22December1995

London: 22nd December 1995
My dear folks,

Friday night! Jones is putting the finishing touches to a special dinner. Work is finished for four days, hallelujah & glory be. I cycled home in the drizzle & dark, taking special care to avoid being flattened by some Christmas reveller. Then I locked the bike away & came upstairs for a large whisky & soda. Jones opted for a brandy & coke. She drinks very little these days. I help to average out our consumption. We took a family bath & are about to sit down to her Christmas special. On TV, the Kings College choir is doing its special Christmas thing. Mavis is snoring away in his cardboard box. Jones put it under his sunlamp where it suits him very well. There was a little accident in the early hours, however, when he must have turned over or upset the balance in some fashion. For he & box went flying in a thump that had me wondering if we had burglars. Happily, neither is the worse for wear.

Bren & co will be on the plane, very excited no doubt. I have just had a word with Cath who is preparing for the morrow's invasion. Here, we have booked a mini-cab to take us to the airport. In spite of an early departure, the time difference and delays over Frankfurt mean that we don't arrive until mid-morning & then it's going to be touch & go as to whether we make the 1100 or the midday bus to Mannheim. It matters not. We will get there in good time and comfortably enough.

Jones walked over to the other side of London today to deliver some gifts to our God-children. She said she thought about getting a bus back but a suitable bus never arrived. So she walked all the way home again, a three hour round trip that will have her out like a light within a minute of hitting her pillow tonight. I had rather less exercise, trying not to work up a lather on the way to work & to stay dry coming home. It's been warm today, around C.10 degrees after spending several days around freezing. However, temps are due to fall again in the next day or two.

I did note, with some satisfaction, a report on the beneficial effects of wine-drinking which the news team at Bush House judged important enough to include in their world bulletins. Let me impart such important knowledge to you. After a lengthy study, a medical team at the Trippler Army Medical Centre in Honululu concluded that both red wine and white wine were more effective in combating the bacteria that cause most tummy upsets than common treatments for diarrhoea. The agent that does the good work is a polyphenol released during fermentation. Isn't that exciting? The doctors point out that wine has been claimed as an aid to digestion since the times of ancient Greece. I cannot tell how pleased I am to discover what benefits I have derived unknowingly from my wine-drinking habits. Indeed, I plan to open a special bottle tonight. It's little wonder I feel so young.

I was even more pleased to get a super fax from Mum, full of renewed hope and confidence and strength. Mother, really, it was a joy to hear you sounding so full of life again. We rejoiced in it. Keep it up. And thank you Kevin and Ann for looking after Mum so well. We will be talking to you no doubt on Christmas Day. May yours be a special Christmas too. It is many years since the family was able to gather at all, even if it is now around two hearths, and I look forward greatly to it. We shall our thoughts and our glasses to you.