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The rule of law dissolved. With it went public order. The country, wrote the chronicler William of Newburgh, was “mutilated.” With no adequate king in the north, King David I of Scotland ruled Westmorland, Cumberland, and Northumberland.
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“I’ve always thought that it might be fun to be Catholic, to be able to go to the confessional and unburden yourself and have someone tell you that they forgive you, to take all the sin away, wipe the slate clean.”
― The Girl on the Train
― The Girl on the Train

“There was something very poetic about lying on the hay, beneath the polythene roof. This was how we had spent our first night, on the hay next to the bull in Harry Mann’s barn. During the 18 days in-between we had slept in a posh hotel, a canal boat, a student house, a pub, a tent in a car park, a hitman’s sitting room, an elderly lady’s spare bedroom, a hostel, a bunk house, a farm house, our own self-contained flat, our own house, and now we were back on the hay. We had gone full circle. Out of all of the different types of accommodation, our two nights on the hay were undoubtedly our most comfortable. Next time you hear the nativity story, don’t feel sorry for Mary and Joseph; they had it very lucky indeed.”
― Free Country: A Penniless Adventure the Length of Britain
― Free Country: A Penniless Adventure the Length of Britain

“Did all that really just happen or have I wandered into some kind of Dada exhibition?”
― Notes from a Small Island
― Notes from a Small Island

“It is a great advantage for us to be able to consult someone who knows us, so that we may learn to know ourselves.”
― Interior Castle
― Interior Castle

“Ben looked thoroughly depressed as he pulled the already wet bin liner over his head and climbed aboard The Horse. Out of context, that last sentence would sound very strange.”
― Free Country: A Penniless Adventure the Length of Britain
― Free Country: A Penniless Adventure the Length of Britain
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