I have on my friends list, and usually it’s not fantastically exciting (“went to work, talked to Very Important People, came home late, argued with my wife” kind of thing) but yesterday’s entry is particularly revealing. His uncle has just died and Pepys has been making disappointed noises about not being likely to inherit as much as he had hoped. Yesterday (Wednesday 24 July 1661) he decided to simply lie about it to his colleagues (who are presumably wondering if he can justify the time he’s taken off work lately to deal with his uncle’s affairs): “I give it out among them that the estate left me is £200 a year in land, besides moneys, because I would put an esteem upon myself.”

His day had started badly anyway when he discovered that a valuable silver tankard had been stolen from his house; he blamed the servants for leaving the door open. But he finishes the diary entry with a small gloat at someone else’s misfortune: “This afternoon I hear that my man Will hath lost his clock with my tankard, at which I am very glad.”

Of course, Pepys had no idea that people would be reading this and laughing about it in the 21st century. It was not until over 150 years after he wrote those words that anyone else read them. Will any blogs of today survive as long, I wonder?