It seems as if barely a week has gone by since I last wrote a letter to you, and I am aware as I write this that not only is it really just seven days but, as I put pen to paper, you will not have received my last letter. Not that this small detail…

I am one of those few who do not advertise, at least, not in the way some people do and certainly not with the intention of selling anything; be it myself or anything else. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why I do not do more than hint at the vast number of years…

The post, it appears, is very inconsistent: one letter takes two weeks to travel between Europe and Indonesia, another takes nearly six weeks. I can understand that there are difficulties along the way, that driving or boating out to the islands is not necessarily something that happens every single day, but I had hoped that…

I am seriously considering changing the manner in which I write letters to people, not the content or the way that letters are sent, I shall certainly be continuing to write on paper and send my short messages through the post, but perhaps my decision, which I made right at the start of the year,…

I am inclined to write that losing people is a part of life we have to accept, and then leave it at that. As an explanation it is simple, honest, and hits the nail right on its head; but there is far more to it than that. We cannot just write people off because they…

I can confirm two things, one of which you asked and one which came to my mind as soon as I saw your question: yes, I did indeed receive your last letter asking me about the 1001 Arabian Nights and the various translations which have been made available; and yes, not only did I reply…

I’m not sure whether, taking one of your hopes in your last letter, that life is necessarily fair, I am sure there are many people out there who would wish the checks and balances went in a different direction now and then, that they had a better hand to play, or that things they hoped…

One of my favourite sayings, although no one is really sure where it came from, is: May you live in interesting times, and it is fair to say we are living through some of the most interesting, contentious, history-making times imaginable. The amusing thing about this saying, this apparently pleasant wish which the English tend…

There is a belief in the modern world that anything to do with the latest technology must be good, must work properly, and is always worthwhile. I tend not to hold that belief, among other reasons for this: if technology is so perfect in what is produced, why do we need a new telephone, with…

One of the things which many people forget, when concocting their wonderful histories of the rise and fall of civilisation, it is that much relies on chance. Not everything is planned, and most certainly not everything planned comes out as it should. There are far too many factors involved, far too many things which we,…