You hear doom and gloom about the Internet ruining young people's command of English - that's nonsense.

Knowing was a temptation. What you don't know won't tempt you.

As all historians know, the past is a great darkness, and filled with echoes.

At moments like this I envy those who have found a safe haven in which to bestow their hearts; or perhaps I envy them for having a heart to bestow. I often feel that I myself am without one, and possess in its stead merely a heart shaped stone.

In the First World War, people would be receiving letters from loved ones who had been dead for weeks, and they would not know until that black-bordered telegram arrived. I remember, of course, when it was letters only, or the telephone, and you did not make expensive long-distance calls unless it was, "Come home to the funeral," or the like.

If you want what's in the package you should at least know how to get the string off, is what I say.

Maybe that's what love is, I thought: it's being pissed off.