When I was at college, I had a very tall friend. He was about 6ft 7in, or a little over two metres. There were some drawbacks to this for him. First, he banged his head on things with a regularity that was boring to witness, never mind boring to experience. Second, strangers were forever telling him that he was very tall and asking him what the weather was like up there. Third, the university basketball club wouldn't leave him alone.

From his first day there till his last, members of the basketball team would ask him to come and play. "I don't know how to play basketball," he'd say. "You don't need to, not when you're your height," they'd reply. "And also, I don't want to play basketball," he'd say. "Well, you should. I mean, I would if I were as tall as you."

I think of this every so of

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