"Which of all my important nothings shall I tell you first?" - I love this sentence as, for me, it captures all the normality of everyday life, a lot of which is made up of "important nothings", although it perhaps has a particular resonance in JA's relatively uneventful life.

"James began his journey by the coach at five" - goodness, how early! As Kathleen has remarked, how much easier it would be to undertake such a journey today. The London to Dover coach -71 miles in 15 hours - is a long time indeed, when today a journey of that length can be completed in less than 4 hours. I find that it is so easy to forget how hard it was to travel about before the advent of the railways and cars.