All this started out as my diary, more or less. Hindsight, and more knowledge of events, means I've gone back and filled in bits where I wasn't around. Some of the people of Kickingwall have come to mean a lot to me. Sometimes I disappear from the pages altogether. So this story is just as much about them as me. Which is as it should be. The twins, John and Alice, didn't exist when I first began scribbling. Now look at them. Teenagers already. I taught them how to blow their noses and tie the...