Undated Five Year Diary - Black - A5-5Y1L

I have been keeping a diary for years and I always use the five-year kind. Therefore, I knew what I was hoping for and this one did not disappoint.I bought this diary, which was not cheap, after reading reviews of the 'bargain' ones on Amazon. I love a bargain myself but a five-year diary takes a lot of use, being opened every day for five years, and this one is so well-made. It really feels as though the binding will stand up to that. Reviews of cheaper imports mentioned missing pages and all sorts so I plumped for Collins.The diary is set out in the usual way - with five years to one page. You have to write in the date yourself and you get six lines. I find that if I write every single day, using a Pilot pen or similar it is in fact enough. The beauty of the five-year diary is that, as the years go by, you can see what you did the year before, what illnesses you had, what the weather was like, etc. It's surprising how repetetive the weather is, in spite of the news media trying to scare us every year with 'hottest summer since records began; etc.Some other reviewers complained about having to write the date in yourself, but I've never seen a five year diary that was any different. I think that the cost of producing them would be too prohibitive. Nevertheless, there is a 'Perpetual Calendar' Chart which is rather cool and also a list of 'important dates' for the next five years. I didn't have these in my previous five-year diary so they're welcome.I personally do not intend to use the lock, but the catch is nice and the whole appearance of the diary is classic and classy.I think the cost is well worth it when balanced over five years and it's good to support an established British firm.

I've been buying this 5 year diary for many years. Wouldn't buy any other. Love that it comes with a key.

Bought as a gift - but exactly as described. Recipient was very pleased.

Great sturdy diary, very smart looking with clasp and gold gilted paper edges. Would definitely recommend........HOWEVER IT TOOK ME 20MINUTES TO GET IN...!If you are struggling as I was:1.) The key is inside the locked diary - in order to access it you will need to pull our what looks like a piece of card folded over the edge of one of the pages. It has an envelope attached, inside which are your keys. COLLINS: Please put this information on the outside of the box! It comes with a box with printed information on the outside, so surely there's space?? I was ready to pack it up and return it to Amazon as 'parts missing'.2.) Once I had the key, I couldn't open it. It has a lock, and a round 'button'. You need to turn the key, and then it will feel like you need to move the button up/down, but the trick is to push the button to the left, away from the lock. I'm not sure I can blame Collins for me being very dense over this one.If you are looking for a properly secure diary, then this isn't for you, you could probably open it with some tweezers (it is the kind of lock where the key is just prongs to open or close it). It does act somewhat as a deterrent however, and suits my purposes just fine.

Good quality and value for money

I am that numptyCouldn’t open diary, thought it was locked and had no key. Have since discovered push the button to the left, diary opens and 2 keys are in an envelope in front page

I have been very happy with my diary. It gives enough space for a record of each day and as I currently write it brings back memories of what I did 1 or 2 or more years ago.

The media could not be loaded. Edited at bottom.A beautiful diary that, on 1st impressions, appears to be very well designed and offers some confidence in the longevity of this diary, even after some reasonable usage, which is expected from a 5 year diary. Days of the week are missing, for the obvious reasons; the lock offers very little protection of privacy, against anyone with even the slightest of determination to peeping inside onto the pages (supplied with 2keys). A 5 year diary, that cost me just under £16, calculates to slightly over £3 a year, and without the extra burden of storing many different diaries for previous years, this to me appears excellent value.Edit: A blatant error on my part, that was previously overlooked before writing this review, is that one page constitutes 5 years; so, for example, 5 paragraphs on 1st Jan. The top paragraph is for the 1st year, 2nd paragraph, that is on the same page, is year 2 and so on.An analogy for this diary would be; imagine converting a house into 5 separate flats. This is the size of a one year diary with 5 segments on on one page, one segment for each year.