DIARY
Hugh Large stayed the night. Or some of it. He came in at about 3:00 am. Had to buzz up to the flat so we could let him in. Lights on, everybody up.
My second class asked me out for drinks tonight. More conversations about why Margaret Thatcher is not a kind lady1.
I will go out for a meal with my third class on Thursday.
I have my train ticket for 12.43 on the 5th. No reservations from Mainz onwards. And a four hour layover there.
When Hugh left for the day I finished ‘The Dog Beneath the Skin’. The Choruses are some of Auden’s best writing. I would really like to see it in production. It would be a great school play.
NOTES
I’m very tired. Yesterday I had three hours of meetings with Milena. Then three hours teaching.
A few days ago I started rereading [The Lost Notebook of] Babel, expecting it to be terrible. But I was quite pleased. It wasn’t too bad. Since I put it down, a month and a half ago, it has coagulated. It is solid. It is no longer written by me. The style is certainly not mine.
Alexander Dubček famously said ‘For us she is not the iron lady. She is the kind, dear Mrs. Thatcher.’ And he did simper as he said it.