"Life is an incurable disease, transmitted exclusively through sexual contact, with inevitable death." To be honest, it never occurred to me that such a book could turn out. Many years ago, in my blog on LiveJournal, I wrote down the first tale “Belomor”. Then again. Others followed... When the number of stories exceeded the second ten, the idea came to collect the records in one file. At first it was “Tales of an Old Locksmith”. However, many stories about childhood and school, about my other jobs and hobbies were left behind. I inserted them, and then began to think: what should I call all this now? I thought for a long time, turning it this way and that. And then the lines of Vladimir Vysotsky came to mind: I lay down at the bend of existence, Halfway to the abyss, And my whole story is the History of a disease. Mine too.