Dip into the absurdObiter has had cause before to note the somewhat eccentric but usually entertaining writings of solicitor James Benson, editor of Liverpool Law Society's magazine, The Bulletin.

In the latest issue, he was subjected to a question-and- answer session by the Merseyside Young Solicitors Group, and did not disappoint.

What was the first record you ever bought? was one fairly innocuous question.

'The 100 yards breast-stroke (indoor competition),' he wrote.

'I have purchased many other swimming records since, so avoiding unnecessary exposure of my body to water and the tedium of having to constantly dry myself unaided.' Mr Benson often gives the impression that it is life as a legal aid solicitor that has led him to seek solace in the absurd and he let the faade slip in explaining what he would have been had he not become a lawyer: 'A normal person with a balanced lifestyle and immensely rich had I put the same hours, energy and dedication into something else.'