10January1996

My dear folks,

I have been sipping a glass of Glenlivet & water, pure nectar of the gods that slips down with no hint of the iron pincers that lurk within the velvet glove, ready to grip the sinner’s temples. It is interesting that while BA heavily promote the sales of duty free goods on all their flights, Lufthansa do not. BA are in the business of making money & will find time on the briefest European hops to wheel the trolley of temptation down the aisle. Lufthansa are in the business of flying passengers & are not concerned with such matters of petty cash - although they will happily serve you a couple of classy miniatures in flight. So it’s the fruits of my BA Christmas trip to Germany rather than my Lufthansa New Year trip that I’m enjoying. Jones too has sipped the elixir & sighed.

She has had a lovely day. She set out this morning on a walking tour around London that took her to a Hockney exhibition, book shops on Charing Cross Road, specialist shops on Neal Street, delightful coffee bars & other stops to numerous to mention. As always, she was severely tempted to buy several items but decided to give each further consideration. Even so, she returned home filled to the brim with the delights of “just living” at just the moment I rolled up on my bicycle. Mavis emerged simultaneously from the front door in time to accompany me down to the under-stairs nook where I keep my bike. He likes to make an inspection of all such corners at least once a week. As I write, he lies asleep in his box under his sunlamp, in deliberately beguiling pose, gently-snoring, tummy-up, paw over eyes. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth.

My own day was just as busy but not as relaxing. I found myself producing the hour-long segment of the current affairs programme on which I have been assisting for the past few days. It’s heavy going! Hell, but it’s heavy going. You feel like a drill bit going into a wall, spinning ever faster & turning red-hot in the process. Fortunately, the transmission went well. It could equally have gone badly, so I breathed a little prayer of thanks to the gods, knowing how fickle they are in handing out good fortune & bad. As usual, I’d woken at 4 a.m. & couldn’t get back to sleep. When I returned home this evening, I collapsed in the TV chair for a reviving, Glenlivet-assisted nap before falling into a conjugal bath.

My problem is that several glasses of good Cape wine & Roger Penrose’s algorithms never fail to put me to sleep but they don’t keep me asleep. It’s the human condition. I had the most graphic dream last night. Kids were waging war on each other - shades of Frankfurt airport’s play centre - & I found myself engaged in a hand to hand struggle with some character, the violence of which shook me awake. But not before he offered to get me Canadian citizenship if I let him go. Life may be stranger than fiction but our dreams take the piss out of both.

I took great pleasure in Cathy’s fax this morning & could find nothing to argue with in her analysis. I can add only that I hope we can arrange more such family gatherings.

Blessings upon you.
T