I Didn't Want It To

It Seems To Me That Everything That Happens To Us Is A Disconcerting Mix Of Choice And Contingency.

But Who Knows Their Own Child? You Know Bits - Certain Predictable Reactions, A Handful Of Familiar Qualities. The Rest Is Impenetrable. And Quite Right Too. You Give Birth To Them. You Do Not Design Them.

I'm Not A Historian But I Can Get Interested - Obsessively Interested - With Any Aspect Of The Past, Whether It's Palaeontology Or Archaeology Or The Very Recent Past.

I'm Now An Agnostic But I Grew Up On The King James Version, Which I'm Eternally Grateful For.

I'm Intrigued By The Way In Which Physical Appearance Can Often Direct A Person's Life; Things Happen Differently For A Beautiful Woman Than For A Plain One.