Diane Hine - George lyrics

Early in the summer of ‘29 Patience, an unflappable country girl, visiting Manhattan for the first time, stepped from her hotel with her hand tightly curled around a slip of paper on which a long list of directions were hand written- third left, fourth right, first right, etcetera...... The list had been sent by her cousin George whom she'd never met and detailed the path she should take from her hotel in order to meet him at ten-thirty for coffee. Her blouse bu*tonhole held a sprig of thyme and he would wait beneath a Small-Leaved Lime. She set off at ten. At ten twenty-five a sudden gust of wind carried away the slip of paper and the sprig of thyme. After ten minutes of aimless wandering a gentleman asked if she'd lost her way. "Yes, I must return to my starting point" she explained, "to fetch a copy of my list but I can't remember which way I've come". "No problem" the gentleman cried. "What fun! I can help since I'm a statistician. It's easy to find your starting position". "Have you heard of George Polya, the mathematician? No? Well George has recently proven that any random walk in an infinite grid will bring you right back to your starting point eventually with absolute certainty. Since Manhattan's grid of streets and avenues are not infinite, it shouldn't take you too long". "Thankyou" replied Patience, "that's rea**uring. Interestingly, I have a cousin George". "You're very welcome" said the gentleman. "Coincidentally, I'm also named George". They agreed that boys are often christened George. Patience walked and walked, randomly choosing right, left or straight ahead at intersections. She tried hard not to use her intuition. Three and three quarter hours later she was relieved but unsurprised to find herself directly outside her hotel. In her suitcase she found her reserve list of directions and a second sprig of thyme. She drank three and three quarter gla**es of water and left the hotel at two forty-five. She carefully followed the list until at last, at three-fifteen she came across a gentleman seated under a Small-Leaved Lime. He looked up and noticed her sprig of thyme. "Hello cousin George. Have you been waiting long"? "No, not long. How are you cousin Patience"? "I'm well, thank you. I've had a delightful stroll. Oddly, when we met earlier today, I intuited you might be my cousin George except you weren't sitting under a Small-Leaved Lime". "Quite right, Patience. I'd crossed the road to help you. I also intuited you might be my cousin Patience, but you wore no sprig of thyme". The cousins laughed and strolled to a cafe. There they indulged in cakes and coffee and discussed logic's infallibility. George explained that intuition was never reliable, while reason always led, albeit by a circuitous route, to a problem's correct resolution. He also warned that George Polya's conclusion did not apply in the three-dimensional case should one ever find oneself lost in space. An hour pa**ed and a firm friendship was forged. "Should I invest in the stock market George"? "Well Patience, most investors are illogical, so logical predictions are problematical and though reason might indicate otherwise, my intuition says - Now's the time to buy"!