The last few days have gone by with difficulty. I have been sort of SIK most of the weekend, just exhaustion, I guess, but it feels like yuk. This is not a diary nor a bleat book, though you might think so, so I won’t go into detail. I’ll think of something cheerful and detached—soon.

Just to remind you (and me):

blog noun: a personal website or web page on which an individual records opinions, links to other sites, etc. on a regular basis. verb (blogs, blogging, blogged) [ no obj. ] add new material to or regularly update a blog: it's about a week since I last blogged. • [ with obj. ] write about (an event, situation, topic, etc.) in a blog: he blogged the Democratic and Republican national conventions as an independent. DERIVATIVES blogger noun ORIGIN 1990s: abbreviation of weblog.

So now for something completely different: A new book. I thought I’d get to it today, but I didn’t. Try again tomorrow.

In his essay “My Financial Career” Stephen Leacock described his traumatic experience when he launched his financial career by opening a bank account with the deposit of $10. Then he realized he hadn’t reserved any spending money so he wrote a cheque for a dollar - or so he thought. in his already nervous condition he made a mistake and wrote a cheque for $10, the total amount he had just deposited. The surprised teller asked for confirmation of this mistake. Too proud to admit his error, the writer pretended he had been offended and said he wanted the full amount returned, and the account closed. He took his money and left the building to the laughter of the bank clerks. At least he got away with the money he started with. I checked bank charges today and he would never have been so lucky, in fact he’d come away with less than he started with.