The only other thing he revealed about this grandfather was that when he himself was a little boy and had an inflamed toe, my grandfather, making a rare visit to the nursery, looked at it and remarked that it must be very painful. It wasn’t, and the little boy said as much, whereupon my grandfather said sternly, “Lawrence, if I say something is painful, it is.”
via Diana Athill: why I never became a gran | Life and style | The Guardian.
An excellent book of hers:
Midsummer Night in the Workhouse
(There’s also an ebook edition of that, so you have no excuse for not reading it.)
And: more about Diana Athill
white pebble 