Cone Man falls in with a company of wizards ...

Cone Man began his adventure to the terrible wilderness of the far north of the Land of the Huttites by rising early with the intention of his house at 6.50am. He intended to test the logistics of getting there by 8am each morning by land canoe and rail canoe.

Cone Man's plan was derailed when at 6.50am he discovered that the terrible Middle Aged Midlife Midriff Monster had savagely rent his pants asunder! Keeping his manly calm Cone Man changed into another pair of pants, but nevertheless found that he was too late for the 7.07am land canoe, which meant that he was too late for the 7.28am rail canoe and was thus reduced to waiting for the 7.48 am rail canoe.

Cone Man's interview was at 10am, so it was not the end of the world, but that was not the end of the saga. "Blazing cones!" blazed Cone Man. "I REALLY MUST STOP FEEDING THIS BEAST!"

Arriving at his destination, Cone Man found that the local Hall of Wisdom was closed until 9.30am. Few businesses on the main street were open at 8.30am when he wandered around. Cone Man had spent the last 25 years getting to work at 8am each morning, and was bemused by this local peculiarity, but it left him with time to while away and he bought a flat white at a gothic café, redolent heavy metal motifs, right down to the counter server wearing a shirt saying "See you in Hell".

Cone Man quaffed his flat white, marvelling at the strange conundrum whereby the government was so secular that it was proudly contemptuous of religion, conservatives were ashamed to admit to being religious, and only twenty year old Satanists were prepared to calmly look the Devil in the eye and affirm the God given right of the average citizen to openly profess their religious beliefs while telling those did not like it to go to Hell. The attendant, furthermore, was polite, charming and courteous, and Cone Man wished her well when he had finished his coffee, which admittedly tasted rather good.

Cone Man's interview was successful and he had got himself a two week internship with a company of wizards located in a tower in the marketplace of the far north of the Land of the Huttites. "We'll see where this epic quest leads" Cone Man smiled as he rode the rail canoe south …