I didn’t bother him, and he walked across the room to pick up my guitar and used it to identify the note he was humming. He then announced what the note was. I knew without being told (from knowing what he was like) that the note in question was the resonant frequency of the toilet next to our room.

—

I once had a summer job working for a small publisher. It was a one man band (plus some part-time helpers) and the boss was an ex-chemistry lecturer. He got a manuscript for a book explaining quantum theory using Alice in Wonderland as a metaphor (allegory?). He knew it needed editting as it had vast swathes of supporting theory in end notes which needed distributing throughout the text, but he understood it all already so I had to do the editting.

Teaching myself quantum theory from a book that featured people like The Quarks Brothers, then going beyond that to work out how the style could be improved periodically threatened to make my head explode. At such times I would retire to the loo and let my equilibrium reassert itself.

I am a strong believer in the toilet as an aid to the creative process.