30April1996

My dear folks,

The sun’s up the sky, at last, after spending most of the day making up its mind. The day started chilly, grew a mite muggy, blew up windy & is finally showing its best face. I’m feeling quite cocky. I’ve got lots done. First thing was another visit to the dentist to allow him to complete an inlay. I cycled past Regents Park as usual. The trees are out in stunning bloom. Just too lovely! The visit was hardly testing but the tooth was live this time - I prefer them numb, the number the better in fact - & I was grateful for the cognac the dentist offered me afterwards. The inlay is supremely comfortable & has further pushed up my share value. The gold sweated up from the depths of the earth now occupies a cavernous tooth. I’m thinking of going public.

I got home to find a welcome fax from Catherine & a long email from (Jones’ half brother) Llewellyn who has recently moved from Jhb to CT & is much happier there. Canadians, I was able to get a fair amount of info about Margaret Atwood for Cathy off the Internet. I had a super email from Alan about his bruising rugby tour. Made me think of a rugby match I witnessed years ago at Soekmekaar on a rock hard pitch from which hardly a blade of grass protruded. Even the iron-hard boere who were playing each other emerged battered! Conal swears that he & Bren have sent me a joint email letter but it’s still skulking somewhere in cyberspace.

I spent an hour before lunch with a plumber fixing a leak in one of my flats and then trying - unsuccessfully - to repair a light in another. Mid-afternoon I hauled the bike out again & shot over to Sainsburys to top up supplies. I got back with a stack of microwavable curries & Thai foods. I don’t know why I’ve gone over to spicy foods so strongly but I have. Curry was recently proclaimed Britain’s most popular food, eaten once a week by your average Joe & Joan. The downside, a newspaper article solemnly informed us, was that spicy foods tended to cause indigestion & flatulence. It went on to note that 70% of people did not bother to hide symptoms of the latter from their partners. I don’t know where they got their figures but I believe ‘em.

I was also pleased to discover the hiding place of a bottle of washing up liquid that went awol some weeks ago. I was really puzzled! You know how these little things worry one? Had my neighbour - who was feeding Mavis - had reason to borrow it? It niggled away at me for a fortnight until I gave up & bought another. So great was my pleasure when I came across it concealed behind the tomato sauce bottle in the condiments cupboard. It’s these little things that come together to make for a good feeling at the end of the day.

The good feeling is further enhanced by the diminishment of a sensitive pimple I developed some weeks ago right in the middle of my sitting down region. It bothered me senseless each time I tried to sit & much of the rest of the time. Assaults with the most lethal creams & ointments I could legitimately get my hands on had little impact. But the bastard seems to have been worn down by the campaign at last. It’s a sad fact of life that we appreciate it most when burdens are lifted from our shoulders - or bottoms, as the case may be. That means, the only way we get to experience the good times is by enduring the bad ones. There has to be a better way.
Blessings ever............T