Between the devil and the deep blue sea -Murakami radio

         The expression 'between the devil and the deep blue sea' is found in English. It means 'in a desperate situation' or 'in a desperate state of mind'. At the end of the day, you have to choose between the two, but there is no salvation in either choice. There is an English playwright, Terence Rattigan, who wrote a play, The Deep Blue Sea. A young woman who unsuccessfully attempts to commit gas suicide is asked by her flat manager, "Why did you do it?" She replied: 'When you are in a desperate situation, with the devil in front of you and the deep blue sea behind you, the deep blue sea can seem enchanting. 'That's what happened to me last night,' he replies.

When I was a university student, I read this play and honestly felt, "Well, it's possible to get caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. It's quite realistic to imagine myself being caught between an approaching demon and a precipice. If I were told to take one or the other, I would probably jump into the sea. I wouldn't want to be caught and eaten by a demon. The reason why this woman failed to commit suicide is that at that time, furnished flats and boarding houses in the UK generally had a system where the gas was supplied by the coins you put in. The woman turned on the tap with insufficient coins, so the gas was cut off halfway through. When I lived in a London flat in the late 1980s, gas was no longer coin-operated.

When I was a child, there was a beach near my house, so I used to go there every day in the summer and swim as much as I wanted. I still like to swim in the sea and once a year I participate in a triathlon race. I'm not that fast, though. The joy of swimming in the sea is that once you get a bit further out to sea, there is no one there anymore. In a swimming pool, it can be a hassle when it's crowded or there are people in the next lane who want to race you, but not in the sea. You can swim at your own pace, take it easy and swim as long as you like. If you get tired, just lie on your back and look at the sky. White summer clouds float in the sky and seagulls fly straight across. But of course, it's not all fun and games. I had a few horrific encounters while swimming in the sea. I was once badly stung by a jellyfish. I have been swept out to sea by strong tides and almost carried out to sea. I have often had my legs cramped. I have yet to see a shark, but I have seen big stingrays many times. The scariest time was when I swam too far into a deep sea hole in the Hawaiian Sea. Only there the seabed is much deeper. The water was endlessly clear and silent, and I felt as if I was floating above a valley of skyscrapers all by myself. I am afraid of heights, so I was dizzy, my spine shuddered and I felt myself shivering. The devil and the deep blue sea are perhaps not set on the outside but on the inside of our hearts. That's what I think every time I remember that endless deep sea hole.

It is always waiting for us to pass through somewhere, potentially. When I think about it, life is kind of scary.

Murakami this week.
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After you're being proposed to, it's too late, said an advertisement for a wedding venue, ...I don't know what to say...'