23May1996

My dear folks,

I woke up from the deepest of sleeps a few minutes ago to discover that the 2100 TV news was upon us. As I’d been watching the 1800 news just a short time before, it had obviously been a good sleep. Also fast asleep, like a round furry cushion on the couch, is a deeply offended Mr Mavis. This a.m. I hauled out the little bottle of anti flea spray I bought from the vet to give his nibs season long protection. The vet had pointed out that many cats don’t like the spray & Mavis was among them. He made it instantly plain that he’d rather have the fleas, thank you. So I scragged him by the back of the neck & sprayed him regardless, top & bottom, inside & out. He wasn’t pleased. Then I left him outside on the patio to dry for the next 4 hours - adding insult to injury. Tonight there is a certain tension in the house. Such is life.

It’s been a very busy day. I had barely woken & dressed at 10.00 when the bell rang. The carpenter had come to fetch the keys to install a shower curtain in the new flat. I followed him around, spending an hour tapping an inventory into my laptop. Then I wandered over the road to the post office where I waited 10 mins in a queue behind a straggle of pensioners & dole dependents, only to find that I could have popped my parcel - a “return” dud printer battery - into the post bag without waiting at all.

Next mission was to find Mavis a new collar. This I did at the petshop two blocks away. On the way back I begged half a shovel full of fresh cement from an Irish builder - who declined my proferred pound - & brought it back on a discarded pizza box to repair some widening cracks between bricks on the patio step. Thereafter followed Mavis’s flea-spraying episode on the patio table. The vet’s assistant said his fur had to be properly soaked if the muti was to be effective & soaked it was.

By this time, I was getting into my rhythm. I dived into the cranny to find my wet & dry paper & went out to give The Rocket a bit of overdue TLC. I had noticed the last time I spray-cleaned the car that little rust bubbles were emerging on the lower doors - a bad sign - the price of standing 15 years in London’s streets. I found the touch-up paint in the boot & spent an hour rubbing down the worst of the bubbles & painting them over. The bad news is that they were coming from inside the door. My efforts will only serve only to hide what’s happening underneath & not for very long at that.

It’s not only the paint on the Rocket that’s showing signs of age. I’ve been bothered for some time by the badly cracked & flaking paint on the sides of the wall flanking the steps up to the house & around the front door. The worst is just below a pot of flowers from which a dribble of water over years has peeled back the paint & exposed the plaster. Back up the road I went to the hardware shop where I secured tins of stabiliser & paint, & the necessary brushes. I reckoned it would take an hour. It did too, just to scrape the sections of wall & give them a stiff wire-brushing.

Another hour to put the stabiliser on - and a final hour - in the drizzle which was now falling - to add the paint. I came indoors to release Mavis (who rushed in from patio like a soul from hell) & fall into a bath. For supper I opened a bottle of wine to accompany some biscuits & cheese & a Thai sweet & sour. As I say, I then sat down to watch the early evening news & found myself watching the late news instead. That was my day. There were a dozen things I’d meant to do which I never got around to. But I’m feeling fairly smug none the less. I must thank Cathy for her fax. Ma Gohdes’s fax addition noted, Cathy. I don’t think Mavis will be writing to you this evening. He’s too exhausted. For that matter, so am I. Blessings.........T