I Owe Peggy $100,000

It seemed like a safe bet at the time. I know, a lot of people have said that a lot of times...and Gee Whiz, didn't the Indy Mannings seem like a really sure thing a couple of weeks ago, and then there are those who scoot around in Toyotas...

But, I found a great old English pop song called "Come Outside" on the YouTube the other day, and it's one of those songs that just stick in the old noggin. The main cockney vocal is done by Mike Sarne, who I gather is sort of the English version of Micky Dolenz..a bit of an actor, a bit of a singer. "Come Outside" tells of the time-honored problem faced by every eager young swain. He and his inamorata are at a dance, it's getting late, he promised her father they'd be home by half-past ten...(Half-past ten? Who's her father, Edward G. Robinson or something?) He wants her to step outside the dance hall for a few minutes so he can pull up on her a little bit, or whatever it is they say, they who have to do their pulling up in darkened parking lots as minivans cruise by and streetlights flicker in the distance. She plays it kinda coy, the female who takes a part in the song, and "she" is the late, great Wendy Richard, who played Miss Brahms in "Are You Being Served?," which was as good a reason to sit through PBS pledge breaks as anything else.

She passed away just about a year ago, from breast cancer, and she was not related to Keith Richards, whose real surname is "Richard." Wendy's real last name was Emerton. I take time to look these things up, time I should be spending looking in sofa cushions for loose change.

So, fool that I am, I told Peggy I would give her a hundred thousand semolians if she were able to name the female on the record. Sure, I gave her a few hints (she's not primarily a singer, you liked her, she has passed on) but Peggy said, "Ohh! That's Miss Brahms!"

Check it out here on the 'Tube.

The next video that anyone will see on there will be titled "Man takes all sorts of menial jobs to come up with the 100G's he owes to his wife." But hey, I figure Burger King would pay me, what, 7 - 8 dollars an hour to start, if I agree to work closing shift. And then I could race home, get an hour and a half of sleep, and then go to work.

How much does a Lotto ticket cost?