"Life is a state of mind"

Hal Ashby' s Being There (1979) was Peter Seller's last - many say best - movie.

In the final scene of this tenderly-filmed allegory, based on the book by Jerzy Kosinski, Chauncey Gardiner (Sellers) walks aimlessly around the Washington estate of his benefactor Ben Rand (actually Vanderbilt's Biltmore Estate in North Carolina) unaware that he has reached great heights of success in his own absence, and wanders onto the surface of the ornamental lake. He pauses to prod the water with his umbrella before walking on, away from camera, with Rand's words 'Life is a state of mind' superimposed on the background; living proof of the movie's subtitle, and subtext, that 'Anything is possible'.

This photograph of Jessica, taken near the middle of the lough last week - Long Sheelah, a favourite picnic site which is covered at high tide, is in the background - shows that if it's good enough for Peter Sellers..