Browsing through the online editions of several newspapers, I just stumbled upon an interesting article in The Guardian. It is about a book examining the rise of the number of people living alone. The numbers are staggering. At the moment, Sweden leads the world with forty-seven percent of single households. Norway comes second with forty percent. Thirty-four percent of households are single in Britain. America trails with twenty-seven percent. Overall, the number of single households has risen between 1996 and 2011 by fifty-five percent. Staggering, indeed. And entirely unprecedented. Never before have so many people lived alone. Among the reasons for this mentioned in the article is the welfare state that makes life outside the family or clan possible. However, it is clear that an increasing number of people prefer to live alone. I only wonder what will happen as climate change bites ever harder. As the family or clan are not viable options for many people in the developed world, new forms of community are likely to come into existence. Fortified monasteries of old seem to have a bright future.