Most of human life is filled with insoluble mystery. Consider, for example, the discoid eczema that Dalrymple has been experiencing on his right foot. No one can really identify the ultimate cause of it.

[These] mysteries could only be solved within a very short period of time, within what is known in managerialese as a window of opportunity. Once I am dead, for example, they will be no longer be soluble even in theory. Which means that there is an infinity of things about the past that, even in principle, can never be known. True enough, no one will ever want to solve all these little mysteries. But the point is that they couldn’t do so even if they wanted to.

A hearty Happy New Year to you all. May your 2017 be filled with joy.