The Diary of a Nobody BY GEORGE GROSSMITH AND WEEDON GROSSMITH WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY WEEDON GROSSMITH A NEW EDITION * * * * * BRISTOL J. W. ARROWSMITH, PRINTER, QUAY STREET LONDON SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & COMPANY LIMITED INTRODUCTION BY MR. POOTER _Why should I not publish my diary_? _I have often seen reminiscences of people I have never even heard of_, _and I fail to see_—_because I do not happen to be a_ ‘_Somebody_’—_why my diary should not be interesting_. _My only regret is that I did not commence it when I was a youth_. CHARLES POOTER. _The Laurels_, _Brickfield Terrace_, _Holloway_. CHAPTER I We settle down in our new home, and I resolve to keep a diary. Tradesmen trouble us a bit, so does the scraper. The Curate calls and pays me a great compliment. My dear wife Carrie and I have just been a week in our new house, “The Laurels,” Brickfield Terrace, Holloway—a nice six-roomed residence, not counting basement, with a front breakfast-parlour. We have a little front garden; and there is a flight of ten steps up to the front door, which, by-the-by, we keep locked with the chain up. Cummings, Gowing, and our other intimate friends always come to the little side entrance, which saves the servant the trouble of going up to the front door, thereby taking her from her work. We have a nice little back garden which runs down to the railway. We were rather afraid of the noise of the trains at first, but the landlord said we should not notice them after a bit, and took £2 off the rent. He was certainly right; and beyond the cracking of the garden wall at the bottom, we have suffered no inconvenience.