James,

Thanks for the call today. Great talking. Happy Holy Week.

Sorry to hear about the apparent demise of your common law marriage; thanks for the recommendation on Gilgemesh —it’s been… possibly 33-34 years since I first (and last) read that epic. Probably time for a re-read I agree.

Thanks also for the heads up on possible rides to Man Weekend in Tennessee.

Would be good to meet up when you’re in the area, yes.

With regard to masking, another anecdotal report, written nearly a week after the fact:

Late morning Q train Manhattan, Friday, March 22, 2024;

~45 total passengers through 4-5 stops, with 9-10 wearing masks (!);

ethnic/age backgrounds:

~5-6 East Asian,

2-3 elderly (~60-75 years old) caucasian women;

1 overweight caucasian male ~30’s-40’s.

The East Asians were also mostly older, a couple and 2-3 women, with only one possibly 30’s professionally dressed looking women.

This being my first report in a long time, I should mention that I believe I can confirm your take on there being a persistent hard-core or true believer mask wearing population of around 5%. At first I merely started counting masks and total passengers on a whim, but then when I reached 9 masks, I concentrated and made a mental note and estimated total passengers and did a few re-counts after the stops because, let’s face it, 18-20%—those are big numbers! And that’s not even a full train. A fully packed rush hour train might feature 80-100, possibly upwards of 120 passengers. With ~45, we’re still talking about a few empty seats here and there, and nobody needing to stand next to a stranger, i.e. some spacing and distancing options.

Be well, and thanks again,

Crux Cross

Sir, this is remarkably consistent across the nation when you consider that no Americans wore masks before 2020. The day before we talked, on Easter, I sat at a bar in Grand Junction next to a 20 year old man drinking a sprite who wore a mask!

Cross country train capacity looks the same at a distance, counting cars like John Dvorak. But, one sleeper car has been added, with each holding less than 30 passengers. only 2 coach cars are now used, and only one of these will have downstairs seating, sometimes none. A coach holds 72 to 100 passengers. The trend of single women of all ages relocating is continuing.

Thank you