the poor father has got shingles, poor him! poor me, come to that: i’ve never had chicken pox before and might catch it off him. ought i decline social invitations for a week or two to be sure i haven’t got it? all my own friends would have had their ritual spots at a more conventional stage of their lives and are unlikely to be in danger of contagion from me (if i have even caught it) but one might sit next to a pregnant lady on the train and set off a chain of tragic events spanning 30 years like in that agatha christie story…