CLICHÉ BINGO

Anyone fancy a quick game of Cliché Bingo?

Cliché Bingo? Never played? Oh it's quite straightforward: I recount a very normal, ordinary piece of kitchen-chit-chat that ended with a classic set-up line, and you have to guess what happened next.

Here it comes:

Person 1 starts off with...

"Well that's a relief."

"Oh?" (me)

(Something good has happened)

"That's great!" say I, excitement spilling into my voice.

"Yep. That's one d... no, two down... five to go!"

"Brilliant! Any other developments on those then?"

"Not yet, no."

"Okay. Well anyway, that's excellent... there's light at the end of the tunnel?"

...

and round and round goes the Cliché Bingo Tombola. What will tumble out? What will it be? Any ideas?

A jaunty theme-tune rolls around inside my head. A small man in a shiny jacket winks at the camera. Cliché Bingo, Cliché Bingo...

What is wrong with me? I should have known better than to provide such a textbook set-up! I should have known that the Official Rules of Kitchen Chit Chat demand that these things are always followed by the traditional punch line. And so it was.

"That'll be a train coming in the opposite direction," he said.

You know, the really daft thing about this?

I still laughed anyway.