Some Prospero To End On

Because Facebook won't accept this as a direct status update, I come as it indirectly, by posting these words of William Shakespeare's indirectly through Livejournal.

Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep. - The Tempest, Act IV, Scene i.

Shadrach Dingle

A character in the British TV soap Emmerdale, Shadrach Dingle was a character in every sense. An uncontrolled drunk, a stranger to soap and water, his character went from hedonist to degenerate, with the occasional rare sidestep into wisdom and heroism.

The actor, Andy Devine, was apparently devastated when the production company ITV decided to write him out. Andy had problems keeping up with a busy schedule.

So a few days back, they killed off Shadders. Apparently, he was in a boat on the river on Shadrach's birthday, drunk despite his illness which precluded him ever drinking alcohol again. Some tins of beer fell overboard; doubling over in agony from attempting to reach for them, he fell in and drowned.

So this fictional character Shadrach is fictionally dead.

Why do I feel so sad? He was a fictional character in a TV soap.

But the character was played so well.

And at least I know that Shadrach Dingle died trying to save his one true love, so that's all right, then.