We bore ourselves in order to earn money that we'll later spend on trying to de-bore ourselves

Working is bad enough in the winter, but in the summer it can become completely intolerable. Stuck in airless offices, every fibre of our being seems to cry out for freedom. We're reminded of being stuck in double maths while the birds sing outside.

Faffing of course does not fit the programme. We are supposed to be busy, productive citizens.

Deleting 200 spams a day is a drag. And I was checking my email constantly, rather than getting on with my real work, which is reading and writing. Email was becoming a distraction, a burden rather than a liberation.

Sensible people advise against drinking on an empty stomach, but to my mind it is the best sort of drinking.

Laziness works. And the simple way to incorporate its health benefits into your life is simply to take a nap.

The terrible thing about the internet and Amazon is that they take the magic and happy chaos out of book shopping. The internet might give you what you want, but it won't give you what you need.