A Sorry Spectacle

"Sorry" is a nice tune.

I am sorry that I have not posted for a while. People say “I’m Sorry” a lot here. Canada is the only country I know where someone passing you on the street says they are sorry when they are at least a meter (3 feet) away from you and there is no danger of a collision. I don’t know why. Both parties can see each other when the ritual is performed. Maybe it’s a local colloquialism for ‘excuse me’. Maybe there is a law requiring that we say it once or twice a day. One day I hope to visit Japan and judge the competition.

Yesterday, when a nice young man said “I’m sorry” in the subway when I was walking in his general direction, I stopped and thanked him; we then had an interesting conversation about this subject. We agreed that Canadians are either extravagantly polite or unbelievably rude. “There is no middle ground,” the nice young man said.

Musical accompaniment: “Sorry” by Bix Beiderbecke and his Orchestra (1927).

The weather has been grey and rainy and depressing, along with the news; so I spent last week drawing some very muddy cartoons. There are Mud Fairs in several cities. Thee current FurBabies arc is based on is a children’s mud fair in Ontario and another in the USA (Mud Day is in June, when it is warmer, but there is no restriction in Comic Strip Time. ) The Dog Family participates, resulting in hopefully humorous comic mayhem. I was surprised during my research to find that there are many adult mud fairs in several countries, most involving very large vehicles driving very fast through very large mud puddles. I left out the motor vehicles and instead used a rather silly sport that is suitable for kids. For once, no AI is involved although Pratt-L probably designed it.

I open the Mud Fair story arc with a quote from Eugene Field’s book, THE TRIBUNE PRIMER. Field wrote sardonic parodies of a children’s primer for the Denver Tribune. (The New England Primer was the 19th century version of Dick and Jane, oh my, that needs footnotes too for anyone born after 1970) My 1901 copy is illustrated by Frederick Opper.

FurBabies, March 23, 2026 Story arc continues until March 31.

By a remarkable coincidence, Opper’s comic strip ALPHONSE AND GASTON featured two ridiculously polite Frenchmen who never got anything done since they always insisted that the other gentleman precede them.

I once again apologize for the lateness of the post. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana. (and yes, the quote really is by Groucho Marx.)

See you in the funny papers.