White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland on forearm

You will laugh, but the new officer at Vrba has taken to calling me the White Rabbit, because I am always late for the first train and always apologising to the queue. Yesterday a woman with a suitcase tied up in string asked me the time at the barrier, and I looked at our father's watch and told her it was twenty past, which was the only honest answer it gives. It runs eleven minutes fast. Father set it that way on purpose. He said a man who is early never has to hurry.

The crossing itself is smaller than you would think. Two sheds, one striped pole, and a rubber stamp with a red heart on it that the chief uses on the cards of anyone he likes. He gave one to the old cellist from the Tuesday train, and I saw the cellist cry in the car park. I have not decided what to make of the heart. It is only ink.

Last night a boy came through with a grey felt rabbit under his arm, and when the guard asked its name he said, Late. Nobody laughed, but I wrote it down on the back of my form because it seemed the most sensible thing anyone had said all month.

I will come home at Easter, and I will be on time, or near enough. Keep the kettle warm and do not trust the watch.

Yours, Pavel