Machines that look like little Cars #2

At the first scriptwriting meeting of 2013 we settled soon enough on adapting Agatha Christie's Cards on the Table as the next production from the Riddled Amateur Dramatic Society. But it was immediately clear that the plot needed one or two minor tweaks to meet the expectations of the needy demanding audience of today, because after all, who plays Bridge any more?

And today, poring over the pages of hastily-scribbled dialog by the cold grey light of an open refrigerator, I see that we have also taken out the element of backstory whereby Dr Roberts committed murder by infecting the victim's shaving brush with anthrax spores (because after all, who uses shaving cream these days? Least of all Anthrax fans).

Evidently we were not willing at that point to relitigate the hard-won agreement on what to call the production. Consequently, the plot now seems to bring the characters all together in a focus group to consider possible designs for a novelty electric shaver (available from the Riddled Gyft Shoppe). Did I mention that the script workshop was held in the garden bar of the Old Entomologist, with the usual rounds of Christmas Ale, and the usual complaints from Another Kiwi that some joker had slipped him a trick glass with the "This Way Up" arrow pointing the wrong way?

Tigris says not to give away any spoilers about the ingenious denouement where all the loose plot threads are tied up neatly. So I will keep the New Year's resolution.