Literary life used to be quite different in Britain in the years I lived there, from 1971 to 1989, because money was not a factor - no one made very much except from U.S. sales and the occasional windfall.

People who don't read books a lot are threatened by books.

Everyone had an opinion and no one had a solution.

There are two worlds: the world of the tourist and the world of everyone else. Often they're side by side. But the tourist doesn't actually see how people live.

Although I'm not fluent in sign language by a long way, I could have a fairly decent conversation.

...a society without jaywalkers might indicate a society without artists.

It is almost axiomatic that the worst trains take you through magical places.