During an enforced six-week period in 2016 resting at home following an illness, it was suggested that I should spend my time writing my life story. During October 2016 I spent several hours each day reading through old diaries and other documents and created an autobiography. I thoroughly enjoyed writing it and it kept boredom away when I couldn’t get out and about. I gave it the title ‘By such things we are formed‘, a phrase which emerged after I wrote a line in Chapter 9 and quite liked it. I was sure that the words were actually a quotation from somewhere, but I failed to find any reference to it anywhere, so I’m claiming it as my own. Please note: it wasn’t written for publication, but simply as a memoir and its intended audience was really only me and my immediate family.
In September 2024 I once more found myself with time on my hands and I decided to complete a little more of my life story, this time writing about events from 2016 to 2024. Interspersed with my recollections from my life during those eight years, I also included chapters where I could examine my character in detail. I called this document “What am I like“.