- 2 -

I'm pretty sure it has been nearly three thousand days since I stepped foot out of this building. In all that time, for only ten of those days I was without electricity, with a maximum of only two days in a row. Its amazing how efficient even the utility companies can be in the face of competition.

There were also six days, three each time, when I had no water, in fact no plumbing of any kind.

Whilst electricity provides my real lifeline to the world - communication - it was the plumbing that nearly, but not quite, led me to emerge into the world. A toilet that doesn't flush and no shower nearly shattered the shell around my little world. After the second crisis I had a tank installed on my balcony and another in the rooftop garden.

The numbers mean something, because I am coming up to three thousand reviews too, all written and paid for. There's a chance I can write my three thousandth review on my three thousandth day. It won't have meaning for anyone else, but maybe I should treat it with some kind of reverence. It's not like I do birthdays anymore, and if I did, who could I invite? I wore out people's patience years ago, making excuses for every invite. Eventually invites stopped arriving.