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Wednesday 4.9.02 | Trip very kindly paid for last night by Chris to see the first part of The Coast of Utopia, Tom Stoppard's latest offering. Voyage as I see it is a breathtaking piece - scintillating in its depth and entrancing in the its profundity. The ideas it throws about are amazingly deep, and yet at the same time are launched at the audience with the speed and force of food flung against a wall; the down-side is, of course, that much of it went straight over my head. Someone better-versed in Russian history and Enlightenment philosophy would appreciate more than I am capable of doing, but it's definitely worth going to see. It's very easy to get hung up about the fact that the plot is very confusing - the play is set out in such a way that it jumps years over and over again, and after a while it all starts to blend - and I freely admit that, while sort-of understanding what happened, the global sense of the action isn't there. But it matters little, for even the individual scenes are enjoyable in themselves - lots of Stoppardy one-liners and clever thinking, so go see. Friday 6.9.02 Never actually thought today would arrive, but it's finally my last day in the Vatican, thank the Lord and all his singing angels. Actually, it hasn't been as bad as I was dreading - although having said this, it did have its moments where I was ready to commit nun-cide without a second thought - in general, and I've got through a lot of books while sitting, bored as feck, at the desk, so I can't complain; even my bank-accounts not looking too tubercular and generally on the verge of breaking down. But enough - frantic packing now for 2 days interspersed with lunch with Mark tomorrow and dinner with the wonderful Charlie and Jules; perhaps even a midnight stroll along the Thames to have a last look at this place when it's not jammed with suits. More from home on Sunday. Sunday 8.9.02 Sitting, surveying the splendid general chaos I have created. Mountains of boxes and slag-heaps of bags lie around my feet, and I can't decide what to tackle first. I despise packing and unpacking, which is why this week is going to be joyous: unpack room today, sort out life. Then pack everything again, cart it all to bloody Nice, and unpack it all there. Rapture.
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