Winter 2022, Halton, near Lancaster As the other letters come in, it reminds me how much I enjoy reading them – so here is mine (not an annual event but I hope it will help pass the time) 2022 started with a ‘writing retreat’ in the wild south west lake district village of Haverigg. I’ve been doing some memoir writing courses this year, and I was enjoying spending an unusually quiet time in the first half of the year researching my own life for this piece of writing, It included getting my diaries back from the British Museum-led Great Diary Project (!) and employing the services of a shorthand reading consultant for what turned out to be a very embarrassing piece of consultancy for both her and me. (I studied shorthand in 1972, I wrote the diaries we’re talking about in 1994, but by 2022 my shorthand reading skills had deteriorated somewhat....). There is of course a longer story behind all this, which I’ll be happy to tell you in person if/when we get to meet face to