Do they make people like this any more?
Change is the one thing in our changing world that remains stable. There's no stopping it and the wheels keep on turning. Perhaps we all feel privileged to live when we have lived, to experience, as if pickled in aspic, the minutiae of this ever-changing world. I was struck by this very forcibly when my old neighbour died. She is an infinitesimal part, as are we all, of the social history of place, culture, and time. We're talking twentieth century Tuscany here, from the bottom up. No kings, battles, and conquerors, – but history nonetheless, of modest unclaimed lives. Click to download the PDF of this article.