With "oh my gosh I'll be late for work" running through your fuzzy head like a stuck
gramophone needle, the rush hour begins sans the likelihood of bumping into Jackie Chan.
The
gramophone needle tracking across a record was an exercise in precision 3D geometry.
"It was like lifting the
gramophone needle off in the middle of a loud symphony.
He wrote of a new
gramophone needle which lasted for years before wearing out: "One of the big gramophone companies bought up the patent rights, and that was the last that was ever heard of it."
Now, I know women love nothing more than a right good blether - you may remember my Aunt Martha, who once had a three-hour conversation with a bowl of alphabet soup - but this mob sounded as though they'd all been vaccinated with a
gramophone needle and I could barely hear myself speak.
Other highlights included a Songster
gramophone needle shop display case and contents (pounds 520) and an exercise book and telegrams associated with the last of the Russian Romanov royal family (pounds 1,700).
When I interviewed him last year, I discovered he was still a member of the Marlene Dietrich Fan Club, thought heavy rock was something you used to finish off a half-dead hare, and seemed a bit miffed that CDs had ruined his
gramophone needle.
"It's like taking a
gramophone needle, but instead of the record rotating, the cell goes up and down," says lead investigator James Gimzewski.
My mum says I was injected with a
gramophone needle at birth.
Lysol douche, artist's paintbrush, curtain rod, glass cocktail stirrer, knitting needles, chopsticks, tricycle pump and tube,
gramophone needle, turpentine by mouth, plastic tube with soap solution, telephone wire, slippery elm stick, intrauterine installation of kerosene and vinegar.
And he has collections of clay pipes,
gramophone needle boxes and Derby County FC football programmes, among other nick nacks.
``My mum used to say that I must have been vaccinated with a
gramophone needle at birth.''