In the Python's grip

What image best captures the meaning of Man's existence?

A haggard, Crusoe-like figure, staggers out of the wilderness. His clothes are tattered, his breathing ragged, his long beard tangled and dirty. It is clear that he is exhausted. His feet can barely carry him, yet he knows his task is urgent, and so he stumbles and falls, crawls his way to where we stand waiting, out of breath by the time he arrives. With a final, heroic burst of effort, he delivers the message he has been sent with, then collapses to the ground.

And what does he have to say for himself, this Kafka-esque messenger? His message is one word long. It's "It's". Yes, that's right. I, t, apostrophe, s. It's.

It's his only line.

***

People will tell you that buying yourself Christmas presents is just sad. This may be true, but it has the important advantage of ensuring that you get something that you really want. Like this set of the Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus episodes that I just had delivered to me this morning. Yup. 1749 minutes of M/s. Palin, Chapman, Cleese, Gilliam, Idle and Jones all just a press of the play button away.

So, what are you doing for Christmas?