I took my sight and mobility for granted.

I have decided to keep a full journal, in the hope that my life will perhaps seem more interesting when it is written down.

I think we take it for granted that if you are with your husband after 30 years, then he is the love of your life.

Now I know I am an intellectual. I saw Malcolm Muggeridge on the television last night, and I understood nearly every word. It all adds up. A bad home, poor diet, not liking punk. I think I will join the library and see what happens.

Most social problems could be helped or prevented if people had more money and practical advice.

8.45 a.m. My mother is in the hospital grounds smoking a cigarette. She is looking old and haggard. All the debauchery is catching up with her.

I never imagined when I began writing in the early 1960s I'd become professional and my life would be transformed.