Approaching humbug

Monday, December 16th., Chiltern Court, London.

Humbug time is approaching again. My nephew is spending the holiday with his in-laws. Well, it may be all right, but I object to all family Xmases except my own. The older I get the more I like to be in my own place, with my own things to hand, and my own time to do with as I will. We had talked of going to Jo Davidson's for Xmas. Dorothy was in favour but fortunately she turns out to be working 'til and including the 27th. What a relief! And I didn't have to muster any reasons for staying at home!

I am well settled here already. I like it, though it is really more than I can afford. But Dorothy is a bag of nerves. Overwork. She may last until the 27th. without a collapse. While her own bedroom is being altered she is staying at the Savoy; guess who is paying for that? It's a bit rich that, having drawn my attention to this place herself she is now constantly complaining about it. Well, we are here to stay, and I have told her so. I have agreed to several mitigating alterations but I am not moving again. Perhaps we will break-up over this? There is a part of me that would not be unhappy if we did.

I have been reading about Socrates and ancient Athens. He said, allegedly, that "the unexamined life is not worth living." I suppose what he meant was, not worth living for him. I am in agreement with that as a personal statement, but it doesn't stand up to scrutiny as a general principle. There are many people, in fact most, who hardly give a thought to the 'meaning' of life; too busy living it, or just not used to thinking in that way. Women especially. And does that mean that their lives have less value than those of a more philosophical disposition who agonise about how to live the 'good' life? Of course it doesn't. I'd have liked to have met Socrates and I'm confident that we would have seen things very similarly.