While you wait, take a look at a fascimile of the first page of my first diary I started writing when I was in London. Check the date near the bottom -- 13 April 1996. It seems a lifetime ago. I can still hear the scratch of the pen on paper in the sunny study room in Brompton Library just off Earl's Court... those were the days.
Translation: The silence is so loud here that I feel uncomfortable listening to the scratching sound of the pen on the paper. I sit in the study room of the Brompton library, the only place hereabouts with tables and chairs. I would've liked to work in my room, but my fellow travellers need fresh air and it's freezingly cold! It is two weeks and I've YET to start with my diary. And seeing that my hand is already numb from writing these short few lines, let me rather not write down every single little thing I feel. ... I have kept all the little pieces of paper and cash slips, so that at least I have a framework to write from. I can, for example, have a quick look at what I spent on any day and on what, and from that information I can determine what I did on those days. Today is Saturday, 13 April 1996.
