The Dabbler is pleased to bring you your Dabblescope for the month of March. The Dabblescope is broadly akin to a standard horoscope, with the telling difference that we use the so-called Blodgett System of half a dozen “astral nodes” rather than the twelve signs of that boring old zodiac. Studies by renowned Blodgettists have shown that forecasts made using this system have proved over eight hundred and forty-eight times more accurate than all that Pisces and Aquarius nonsense! You can work out which sign you are by referring to the online guide at www.blodgettglobaldomination.com/human-fate.html (site under construction).
Fruitbat. Try to remember that you are lactose-intolerant. The hours before twilight will be significant for your pet stoat. Throw away that tub of swarfega.
Mayonnaise. It is time to dig out your copy of Gordon “Sting” Sumner’s profound I Hope The Russians Love Their Children Too and play it again after all these years. Vile dribbling goblins covered in boils will make life difficult today. Pay special attention to patches of bracken.
Coathanger. Your recurrent nightmares about an albino hen will finally make sense. Don’t go near any buildings, large or small.
Plimsoll. At last your destiny will begin to unfold, probably as you take a stroll along the towpath of the old canal. Vengeful thoughts will assail your brain, but you should ignore them, and devote your energies to making jam. A hollyhock may have special meaning for your kith and kin.
Tarboosh. O what can ail thee, Dabblescope reader, alone and palely loitering? Make sure you treat yourself to an electric bath and a session in a sensory deprivation tank. The Bale of Gas in your House of Stupidity has incalculable effects. You will stand on the steps of the Insane Asylum, and hundreds of men and women will stand below you, with their upturned faces. Among them will be old men crushed by sorrow, and old men ruined by vice; aged women with faces that seemed to plead for pity, women that make you shrink from their unwomanly gaze; lion-like young men, made for heroes but caught in the devil’s trap and changed into beasts; and boys whose looks show that sin has already stamped them with its foul insignia, and burned into their souls the shame which is to be one of the elements of its eternal punishment. A less impressible person than you would feel moved at the sight of that throng of bruised and broken creatures. A hymn will be read, and when the preachers strike up an old tune, voice after voice will join in the melody until it swells into a mighty volume of sacred song. You will notice that the faces of many are wet with tears, and there will be an indescribable pathos in their voices. The pitying God, amid the rapturous hallelujahs of the heavenly hosts, shall bend to listen to the music of these broken harps.
Nixon. You will make a televised speech about your dog, Checkers. Next week, you will undergo six crises, and write a book about them called Six Crises. Try to relax by vigorously mashing potatoes.
gosh, seeing as I am going for a stroll along the grand union canal later, I am elated to find myself a Plimsoll!
I’m a Plimsoll too but where I grew up we used the term Dap. As it happens, our family crest incorporates a hollyhock.