When you talked about " lying in bed pondering the problems of the world ", I was reminded of an old joke...
( Or at least it's an old joke " this side of the pond "...it may be that our American " cousins " have been spared up to now...)
In the course of one of his investigations Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson have to camp out overnight on Salisbury Plain in England.
An hour or so after midnight Dr. Watson awakens to see Holmes staring up at the stars in the night sky.
After a few moments Holmes turns to Watson and, muses aloud: " The key to the profession of consulting detective is clear observation. Watson, observe the stars above us in their constellations, what do they suggest to the trained observer? "
Watson takes time to fully observe the starfield above them, and eventually replies: " Well, Holmes, they suggest to me the immensity of the universe, the vast distances between those stars, and the even more vast distances between the galaxies of which those stars are a part. I am left with a feeling of the sheer insignificance of myself as an individual in such a vast and indifferent cosmos. What do the stars suggest to you, Holmes? "
To which Holmes replies: " Watson, you idiot! Somebody has stolen out tent! "
( Hey! I said it was old, I never said anything about it being funny!
)
