I'd Never Have Written The Big Books

Without Doubt, Keep A Diary. From The Day You're Born, Keep A Diary, Because We All Forget Things So Quickly.

It's A Good Idea To Wait A Few Months Before Joining Anything When You Arrive At A Village. A Bookseller Friend Who Retired To Nearby Oxfordshire, And Was Worried He Might Be Bored, Got Himself On To Every Village Committee In The First Six Months, And Spent The Next Ten Years Extricating Himself.

In A Village You Can't Sack Or Fight With Someone, As You'll Find Yourself Stuck Beside Them In The Hairdresser's Next Morning.

At Home I Have Big Vats Of Cabbage Soup That I Make To Slim Down.

Meetings ... Are Rather Like Cocktail Parties. You Don't Want To Go, But You're Cross Not To Be Asked.