The ogre in his garden

“How many people drop in on us? That is a criterion of friendship. Or may tell us our faults? To how many do we give unexpected presents? With whom can we remain silent?”
– The Unquiet Grave by Cyril Connelly writing as Palinurus

I read this passage this morning while waiting for the AT&T technician. The fiber installers came back a couple days ago and knocked out my internet again. I’m back on my backup connection.

Just the expectation that the technician was going to “drop in” on me helped me jump out of bed this morning and set up outside with a cup of tea to sip and a book to read, so I can be discovered doing my usual morning mental exercise. Sadly, I think I just resemble the ogre described a bit further down the page.

“When we see someone living alone, like a beech-tree in a clearing, with no other signs of life around him yet proclaiming his freedom, displaying his possessions and maintaining his devotion to his friends, we can be sure that such a person is an ogre and that human bone-meal lies buried under his roots.”