Did you read about someone spotting what they think is a Nile crocodile in a
river in northern Spain? And the guy getting his leg bitten off by a shark.
Hunker down, people, hunker down.
Apparently that’s a Scottish word. https://www.etymonline.com/word/hunker ;
<https://www.etymonline.com/word/hunker> I like the stuff about the noun.
Especially the early meaning of “hunks.” Now there’s a word that’s drifted.
I’m currently wondering whether hunkering is the opposite of “standing with.”
Ever since my knees were trimmed, I’ve not been about to squat, so you won’t
find me hunkering under any circumstance.
Or sleeping through the night. Someone I talked with today said she’s noticed
how well she’s been sleeping since being locked down. Less to worry about.
Seems theoretically possible, but not what they now call, “lived experience.”
I suppose the opposite is vicarious experience.
Told L. as we began watching another episode of “La Femme Nikita” where the
plot was going. Was right. So she asked when we started the second one, “And
this?” Right again. She said I should be writing that kind of thing. I said
it’s a lot easier to understand others’ plotting problems than to solve your
own.
I’ve got to the point in my reading on the Yom Kippur war where the Israelis
learn the cost of promoting someone to a position beyond his abilities. At
least similar people in my life generally don’t get people killed.
I looked at my calendar just now. I do not have a single appointment before
July. That will change, but what a lovely prospect. I reached the end of a
first draft of act two last week. Maybe they shouldn’t call places where
writers go to enjoy the tranquility in which to create, “retreats”; they should
be called hunkers. Everyone gets a cabin in the woods in which to squat.
Or not.
Do carry on.
David Ritchie,
Portland, Oregon
