I have read before this chapter and know what is all about. It is where you invite 5 friends for a weekend on the long and narrow boat to try and find out about yourself. But never finish yet.

Why are you always trying to find out about yourself? Ask me and I will tell you all you might be wanting to know. This is partial joke.
But whyfore do you not just get on with it. Your life, what you are doing now?

If I was being you - which I am not - I would not frequent this public house again for some while. Public means public. It does not mean ticket-holders only. Why in England are you so accepting of such goings on?

But here is idea. Why not do you make up your own charity and go to this landlord fellow and say - Look here, I am wanting to hold charity evening at your public house for which I shall be charging £10 a ticket because is worthy cause. And he may say - what is in it for me, matey?

And you will say - for every ticket sold you get £2 plus all profits from extra alcohol which you are selling. So this is what we are calling a win-win situation.

Then all you are needing to do is to have some leaflets printed advertising your pretend charity. But best to make it to do with some foreign land so peoples cannot check the dodgy validation of this charity.

Perhaps even invent foreign land which is something ending in
...istan. People are not going admitting they never heard of this place and being also too damned lazy to go look up on Google.

One last tip is to make charity to SAVE something. It can be a pretend endangered species or ancient language or forest, or anything what comes into head.

This Dagny Taggart is sure one smart cookie. And powerful woman to be rescuing railroad from disastrous mistakes made by men. Also finds time to have lovers. I am enjoying immensely this book.

I know things are bad with you for the times being but all you can do is to keep calm and carry on - like your Winston Churchill say in war. Course you might get blown to the smithereens in meantime but we will burn that bridge when we arrive at it (another British idiom)

Why not play some jazz which always cheer you up.

Anna