Peter Rhodes on wildfires, bullets and the noisier side of romance
Given that America is awash with an estimated 300 million guns and 45 percent of households possess at least one weapon, you may be wondering how firefighters in Los Angeles approach blazing homes. Do they expect exploding ammo flying everywhere? Apparently not.
In an online discussion, one US firefighter explains: “Loaded weapons can cook off in a fire, and the round could kill, but it is rare enough that we don’t worry a lot about it.”
The National Rifle Association is equally relaxed: “When small arms ammunition is burned, cartridge cases may burst open and bits of brass may fly about, but not with any great velocity, and usually not with force enough to be dangerous to life.”
Maybe I worry too much. I recall meeting one army-barmy headbanger on a trip to the battlefields of the First World War in northern France. Crossing a field, he had picked up an old, but unfired, rifle bullet and was warming it with his cigarette lighter “ to see what happens.” I am proud to report that I led the retreat.
Only in America. As the fires raged in LA, water-dropping aircraft were called off their vital task for fear of colliding with swarms of “incredibly dangerous” unauthorised drones above the wildfires. Where else in the world would individuals put their own amateur movie-making efforts above the business of saving lives? Sometimes, the Land of the Free is the home of the dim.
Describing how to portray female pleasure in her new movie, Babygirl, Nicole Kidman describes the less elegant side of sex: “And grunting!” she exclaims. “Don't forget the grunting.” I was reminded of someone who told me many years ago that in Ye Olden Days, British couples kissed with their eyes open. And then along came Hollywood with its stars and starlets locked in eyes-closed kisses, and the Brits realised they'd been doing it all wrong. Almost overnight, the eyes-closed kiss became the norm.
Such is the influence of the mass media on our behaviour. Now that Ms Kidman has had her say, beware of the rise of the grunters. Personally, I have only ever met one actress who occasionally grunted and that was Miss Piggy. What an interview. What a dame.
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