MY COMPANIONS. WHEN I’M RESTLESS I READ FROM SEVERAL BOOKS, BITS AND PIECES TO CHAPTERS. RIGHT NOW I’M NOT IN THE MOOD FOR ANY OF THESE SO… ALTHOUGH THE ‘BRITISH IN INDIA’ IS QUITE INTERESTING IN A LOVELY PUT-YOU-TO-SLEEP WAY.

The world is under house arrest, lockdown, it’s sheltering in place. Remember unsettling times of the past: fake ones like Y2K (we knew not to buy into the hype—but wasn’t it hard not to—just a little?); or the bona fide terror of 9/11 (when there was a real enemy—just not the one we blamed); and everything in between (like election night 2016). And now we have one doozy of an unsettlement. Covid-19. Fast and sneaky. New and mysterious. Killing in every single corner of the world.

I’m scared…I’m old…I’m isolating. A little depressed now and then. Working on that. Why should I be when I have web world in which to roam about. And streaming world. And book world. This evening all three. For starters googling pandemics and plagues and other fascinating killers. Usually I stick to Scandinavian bludgeonings and UK ax murders, but now and then it’s good to get serious about Real Death by great plagues and Spanish flu and cholera and the like. The Black Death (bubonic plague) in the 1300’s killed 200 million and that was all over the world as well. (We still have the occasional death by bubonic plague in New Mexico.) Check this site out for an interesting graphic…no idea how accurate but the site seems somewhat authentic (although market-based) https://www.visualcapitalist.com/history-of-pandemics-deadliest/

I started writing this post because I’m lonely…not necessarily for people but for regular life—and I’m only three or four days into this—what a wimp me. This is really intended to introduce some of my companions. For this post I’ll introduce the paper ones. Perhaps streaming will follow tomorrow as it’s both my pleasure and nemesis. For now: Books.

JUST RECEIVED. STARTING TOMORROW NIGHT. SEEMS THE PERFECT READ FOR THIS TIME.

THE BACKUPS. NEW FROM BOOKWORKS, OUR ABSOLUTELY FINE LOCAL BOOKSTORE.