Mental arithmetic

I remember my first term at school in Hong Hong, the summer of 1975. Each week, there was a mental arithmetic test, a challenge I'd never encountered before. The first week, I barely had time to write the questions down (which, of course, is not the point).

But by the time I left the Peak School in 1977, I was more than up to scratch. 

Tonight, though, I was not quite quick enough. Charlie and I met up for dinner at The Beagle in Chorlton, and decided to order pizza. I wasn't sure whether to go for my own 14" or to share a 22".

As you can see, we opted for the latter. When I did get around to the maths later on, that turned out to represent rather more pizza per seat. (With an eye on my training, though, I left the last slice of my half.)