The human is a social animal

I was sitting at a desk doing not very much except staring at an open file when a friend texted me. We were supposed to meet for coffee later, but he was free earlier than he expected, did I want to meet now?

Yes! said I.

And this is how come I spent three hours this afternoon in a coffee-shop, doing nothing but talking and eating. C. is excellent people - he was very kind to me before I got to know him well, back when he was still doing his PhD, and that hasn't changed: it is a privilege to know such lovely people - and he didn't seem to mind that I spent a lot of time talking about funerals and theses.

I don't think I've spent so much time at one stretch actually talking to another human being since visiting tithenai in Glasgow in September. Spending so much time in my own space (and in my own head), I forget that I do like other people. More than that, in winter especially, I need to be around them at regular intervals, in order to feel halfway okay.

Shocking, right? Tonight I feel all warmly fuzzy and at peace with the world, from spending a while in person talking to a friend.