Like a lot of things during the pandemic, my next book of columns, which I planned to compile in 2020, fell by the wayside. There were other things on my mind. But finally it’s done and out into the world.

“Waving at Strangers” is subtitled “A Parade of Inland Valley Daily Bulletin Columns, 2006-2010.” It’s adorned by a cover photo of yours truly waving from the back of a convertible as grand marshal of the Pomona Christmas Parade in 2007.

After promising to tell you about my book a couple of times recently, the time for procrastination is over. Especially now that a few events have been scheduled, for which I’d rather not face rows of empty seats. So here we go. You’ll find a schedule later in this column.

The existence of “Waving at Strangers” isn’t news, exactly, but for longtime readers the contents may bring back memories of columns and events past. A few of you will even find your names in it. That’s one of the beauties of local journalism.

Included are farewells to a Rancho Cucamonga hardware store, Claremont’s champion talker and a former restaurateur who died in a gutter in Upland.

A few government meetings are attended and mocked. I profile Jim Nakano, the owner of Glendora’s Donut Man, as well as a businessman in La Verne who won a contest seeking the most cluttered workspace.

In other columns, I join ghost hunters inside an old theater, visit a psychic, race for Metrolink’s last late-night train home, suffer a (ugh) kidney stone, introduce Ray Bradbury at an event, eat all 144 items on a restaurant menu, pay homage to the end of “The O.C.” and shop at Tower Records in its last days.

Some columns are about local history. Robert F. Kennedy’s one-day visit to Ontario and Pomona in 1968 is chronicled. Shakey’s Pizza in Montclair gets a tribute as the oldest chain location still in operation locally. The origins of Miller’s Outpost in Ontario are remembered.

A few chronicle history as it happened. People gathered on a corner in Pomona in hopes of seeing President Barack Obama’s motorcade in 2009. A 1929 railroad bridge over Route 66 in Rancho Cucamonga is lifted from its perch and hauled away in 2010.

Nostalgia about phone numbers is one theme. I lament the loss of my childhood phone number after my parents moved. Readers share their own stories, some of them very sweet, about their own childhood number. Another column is about old Inland Empire phone prefixes, like YUkon, LYcoming and NAtional.

Some columns are just for laughs. A series of spam emails offered me great wealth. Various local statues carry on a conversation about the state of things. Bob Dylan’s jokes from his “Theme Time Radio Hour” show are compiled by yours truly, and they are silly enough for our “Slice of Wry” daily joke feature.

And, referring back to the title and cover, the saga of the Pomona Christmas Parade is told.

I was chosen as grand marshal, and it wasn’t a joke at my expense. That was fun. Then the next year, as the recession kicked in, the parade was canceled due to lack of funds. Its resurrection the following year was a relief, as I’d blamed myself for its demise. Perhaps I hadn’t waved vigorously enough.

One of my favorite columns is herein: a tour of Ontario’s Bellevue Cemetery. That one was influenced by the late, revered L.A. Times columnist Jack Smith, whose work I discovered during this period.

There’s lots more, including my dinner in La Verne with “Exorcist” star Linda Blair and The Soup Nazi from “Seinfeld.” The Soup Nazi ladled me a bowl of soup. Really.

For you readers to the east, “Waving” contains only a glancing mention or two of San Bernardino or Riverside. My job in this period, and up until 2020 actually, was to focus on cities like Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga and Pomona, and that’s what I did.

The hard work in compiling this book was, first, to reread some 750 columns, comprising about 600,000 words, and then whittle down the nominees to 75 columns, plus some short items. The result, as published by Claremont-based Pelekinesis, is the best of five years of my work.

“Waving” follows my two earlier chronological collections: “Getting Started,” which covered 1997-2000, and “On Track,” for 2001-2005. (There are also two Pomona-focused books: “Pomona A to Z” and “100 Years of the L.A. County Fair, 25 Years of Stories.”) The idea is to put the best of my work between two covers for posterity.

The majority of my work has fallen off the internet — it happens — and scarcely exists outside of library microfilm and my own files. But as these columns are, gulp, my life’s work, I have an interest in keeping at least some portion of it alive.

If inclined, you can order “Waving at Strangers” ($22) from your favorite store or buy it off Amazon. Most copies, though, are sold by me personally at events.

In giving talks, I enjoy reading my work aloud before a real rather than imagined audience, taking your questions and interacting with anyone interested enough to have shown up to hear me. See the event list below.

And don’t be a stranger.

Come see me!

Here’s where I’m scheduled to be and when:

Today, 7 a.m. (groan), at Landecena Family Community Center, 1325 San Bernardino Road, Upland, hosted by Upland Foothill Kiwanis.

Tuesday, 7 p.m., at the Barbara Greenwood Kindergarten, 332 W. McKinley Ave., Pomona, hosted by the Historical Society of Pomona Valley. (The building is a 1907 Craftsman bungalow that was originally a pioneering, standalone kindergarten.)

Nov. 12, 5:30 p.m., at the Redlands Forum, Esri Conference Center, 380 New York St., Redlands. I’m not worthy!

Nov. 14, 7 p.m., at the Ginger Elliott Center, 840 N. Indian Hill Blvd. in Claremont, hosted by Claremont Heritage.

Nov. 23, 10 a.m., at the Upland Public Library, 450 N. Euclid Ave., where I usually pack ’em in. God bless Upland.

More events to come! And if your library, historical society, service club or sewing circle wants to host me, drop me a line.

David Allen writes Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, promotionally. Email dallen@scng.com, phone 909-483-9339, like davidallencolumnist on Facebook and follow @davidallen909 on X.