Dear Observer,
I'm getting rather weary of reading your wordy / long-winded posts (and the many re-quoted ones) - so please consider embracing "the art of brevity". Also, let me say that I'm not going to support your "demands" for Kham to elaborate about her experience (although she's of course free to do so at will) for the simple reason that Kham, a friend of mine whom I've met personally and who has very positively contributed to diffusing our forum's work over the years - especially as a (quite brilliant) host of the Clues Chronicle podcasts - deserves no such "public scrutiny". Nothing could possibly cast a shadow over - or much less "nullify" - her longstanding contributions to our collective efforts.
As far as I'm concerned, I'd welcome if Kham decided to share more details about that experience - but its' up to her to do so at will.
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Now, to "lighten up the mood" here, let me share a most freakish experience of mine... which very nearly ended my days! I must have been in my early twenties at the time and I had travelled with two dear friends (Tore & Nora) to a tranquil small lake located high up in the hills in southern Norway (surrounded by spectacular scenery / snowy mountain tops, etc - a deserted yet majestic place far away from any signs of "civilization"). Years earlier, Nora's father had built a small log cabin by the lake where we took shelter for a couple of nights. One evening we went fishing in a small rowing boat. It was a windless day, the lake was flat as a mirror - and the silence was almost eerie: we really felt like we were the only / last inhabitants on planet Earth.
All of a sudden, a "bang" echoes in the air - and almost instantly, I see some tiny object splashing in the water right next to me - no more than a couple of meters away from the boat. In fact, I simultaneously heard a faint "whoosh" next to me - that is, pretty damn close to my ear! The three of us kind of freezed - and after a few seconds staring at each other, we all said - almost in unison -
"whaat the HECK was THAT?!" I told my friends about the splash and the whoosh - and we concluded to our horror that it must have been a bullet. My first thought was that perhaps some duck hunters had mistakenly shot at us. The problem was that...there was not a single duck in sight! As we looked around us - someone caught a glimpse of something moving in the tall grass on a little mound by the lakeside. So we started rowing towards that spot (don't ask me why were such fearless daredevils!) and as we landed there, we walked up the small "grassy knoll". There we almost stumbled over two old drunkards sitting in the grass, surrounded by empty beer cans. One of them was still holding a revolver (I'm no gun expert, but it had that typical barrel) - and smiling meekly, like a child caught stealing cookies... End of story: we saw them off as they staggered down the hill and out of sight - having somehow obtained their excuses and promises not to play with that gun ever again (I still wonder how the three of us were satisfied that it was safe to just let them walk back home...).
So yeah, folks, I have witnessed a shooting - and at VERY CLOSE range too! And it was never reported in the news media.
