ABSTRACT
Hosting a party, I had soup accidentally spilt on my lap by an ageing friend sitting beside me. I retired to the bedroom for a hasty exchange of trousers, and while pondering the unwanted changes, including increasingly careless movements, which accompany our advancing years, I glanced at the full length mirror to check I had done up my flies – a possible error of omission (not, I would emphasise, one of commission!) that at least extends back to my middle years. But, no flies; and no trousers! Good God – I had completed quite automatically a full bedtime swap, and was now wearing pyjamas. Thank God for mirrors! We all need protection from our own unwanted automatisms.
