11April1997

11 April 1997
My dear folks,

It has been a perfectly pleasant day, thus far at least. The highlight was a visit from Freglet who came up from Brighton to inform himself about what’s desirable in a multi media computer. He hopes to invest in one soon. I gave him the benefit of my advice and a couple of computer mags to peruse. Then we went out for a light luncheon at Le Cochon(?), a wine bar around the corner. We ordered large salads (I didn’t say we ate them Anita, just that we ordered them.) I thought I might allow myself a glass of wine under the circumstances. And when I’d downed it, I thought I might allow myself another. You have to know when to make exceptions, don’t you. Too religious & you wind up a fanatic; too undisciplined & you get to be a slob. The art of living successfully lies in walking the fine line.

It’s been a much cooler day, as the weather man promised. Mainly grey! There’s a bright spot where the sun is ill concealed behind the clouds. Before Fregs’ arrival, I cycled off up the canal to Sainsburys for a raid. I got several items on your list Jones & will get the others closer to the time. Only half the groceries fitted in my canvas knapsack. I filled two plastic bags with the rest, slinging one over the handle bars & the other over the saddle before heading unsteadily back down the canal path. I also popped in to the nursery to buy a new climber. A most helpful man listened to me needs before taking me around to an area where he said we should find exactly what I needed. Unfortunately, the plant he recommended was sold out – unless, that is, you wanted a semi grown model for £30. I thought of Jones & declined. I’ll look again next week. There was time for a wee nap in the TV chair after my outing to Sainsburys & another after lunch. Mavis joined me for both. He likes nothing more than a companionable kip.

The highlight of my day was watching a motorist absolutely determined to get away from traffic lights ahead of the black cab beside him. He gunned his motor, spun his wheels & had the satisfaction of getting into the queue of cars for the next lights in front of the taxi. The taxi driver merely pulled into the left lane & forced his way back into the queue two cars ahead. I laughed so much I nearly fell off my bike. I laughed especially loud as I passed the silly motorist on my bike. It’s never a good idea to mix it with a London cabbie. They’ve got their own rules & they don’t take any crap.

The evening news is playing on telly. As always, we are saturated with election minutiae & the daily trade in accusations. At the moment, the leader of the Natural Law party is promoting its virtues. It believes in transcendental meditation & bumping up & down on mattresses in the national interest, an exercise it calls Yogi Flying (I kid you not). Its members ought to be put in a large, leaky, rudderless boat & pushed out to sea. Instead, because this is a democracy, they are given the opportunity to promote their weird ideas together with oddballs of the Referendum Party & the eccentrics of the Independence Party & lunatics of every other persuasion. There will be no such nonsense when Bobo and I rule the world, I can assure you.

Also in the news: an IRA active service team on trial, house prices going up in southern Britain (& down in the north) & firemen in Kent going on strike. This is a bad time to be a fireman, a fire officer, more correctly, since girls are now allowed to join – although by all accounts the firemen are dreadfully chauvinist! No such nonsense at the Beeb where I’m fated to spend the weekend, plus Mon/Tues nights.

Blessings
T