City Comforts, 2nd edition is finished

I say it's finished and ready to be sampled (below) not because it is as good as it could be or one couldn't make it better but because:
1. Unless I start totally from scratch, I cannot improve the book a huge amount right now;
2. I'm tired of working on it for the moment and I can always do a THIRD edition; (this blog has generated a whole bunch of new material);
3. I am curious to see if anyone will buy it;
4. I believe in the architect's expression "Better built than perfect;"

What remains is to send it to the printer.

Oh yes there is also proofreading. Proofreading. Proofreading. There is nothing which speaks more loudly to the amateurish (in the bad sense) publication than spelling errors, etc etc which I make in abundance. So proofing is the word of the day; I'll do it down at the tavern tonight.

Meanwhile, here for your reading pleasure is a sample chapter from City Comforts, 2nd edition. It's about the key urban condition --- the condition which in fact defines urbanity --- of Bumping_into_People.

(This sample chapter is a PDF file of about 1.4 MB so if you have a dial-up...)