As he sipped his glass of Madeira, the professor entertained us with the tale of his attempt some years ago to break the world record for staring at chickens.
Earlier this year the Professor and his closest academic colleagues celebrated Plough Monday in their traditional manner with fine displays of old metal buckets in several unexpected places. Happily, I did succeed in finding one of these secret locations. After admiring the aged containers, I took away one of the cards scattered in the vicinity and meditated on its meaning as I played a mixtape of Bernart de Ventadorn's greatest hits. The following morning I awoke, as so often in the past, to what sounded like a robin singing Verdi while perched on a can of soup.
As you may know, the Professor often wears a tarboosh while thinking. This appears to date from the controversy surrounding the International Pataphysical Headwear Symposium of 1981. In particular, the demonstration offered by Professor Piechart van Leafblower which was designed as a critique of the work of Heisenberg. In part, this consisted of items of headwear concealed behind haybales in various parts of the world. The Professor often reflects on his search for a tarboosh in the south of France alongside Professor Baker of Bellman University. At the very moment when success seemed assured, Professor Baker inexplicably vanished and has never been seen since. Professor Peregrine continued the search alone but, to this day, is still haunted by the outcome. The headwear in question was eventually located to great acclaim but there is still no word on the fate of Professor Baker. For the tarboosh was a fez, you see.
As a young man the professor found that his two interests, the works of Guillaume de Machaut and the solar neutrino problem, meant that friends were few and far between. In an attempt to fit in, he decided to take up a more popular hobby. His new pastime of pointing at rivers soon earned him many admiring glances.
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