Title of a
short story by
Rudyard Kipling, originally
published in
The Phantom 'Rickshaw in
1888. Made into an excellent
feature film in the
1970s, starring
Sean Connery and
Michael Caine. The story follows the (ostensibly
fictional)
exploits of two
discharged British soldiers (otherwise known as
"loafers") in
nineteenth-century India who attempt, by
dint of a cache of
firearms, to establish themselves as kings in the
remote area of
Kafiristan.
This comes to mind as, at this very damn moment, there is a crew of workmen tearing off the roof of my building. Later this week they will be installing a new one. The noise is deafening. When I first heard the work begin at 7:30 this morning, I exclaimed, "God's Holy Trousers!" (something from the story that I've been trying to work into my vocabulary). If anyone has any idea how I can sue these individuals and recover for the pain and suffering they are already causing me, not to mention the loss of productive work time (did I mention that I'm on a deadline?), please let me know.