Sunday, November 28

Soon we will drive to Itis so that I can order the laptop that I didn’t order yesterday. I used my time at home last night to look up reviews and, yes, I do want it.

While I wait outside I spot a snail frozen to the wood of the terrace. I photograph it and then attempt to move it, but that does not seem possible anymore.

We will learn later that the world now contains a new variant of the coronavirus: one code-named Omicron which originated in South Africa. Governments have reacted by shutting airports and reimposing all sorts of rules for travelling.

Yesterday evening it looked as though we had India to look forward to in late December. Indeed the whole laptop business occurred in part because I wanted to have something with me in Kerala capable of making booklets, new worlds, podcasts, videos, and more, and I still hope that I will need it there.

The excitement mounts, the tension rises, and none of it in a good way. We thought the problems had more or less disappeared when we got our visas earlier in the week. Apparently not.

Nature seems to want to have many more plot twists in store for us before we find ourselves on a plane landing in Trivandrum. If nobody has ever pointed out the similarity between life and a rollercoaster ride before, then perhaps I could say it first.