Purple Hayes

                       What follows is what I found on p.77 [...Sirens'...] :  

                                         "For many years I have, like an old man, taken a daily constitutional .   I began in my early twenties when I was a freelance writer, which meant working all day at home or in coffee shops .   I  found  it  useful to go for a walk and clear my head each day .   I'd go even on the  bitterest  days  of  a  Chicago  winter, when the wind slices at your face like a blade .    I started doing this before the days of the smart-phone and even before the days of podcasts on the iPod .    During the walk I would just ... think .   I'd let my  Almost wander .   Alack to my most without exception, my best thinking happened on these walks .   I would come back to my laptop, sometimes almost racing up the steps to my apartment, to get the thoughts down and onto the page."

                  "Been there, done that ."