Sonnet 2 - choosing the theme

I once contributed to a message thread on IMDb which was devoted to quotations from movies that had passed into our everyday conversation.

I suppose it shows a lack of original thought or eloquence on my part that I seemed to have a fund of them, and not just from the movies. I often quote Tony Hancock's 'Stone me, what a life!' Or, if someone has just come out with a cliche designed to clinch an argument, I will reply, 'Yes, and a dog is a man's best friend.'

Pete and Dud provided my first wife and me with material for in-jokes. If a visitor were to say something like, 'Well, I love gardening,' one of us would reply, 'As indeed who doesn't.' The other would take it up with 'I don't particularly,' and elicit the response 'Oh, really?' Well, it made us laugh, anyway.

Laurel and Hardy provided material for me and my children particularly. I suppose Stan and Ollie were just big kids, and so fitted very easily into father/child dialogue. 'Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into' was often appropriate, as was 'Why don't you do something to help me?'

In later years I've found useful quotations from Assault on Precinct 13. Recently, standing at the bar, apparently ignored by the staff who were rushing to serve everybody but me and my companion, I turned to him and said, 'Life just seems to pass us by.' And when deferring reluctantly to a fellow crossword-solver who insists on an answer, 'You can't argue with a confident man.' (Of course, it's better if you've seen the film).

And, after that roundabout journey, back to the theme for my sonnet, which I take from Assault. Napoleon Wilson, convicted murderer and awaiting possible execution, says, 'In my situation, days are like women. Each one is so damn precious - and they all end up leaving you.'

Now there's a poem in that.

I'm not going bald. I'm just getting taller than my hair.