A GOOD BACK UP

What with this COVID-19 keeping many of us housebound, there‘s some thing that comes out of it that’s both interesting and enjoyable. It’s those watching television personalities, or anyone else being interviewed, taken remotely from their living rooms, dens or other parts of their homes.

When would we ever see where they live? Sometimes not much: a blank wall behind them. An empty wall made of bricks. A back garden with or without a pool. Or…

Nine out of ten times these days they’ll have a bookcase crammed with books behind them. You don’t believe me? Look for yourself. All sorts of bookcases, some filling the screen. It must give the interviewee’s persona a lift.

I’m usually not listening to the interview so much as I’m scanning the bookshelves to see if any of the books are mine. Particularly the recently released HARM’S WAY, the international thriller. Or HARVEST, set in France.

I’m batting zero so far.

What if an interview is planned to be taped – or live – with you in your house? You don’t have a bookcase? Hmm. Try the Yellow Pages. Surely someone would deliver a rental mobile bookcase full of real books. You sit in front of it, do the interview and later the bookcase is taken away. No fuss, no bother.

Author’s comment: Mind, I’d rather do a remote interview on radio where I feel more relaxed. In a bathtub full of soapy, warm water. Or in bed under a cozy duvet. With no one being the wiser. By the way, that's my office bookcase. (See below).