19February1995

London: 19 February 1995
My dear folks,

The end of a very satisfying day is in sight. I have to thank Jones and the Canadians for faxes - of which more later. How nice it is to get mail 7 days a week. I got back from the computer day sixish and, having fed cats and roused Irving Berlin, I'll add a few lines to my fax of yesterday.

The computer session was great. It was a dismal day, ideal to be indoors. And as usual, our hosts had five-star fare on the side. The expert turned out to be Ivan, a lanky Zimbabwean who studied at UCT and who was rather younger than his four students. Julian's dining table was occupied by 4 laptops, a monitor and a printer. We found ourselves with different needs. I was familiar with Windows, but a novice in DOS. The others were in the reverse position. And we all had particular problems we wanted to sort out.

Ivan divided his time between group therapy and particular interests. I got all of my problems resolved and returned home with copious notes. As I said, very satisfying. I reminded myself, too, how much I like the humble laptop I bought 15 months ago, although it was in grand company today. These company types pack flashy hardware on the grounds that they need it for the job, each laptop the price of a middle class motor car. Sure helps when the company pays, and there's none of the 17.5% VAT that cripples the individual buyer. I dropped off Ivan at Victoria Station on the way home and a fellow "student" a little further on.

Thank you Canadians for your news and the description of your new home and environment. I like to be able to envisage you in your distant corner of the globe. It sounds wonderful. And I shall see it for myself as soon as I get a chance. Please don't forget my other requests - details of your friends who are interested in staying at the Quinta in May and of your own plans for July. Kevin indicated earlier that you were unlikely to make it to Portugal. Is that now firm?

Jones has made a couple of bookings for our own break in central Portugal next month, 2 nights at a guest house and 2 more at a farm. Evora is a beautiful and ancient town that we have long desired to visit. On our previous attempt, we failed to make it beyond two smaller, but equally ancient and quite fascinating towns en route. I find it easy to contemplate the Romans and Arabs who left plentiful traces of their presence. A little research uncovers ample evidence of other cultures going back thousands of years.

I sometimes imagine myself meeting, in some neutral place and time, an educated Roman, Arab or Carthaginian and trying to explain the "advances" of subsequent generations - lunar expeditions, thinking machines and nuclear weapons. Would they dismiss me for an idiot or could I convince them that men have actually landed on the moon and annihilated whole cities with a single missile? I recall taking our old maid in Johannesburg, Dorcas, outside, the night the Americans first landed on the moon and telling her the amazing news as I pointed skywards. She looked at the moon and at me & laughed politely, but heartily! The very idea of flying an aeroplane to the moon. Little wonder she thought master had flipped.

Little Jones, I have just read your faxes and committed most of them to disc; who knows, one day we come out with a little book of recollections. Thank you for the bookings. They sound superb. And yes, you absolutely must get some kind of cooker/oven. I appreciate what you have said about J & O, and that you hardly want to borrow back one from the French. But it is slightly ridiculous that you should spend substantial sums on 2 micros and then pamper our guests half to death while going without yourself. If I were there, one of those micros would march promptly into the house, I can tell you. However, I appreciate that you are not inclined to follow this route. And you should absolutely buy something today that will see you through for a week and serve as a standby. I leave the choice to you. But please do go ahead.