A COMPANION

FOR MANY PEOPLE keeping a diary or a daily journal is an essential part of living and will be approaching half-full if you have been running one since the start of this year. But do you tell long stories in yours, or just the basic facts?

Keeping a diary or a daily written record is generally agreed to be a good thing. It helps you remember details and dates, it provides something like a sense of companionship and, in my opinion, it is good for our mental health.

It’s a pastime, too, that has given birth to many a witty one-liner. Mae West said, “Keep a diary, and some day it will keep you.” I suppose it depends on whose names are in it.

Oscar Wilde never went anywhere without his diary, because “One should always have something sensational to read on the train.” Mr Wilde was never one to underestimate his own talent!

We can take those with a pinch of salt and have a laugh, but you may have your doubts when reading the words of a British politician (and enthusiastic diarist) back in the 1940s who said, “What is more dull than a discreet diary? One might just as well have a discreet soul.”

My only question to that fine gentleman would have been: “What in the world is the problem with a discreet soul?” Maybe, though, had I met him, I would have been too discreet to mention it.