Yes, quite absurd. [Crane had the feeling that he was rather out of his depth. Not to mention that he would very much like his hand back.] Although, considering the general calibre of most of the people here, that's hardly surprising that there's a high level of deep pathological disturbance.

[Crane was tempted to simply start trying to yank his hand free. He settled for trying to draw it back gently, hoping that Alastair would realise what he was doing and let it go.]