Email from Poppa G:

I think I once emailed you that the epitome of sloth was Oblomov, the hero and title of the mid-19th century novel by Goncharov, a Ruissian classic. Oblomov, a wealthy landowner living in St Petersburg, succumbed to sloth so that he never wore anything but bathrobe and slippers, reclining on his couch and ignoring his friends’ supplications to do something about his landed estate, which was falling into ruin. He eventually dies, of course. His slothful life gave rise to the condition known as Oblomovshchina, extreme sloth, and it was used as a metaphor for Russia’s indifference to its future, especailly among the upper classes. I find that I am increasingly in the grip of one of the most powerful forces in the universe, inertia.