

August 3rd, 6:00am August 1st, 3:00pm

Dave O'Connell

Connacht Tribune

A Different View with Dave O’Connell

emi-flexible adult – that’s how my train ticket described me. Not as good as completely flexible obviously – but still a lot better than utterly intransigent.

Semi-flexible in this case meant that you could technically take an earlier or later train for no extra cost; it wasn’t a judgement on my lack of suppleness.

But that sort of flexibility was thin on the ground at a recent Pink Floyd exhibition I was privileged to enjoy on a short visit to London; a retrospective on the life and music of one of the most influential bands of all time.

The flexibility wasn’t the fault of the organisers at the Victoria and Albert Museum; it was down to the age profile of the attendees, and I include myself among them.

For the most part this trip through the sixties and seventies was carried out on two feet, ambling through time with the help of an audio commentary to explain flying inflatable pigs over Battersea Power Station or the origins of the Wall.

But the culmination of this 90-minute unforgettable experience came in a square room with four giant screens that took you through the Floyd from their first single, Arnold Payne, through to the last time they were all talking to each other, during a live performance of Comfortably Numb.

The problem was that, to enjoy this final feast for the senses, you were required to sit cross-legged on the floor – a requirement that only demonstrated the inflexibility that comes with age, which was all too prevalent among the ageing visitors.

No sooner had some of us managed to adopt this yoga position than you were filled with the fear and dread of something breaking or popping when you tried to get back on your feet without the help of a hoist.

For one man – carrying what we might euphemistically call more than his fair share of timber – the effort proved all too much. . . and in trying to get down on his hunkers, he ended up flat on his back.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.