Line of the Day

If I wanted to say that Princess Margaret smoked a lot, I'd probably say, um, "Princess Margaret smoked a lot, plus Dame Vera Lynn is kind of a bitch." Mark Steyn, however, makes much more money with his writing than I do, and the biggest reason is paragraphs like this one:

According to the obituaries, [Princess Margaret] was a 30-a-day gal. By my reckoning, she got through a good couple of dozen over lunch. By the time Vera Lynn sent back the fish and asked them to bring her some chicken, Her Highness had had at least three. By the time Dame Vera sent back the chicken, telling the waiter “This is inedible”, Her Highness had had maybe six or seven. By the time Dame Vera remarked to me that “the colour of your jacket is making me nauseous”, Her Highness was on her second pack. She smoked between mouthfuls, she smoked between gulps, she smoked between cigarettes.

Now that's writing.