It all came about with the great scone debate which seems to have taken on a life of its own as I will explain later. In giving the scones of a certain Wymondham cafe nine out of 10, somebody asked why they didn't warrant a perfect 10. "Because perfection does not and cannot exist," was my response.
I would argue there is no such thing as perfection because there is always the possibility of something better. Talking about perfection suggests that nobody or nothing will ever improve on what that perfection is.
I will take sport as an example. There cannot be such a thing as perfection when a sport is indeterminate. A football team may win 7-0 but it's not perfection as perfection in that game cannot be defined. Same with cricket and virtually every other sport.
There are a few games/sports where so called perfection can be suggested by marks given. These include the likes of diving, skating etc where judges decide on a performance. But what is seen as perfection today may be bettered in the future even if the mark cannot be. A perfect 10 in gymnastics doesn't mean that in a few years' time that level won't be eclipsed, although the new performance can only be given the same mark.
One of the most popular programmes on television is Strictly Come Dancing where marks of 10 are regularly sprayed around. So much so that they become pretty meaningless. It means that there is no space for anyone in the future to be even better, although it is almost certain that somebody will be.
Of course there are some games/sports where perfection can be measured, but once again is it really perfection? Take snooker where a maximum break without a single mistake is 147. That means pocketing 15 reds followed by 15 blacks followed by the coloured balls in order which will be yellow, green, brown, blue, pink and black. That could be construed as perfection but again there are degrees. Some of the shots might have been successful but the positioning of the cue ball could have been better and the player has to really fight hard. Then what about the time taken to score the maximum. You could argue that a 147 in 20 minutes isn't as perfect as one in 10 minutes.
In darts, perfection is looked upon as scoring 501 in nine darts. But again the time taken to do this could be improved on. So yes there are degrees to perfection.
As you all know I love music and there are three albums that I hold well above any others but how could you say that any of them are perfection? Indeed there are some tracks or some parts in each of them that are less than perfect. The three albums if you are wondering are Once Again by Barclay James Harvest (very much a personal choice as I suspect few people will have heard of this record), Hunky Dory by David Bowie and Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield. I would never say that any of them couldn't be improved in small ways.
So I would argue that perfection isn't obtainable because something or somebody will come along in the future that is even more perfect and that's why the best cheese scones score nine out of ten and not a perfect 10.
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Speaking of cheese scones. I think my piece about them yesterday provoked more responses than any other post. Lots of recommendations and lots of scones to try in the future. Once again Biddy from North Yorkshire brought a huge smile to my face.
She took the debate about whether you pronounce the word scones or scons to her biker friends. Apparently it all got rather loud in Skipton which according to Biddy "caused considerable amusement to other diners who happily joined in." Unfortunately they came to no conclusion but I reckon that's only so that they can meet up again and try some more scones or scons. Up thete of course they speak of castles rather than carstles and baths rather than barths.
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A friend of mine who shall remain nameless but is actually called Chris Poole said some nice things about me on his Facebook feed and included the word indefatigable. I really like that. I will continue writing this after I've had a snooze!
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People never cease to amaze me. Take the whole Novak Djokovic situation. When it was announced that he could stay in Australia, one of his supporters told the Media amongst the tears that she had "a lump in my throat. I'm so happy." Some people must have very empty lives to be so affected by what's happening to a man they have probably never met.