Talent that knows no bounds.......

Talent, even if "undoubted" talent, is sometimes not enough to ensure that an individual achieves their potential, or rightful place in society.

In the 1940's Nat King Cole's success and star-billing in some areas didn't completely shade him from the industry's pervasive racism that simultaneously denied him access to certain venues and hotels.

In the 2000's Michelle McManus won Pop Idol and then failed to reach the top, not because of any vocal inadequacies (well not only because of...) but largely (!) because of her size.

You may say that that is"fat-ist", but as Jimmy Carr would most probably (and disgracefully) say "No, she’s fattest!".

So we are surrounded by people with skills and talents that possibly aren't appreciated as much as they should be...and this weekend we were reminded of another such an individual.

Whilst not a singer, he is certainly an entertainer, although when we "hired" him (can you "hire" someone if no money changes hands?) it was his "talents" as an electrician that we were interested in.

For confidentiality reasons I will call him Steve (his real name) Bush(as he lives in a White House). We had asked Steve to undertake some electrical work around our house (also in the aforementioned Tropenell Triangle) some 15 years ago.

This work included mending our front door bell. After some time working on the bell Steve announced that he had successfully managed to get it ringing again. And he had. Unfortunately, that's all it did - ring, without stopping!

Upon pointing this out to Steve he took the batteries out of the bell....but it kept ringing. After much consideration, and having drawn many technical diagrams (which with hindsight I now believe were nothing more than Steve doodling to pass the time) Steve established how to stop the bell ringing -by pushing the bell push.

This level of ingenuity and innovation should have propelled Steve to Trade Awards, and recognition amongst his peers, but I'm not sure that it ever did. We had a doorbell, which in its own “special” way let us know when somebody was at the door - because it stopped ringing!

As long as the ringing noise in our ears continued, we were safe in the knowledge that nobody wished to visit us!

This level of "talent" is so rarely seen - Praise be to God!