I am currently engaged in the reading of an old novel, in fact it is so old that persons younger than myself might be wont to call it acient. I, however, would not engage in such gross exagerations. Ancient is a word best used to describe those things from ages long past, and a mere three hundred or so years does not suffice.

It is not as though it is written in a language different from the one we speak today, although I must allow that the form is far more artful and loquatious than what passes for English in this present age. In any event, and as the case may be, you will likely take note that mine own style of expression in the written form has undergone something of a transformation. Such are the influences that works of art can have upon a man.

The new year has started and with it came hopeful expectations that our shares of Resverlogix would shake off the dust of the year just past and, once more, be sufficiently in demand to attract buyers in large enough numbers so as to force those purchasing to pay escalating prices. And while there has been a modest appreciation in said share price, the increase is so trifling as to hardly warrant any mention.

It should be noted of course, by all and sundry, that there has been but three days of trading in this, the year of our Lord two thousand and sixteen. Three days hardly provides sufficient information from which to draw weighty and meaningful conclusions. And it certainly is not enough to warrant so extensive and thoughtfu an analysis by I, your humble servant. But I am enjoying this endeavour so prithy, I will beg your indulgence.

During these three days the exchange of shares between buyers and sellers numbers the astounding total of 43,588. In terms of currency the sum total is somewhere around the figure of $75,000 of notes issued and gaurenteed by the Bank of Canada. In times past, in the days of Fielding say, such a sum would be sufficent to sustain a man and his family in exceedingly high fashion. In fact it would be more than needed to endow offspring of the female nature with a handsome dowry and sons with the means to live as gentlemen. Sadly in our present age such a figure would be quickly exhausted by most families, and would not be ample enough to leave anything behind for future generations.

But let us once more consider that total figure for the three days of trading this year. Forty thousand five hundred and eighty eight, 43,588. Dividing that number by three we arrive at the figure 14,529 and a small remainder so trifling that I will dispense with mentioning it futher. Fourteen thousand five hundred and twenty nine shares trading on an average day so far this year. I would venture to place a not insignificant wager that there are at least some, and in all likelihood many, participants in our little community who have in their possession more shares than what we have seen exchanged on an average day this year. In fact I am certain there are some members who own more than the 43,588 we have seen bought and sold in the entire year.

The danger in endeavoring to write in such a learned and descriptive style is that one can become so enchanted by the beauty of the Enlish language, one is apt to forget the purpose of their discourse. It might best be described as being akin to a man walking on foot who becomes so enthralled by the wonders of our natural world that he forgets whence lies the destination of his journey. I will therefore steel myself to the task and recollect to myself that my purpose was to view the three days of trading this year with the first three days of trading during the year just past.

So, and to that point, in 2015 or for those who prefer the more formal form, the year of our Lord two thousand and fifteen, the first three days of trade saw a sum total of 102,400 shares moved between the hands of buyer and seller. A cautionary word is required here, for it is never my intention to willingly deceive any man, and whenever possible it is best to compare two things of the same kind. Apples, it is often said, should only be compared to apples and not to oranges or any other fruit, and certainly not to vegetables. But in comparing the last year of trading to this I must compare an apple and an orange, and satisfy myself in the knowledge that both are fruit and neither is a carrot.

The number 43,588 that I cited as being representative of the trading this year is, by any measure and authority that I am able to verify, the true and accurate figure. It includes all shares traded on the many varying exchanges that exist within Canada. Sadly, the number for the year past, that being 102,400, this number lacks the exactitude of the 2016 figure, or as those despicable speakers of French say, chiffre. Last year's figue includes only those shares traded on Canada's primary exchange for this purpose, that which is popularly called the TSX. It would be, therefore, reasonable to make an assumption at this point that the number of shares traded in the first three days of 2015 actually exceeded the 102,400 noted.

All this talk of numbers with hardly any mention of currency, I know this will be vexing to a number of friends here who seem most fixated on that devilishly made commodity.

January last the shares of Resverlogix started the year 2015 trading at just fifty four cents, a pathetic valuation although perhaps a week's wages for someone of skill in the time of the aforementioned Fielding. And after three days of trading in 2015, what then you ask? Why the price in fact fell to forty nine cents. Five cents less, although certainly much more alarming were I to express it as a number over one hundred, in percentage terms that is to say.

So good reader, though you may be somewhat alarmed at the state that Resverlogix is in right now, like a tree that seems to grow very little because we see it in the courtyard every day, by means of taking measurements from one year to the next we can in fact see vast improvement and growth.

Thus ends my musings and I must now commend those spirits, which aided my efforts by means of gentle whispers in my ear, to quit my garret for that other realm that is their own.

Anyone care to guess the novel I'm reading?