For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for October 16, 2023

We’ve all been there.

I’m convinced my co-workers can’t read.

Now would be a good time

Shouldn’t it be “the suction machine Backed up”?

What is a “suction machine” used for in a dentist’s office??

Don’t feel bad, John. I went in yesterday morning to church, found out that a squirrel took out the fuse on 1 line of the 3-phase electrical power feed. Not only that, it caused the heat to not work after power was restored, along with killing the modem on their Internet feed. So, people sat in the cold a bit and no live stream video of our service to those members who are shut-ins.

When I heard “squirrel”, that Ray Stevens song popped in my head again. Ha ha ha!

“Mama said there’ll be days like this, there’ll be days like this, mama said. Mama said, mama said!”

Ooooh, Aaliyah wants me to watch Madagascar 3.

Small observation here. I noticed an anomaly in the third panel. There seems to be in the window a profile of a ghostly man’s face with a beard and glasses looking out the window. In the fourth panel is a less defined smoky image of the face just over the car as if the ghost is fading away into nothing.

I wonder if this is a prelude to a story line coming up for Halloween?

That’s funny. The last time I had my teeth cleaned, the suction thingy wasn’t working very well. Turned out to be a loose connection.

In other words, another day of life.

It’s called a Family Circus!

No matter how much we get paid, days like these are when we earn it. Even if it’s not enough.

I worked on (chemical) production plants. Our general feeling was that “Boredom is our friend.” One always wanted stuff running properly.

I can relate. Sounds like my day

Just imagine the stress of a solo medical practice during the pandemic, especially for a dentist who has close face-to-face contact. My dentist said she couldn’t sleep at night, worrying about the implications for her employees and her practice (which she had only recently bought) if she became seriously ill.

John, it’s your practice. Therefore, it IS your circus and those ARE your monkeys!

This is a classic “tell and don’t show” amateur mistake in basic cartooning. All the stuff John is thinking about would have made for a much better comic strip if they had been drawn and there were no words. However, words are easier to write than equipment failure is to draw. I suspect the artist may have been pushing a deadline when she did this one.

I cannot explain the weird colouring though. It’s like the syndicate colourist only had brown.

John almost has it. Life is a circus. With the quality changing constantly.

In the immortal words of Thomas Edison,

“You can miss a spittoon, but you can’t miss the floor”

At least he’s the Ringmaster?

For the last decade or so, it feels like the circus has joined me.

John’s had “one of those days”—-but will it keep on to “one of those nights”?

“Take me to a circus tent, where I can easily pay my rent”

Just that the clowns don’t necessarily wear odd clothing….

Sometimes life is a cabaret, sometimes a circus, sometimes a (you fill in the blank) …

Poor Baby!