Left hand, right hand

I once read somewhere that ten per cent of the world's population is left-handed. My wife, bless her, is the one in ten. Now, that doesn't cause us too many problems, even though I am in the 90% that is right-handed. I have become partly ambidextrous. By that I mean that even though our electric kettle is placed in such a way that it has to be picked up in the left hand, that now causes me no difficulty: I simply lift it and pour using my left hand. Simple. The potato peeler, however, is a different matter. There are potato peelers for right-handed people and there are potato peelers for southpaws. There are even potato peelers that can be used in either hand, and we have one of those.

Although I can't claim to have made the definitive study of the subject - or even done any research at all - I think that most people when they peel a potato hold the vegetable in one hand while wielding the peeler in the other and pulling it across the potato towards themselves. That seems the natural way of doing the job and, indeed, that is the way single-handed peelers are made. The type of peeler that lives in our kitchen has two blades facing in opposite directions. (Forgive me if I am going into too much detail.) This means that it can be used in either hand in the normal fashion. However, as my wife was the first to use it and it was quite a while before I peeled any potatoes, the peeler became a left-handed peeler. Somehow the blade for a right-handed person became so blunt as to be useless. This means that when I peel potatoes I have to peel away from myself as if sharpening a pencil. And it's not just our peeler either. My cousin (and both she and her husband are right-handed) has the same model - but my wife can't use it as it has become a right-handed peeler. It's all very strange.

It's not just tools and the like which go the wrong way round. Just look and see which way round people place ornamental jugs. Right-handed people naturally place them with the handle to the right, left-handers the other way. We have a very large jug at the foot of the stairs and to me it always looks the wrong way round. You've guessed it: it was She Who Must Be Obeyed who put it there.

I find the same thing with pictures and photographs. Many years ago I was told about the rule of thirds. This states that in composing a picture, it works best if something is place one third in and one third up or down - like this:

The theory is that the Chattri (the memorial) catches the viewer's eye and leads into the picture. (I think that is the theory, but I could be wrong.) For me, it works - this way round.








But in this picture, taken from almost exactly the same spot, I find my eye being led out of the scene. I suppose it could be that there is more to look at in the first picture, but I don't think that is the reason. Could it be that I am used to reading the printed word from left to right and automatically do the same with pictures?

And what, you ask, is the point of all this? Well, there isn't one really; it's just me musing.