25March1996

My dear folks,

I have received a splendid letter from Kevin & yet another gem from Jones, each of whom displays such effortless turn of phrase as the discerning must envy & your correspondent can only admire. Thank you, both letter (faxes) heartily enjoyed. I am seated at Mr Viglen as usual while large bovine faces peer out at me from the miniature TV on the shelf. If they knew their fate, they might look a little less phlegmatic! Beef remains in crisis but more of that later. I am sipping an amber nectar, labelled KWV XO, an exquisite SA cognac presented to me by my brother, Brendan, as a Christmas tribute. Brother, such sips ameliorate a certain Mpumalangan silence but do not entirely compensate for it. My nephew & niece pledged to send me a brief note once a month, as I recall, which I still await.

It’s hard to know where my own day started or finished. I got home around 7.30, fed Fats & retired to bed. My dreams were haunted by loud sawing noises which I attributed to be neighbours creating an internal stair-link between their flat & a lower one they’ve just bought. But when I rose mid afternoon, I descended to find a gap in our view & one of the large trees lining the avenue reduced to lengths of bough & mulch. I understood emotionally for the first time why large numbers of “environmentalists” have been fighting to save the hundreds of trees doomed by the Newbury bypass in southern England. It was like losing a somewhat distant relative, not exactly devastating but hurtful & depriving. I saw my basement neighbour, Stef, walk over the road to talk to the guys who had just demolished the tree. I’ve no doubt that it was diseased & potentially dangerous. But I suspect I’d rather have kept the tree & taken the risk of its crashing down one windy night.

The sun was actually shining for a brief period mid-afternoon - so nice! I opened the patio door & clipped it back, an event that always heralds the arrival of spring. The door remains firmly closed throughout winter. Mavis trotted down to join me. He really appreciates being able to wander through the door instead of having to squeeze through his flap. For some time, I’d intended to clean his pooh-box but I found it poohless! A glance at the tub of flowers in the corner explained all. There was a heap of mouldering cat crap piled high around the plants. I resisted a strong impulse to kick his furry feline backside & spent an hour cleaning up the tub & cutting back the detritus of winter. I was about to come in when I glanced at the neighbouring patio. It became immediately clear that Mavis had used our tub only for emergency visitations. For more leisurely reflections, he had gone next door where the plants in several troughs had given up the unequal struggle. It took another half hour to clear up his relics there & make the place presentable.

After that, I set out for the nursery with a view to buying some hardy, colourful plants to replace the corpses I’d removed. On the way, I stopped over at one of “my” flats to inspect some new carpeting. The stop developed into a 90 minute clean-up. There’s a new tenant due to move into shortly. I put off the nursery. It will wait for tomorrow when perhaps the sun will shine again. The weatherman says it’s going to be windy, wet & cold tonight. Nothing changes.

Much love to you!
T