Muscled out

I'm always curious about traces of the past glimpsed unexpectedly and here in Carmarthen today I spotted that this shabby corner building must once have been the Capitol Cinema back when a night out at the pictures with your sweetheart was one of the few ways to get up close and personal in a chapel-ridden Welsh town.

Other details [see big] drew my attention such as the garish Pizza and Burger House named, I assume with some irony, Top Taste. The addition of doner kebab to the menu has been helpfully scrawled on either side of the door. Then there's the shuttered Sartorius Private Health Club with its disturbing invitation 'Everyone Welcome to View at Any Time'. Who, I wondered, were the users and who the viewers at such an establishment?

Sartorious is an interesting word though. It's the name for the longest muscle in the human body which winds, ribbon-like, down the length of the inner thigh from hip to knee. (This is the muscle that comes into play when you check the sole of your shoe for dog shit.) The word comes from the Latin for tailor, sartor, and it's known as the tailor's muscle - possibly because of the cross-legged position adopted for sewing. Straining this muscle, as I once did, is very painful and affects mobility. (I went to a Tui Na therapist with mine and that in itself was an alarming experience.)

Irrelevant, but more fun, is Alison Goldfrapp singing Sartorius. Do have a listen.
Armed with the kisses and money in their hands, Those girls on their heels sound like horses to me...