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Hayley Campbell’s article The Pursuit of Loneliness:

https://www.theguardian.com/global/2017/sep/17/choosing-to-be-on-your-own

Is a brief foray through her thoughts on being alone generally, and specifically being alone today in a big city. She gives two examples, one of which is heart-breaking:

• there is the out of work actor who frequents the same gym as Hayley, only he spends 7 hours every day there; each hour changing out of a ringing wet t-shirt into a fresh one. She says you can judge how long he has been there by the number of shirts piled at his feet.
• then there is the whale that has been tracked for 20+ years, cruising the world’s oceans, singing at a frequency higher than that of other whales. No whales answer, it is speculated because they cannot hear his calls.

She says, “…loneliness is a darker thing than just being alone. It is a stillness that gives you a preview of death; its seeing the world carry on just fine without you.”

Just the sort of thing for a Monday morning.