from time to time

From time to time I manage to read a few pages of the classic novel, "The Good Soldier Schwejk." In the part I was reading the other night, S. is being interrogated by a sort of military policeman who is looking for Russian spies---who he was told speak perfect Czech--as does Schwejk. He asks Schwejk about drinking tea. (Schwejk is drinking tea with rum.) Do they drink tea with rum in Russia? There is rum everywhere in the world. And are Russian women beautiful? There are beautiful women everywhere in the world. Disappointing answers, but whatever S. says the policeman is convinced that S. is a spy, and he admires him for his ability to remain calm in the face of his (the policeman's) subtle method of questioning. There's a lesson in that for police and spies everywhere................. and, not to be too subtle, for the spies on the internet as well......