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The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

one careful owner

It was a battered yellow Citroën 2CV which had had one careful owner but also three suicidally reckless ones.

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The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

You would probably not say that he was sleeping the sleep of the just

You would probably not say that he was sleeping the sleep of the just, unless you meant the just asleep, but it was certainly the sleep of someone who was not fooling about when he climbed into bed at night and turned off the light.

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The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

Virtually everything you decide today will be wrong

Dirk gave a gracious bow of his head to the man’s retreating back, and then hurried on, opening the newspaper at the horoscope page as he did so.
“Virtually everything you decide today will be wrong,” it said bluntly.

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The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on Earth has ever produced the phrase, “as pretty as an airport.” Airports are ugly. Some are very ugly. Some attain a degree of ugliness that can only be the result of a special effort.

It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on Earth has ever produced the phrase, “as pretty as an airport.” Airports are ugly. Some are very ugly. Some attain a degree of ugliness that can only be the result of a special effort.

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The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

“My name is Kate Schechter. Two ‘c’s, two ‘h’s, two ‘e’s, and also a ‘t’, an ‘r’, and an ‘s’. Provided they’re all there the bank won’t be fussy about the order they come in.”

“My name is Kate Schechter. Two ‘c’s, two ‘h’s, two ‘e’s, and also a ‘t’, an ‘r’, and an ‘s’. Provided they’re all there the bank won’t be fussy about the order they come in.”

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The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.

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The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

Dennis Hutch had stepped up into the top seat when its founder had died of a lethal overdose of brick wall, taken while under the influence of a Ferrari and a bottle of tequila.

Dennis Hutch had stepped up into the top seat when its founder had died of a lethal overdose of brick wall, taken while under the influence of a Ferrari and a bottle of tequila.

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The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

Thor was the God of Thunder and, frankly, acted like it.

Thor was the God of Thunder and, frankly, acted like it.

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The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it which the merely improbable lacks.

The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it which the merely improbable lacks.

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The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

It was his subconscious which told him this – that infuriating part of a person’s brain which never responds to interrogation, merely gives little meaningful nudges and then sits humming quietly to itself, saying nothing.

It was his subconscious which told him this – that infuriating part of a person’s brain which never responds to interrogation, merely gives little meaningful nudges and then sits humming quietly to itself, saying nothing.

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The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

The kid was deliberately and maliciously watching television at him.

Dirk was unused to making such a minuscule impact on anybody. He checked to be sure that he did have his huge leather coat and his absurd red hat on and that he was properly and dramatically silhouetted by the light of the doorway. He felt momentarily deflated and said, “Er…” by way of self-introduction, but it didn’t get the boy’s attention. He didn’t like this. The kid was deliberately and maliciously watching television at him.

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The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

It was a couple of days before Kate Schechter became aware of any of these things, or indeed of anything at all in the outside world.

It was a couple of days before Kate Schechter became aware of any of these things, or indeed of anything at all in the outside world.
She passed the time quietly in a world of her own in which she was surrounded as far as the eye could see with old cabin trunks full of past memories in which she rummaged with great curiosity, and sometimes bewilderment. Or, at least, about a tenth of the cabin trunks were full of vivid, and often painful or uncomfortable memories of her past life; the other nine-tenths were full of penguins, which surprised her. Insofar as she recognised at all that she was dreaming, she realised that she must be exploring her own subconscious mind. She had heard it said that humans are supposed only to use about a tenth of their brains, and that no one was very clear what the other nine-tenths were for, but she had certainly never heard it suggested that they were used for storing penguins.