Authors Electric

  Yesterday my son travelled on a bus. I can't remember when he last did this. It must have been over a year ago, before he started working from home. His trip, across town to collect things from his old place of work before he started a new job, was the subject of a disproportionate amount of discussion between us beforehand. His first thought was that he would walk all the way there and back, but as the route would involve going up quite a steep hill and down the other side (and return) I tried to talk him into getting a taxi at least one way. He was reluctant to do that but at last decided to risk getting the bus. On his way back, another family member happened to see him waiting for the bus and gave him a lift home. As soon as he told me this, I began to work out whether there had been any risk attached to that option. Happily, the risk seemed minimal as the other family member had been fully vaccinated and they both wore masks. We have both avoided risk almost entirely by stay...

An American Journey One August during the 80s my friend David travelled to America. He had been invited over by Arthur, who he had met in his student days when he was in New York and who was then driving yellow cabs. Arthur had contacted him by ringing his mother to find out where he was and what he was doing. She had told him about David’s divorce two years ago and his need for friends at that time. Arthur was by now a steward with Pan-Am and made routine flights to Heathrow, staying at The Sheraton Hotel in Knightsbridge. The upshot was that they met up in London a few times. They even went to see Bob Dylan together. Anyway, I digress. The result of the Sheraton visits was that Arthur invited David to his apartment in New York, where he lived with Sandra and their son, Jesse, and he suggested that David launch out on an American journey. They went together to Jansport to buy a rucksack for the trip, which believe it or not he still has, and a 15-day Greyhound  Ameripass . Arthur ...