Five and twenty to five, 18th July 1888

To my astonishment and not inconsiderable gratification, news reaches me already by telegraph of remarkable anticipation outside these isles in relation to my forthcoming anniversary. The celebratory hats which I have issued (refer, dear reader, to diary entries passim), are eagerly awaited in locations as wild and remote as the Americas and the Antipodes. The Captain of a great ocean-going liner called the Titan - a good man, whose acquaintance I formally made at a club dinner this April last - has relayed a message to me from the Bay of Biscay. He anticipates landfall in Constantinople later this month, whence the small consignment of hats will continue its journey by land.