Ah me, I’ve grown a bit complacent with the writing. The first month of the New Year has been a tremendous whirl –like going through rigorous psychoanalysis and military training in one week on sleeping pills that prevent you sleeping at night. Now that it’s over; I'm feeling rather flat and there’s a numbness in knowing that the future holds more of the same, such as one gets from sedative drugs.

This sums it up rather appropriately:

These
are the desolate dark weeks
when nature in its bareness
equals the stupidity of man

The year plunges in to night
and the heart plunges
lower than night

to an empty windswept place
without sun, stars or moon
but a peculiar light as of thought

That spins a dark fire-

(William Carlos Williams)

NURSES want patients who are intent on harming themselves to be provided with clean blades so that they can cut themselves more safely.
(The Sunday Times)

Great idea, but why not sharpen the blades too?