War Is A Game That Is Played

One Is Quite Astonished To Find How Many Things There Are In The Landscape, And In Every Object In It, One Never Noticed Before. And This Is A Tremendous New Pleasure And Interest Which Invests Every Walk Or Drive With An Added Object. So Many Colours On The Hillside, Each Different In Shadow And In Sunlight; Such Brilliant Reflections In The Pool, Each A Key Lower Than What They Repeat; Such Lovely Lights Gilding Or Silvering Surface Or Outline, All Tinted Exquisitely With Pale Colour, Rose, Orange, Green Or Violet.

This Fulfils My Ambition. I Still Have My Father's Robe As Chancellor. I Shall Be Proud To Serve You In This Splendid Office.

The Pashtun Tribes Are Always Engaged In Private Or Public War. Every Man Is A Warrior, A Politician And A Theologian Every Large House Is A Real Feudal Fortress....eve Ry Family Cultivates Its Vendetta; Every Clan, Its Feud....nothing Is Ever Forgotten And Very Few Debts Are Left Unpaid.

I Am Very Glad There Are Quite A Number Of People Born With A Gift And A Liking For All Of This; Like Great Chessplayers Who Play Sixteen Games At Once Blindfold And Die Quite Soon Of Epilepsy. Serve Them Right! I Hope The Mathematicians, However, Are Well Rewarded. I Promise Never To Blackleg Their Profession Nor Take The Bread Out Of Their Mouths.

Armed With A Paint-box, One Cannot Be Bored, One Cannot Be Left At A Loose End, One Cannot 'have Several Days On One's Hands.