On reflection, this week wasn’t the most relaxing of family breaks to Cornwall. And for those that revel in these things, I can say with some certainty, that at times, it was the most miserable I have ever been.

Still, I did read another book. Perhaps I might add Echoes of an Autobiography by Naguib Mahfouz to the list of 25 others, that have interested more book readers than I anticipated last week. (Is it only a week since I published the list? Seems like an epoch.)

The book gave moments of fragmentary pleasure during a dreadful week. As Mahfouz wrote “there whispered in my ear a voice at dawn: ‘Congraulations to you – the time for making your farewells has been decreed.’ Deeply affected I closed my eyes and saw my funeral moving along, with myself at its head carrying a large glass filled with the nectar of life”