31December1996

Tuesday 31 December
My dear folks

To borrow from a certain style - if I were a tycoon, filled with piss & wind, hyping assets, obscuring losses, airbrushing performance, bullshitting investors, fleecing the public, juggling moneys & filching pension funds...........well maybe, like Robert Maxwell, I could be buried with honours on Temple Mount to await the last trumpet! For it’s a strange world!

But being merely a humble scribe, I have the good fortune of being able to write to you on New Year’s Eve & to wish you all the very best for 1997. I shall see it soberly in from the gallery of Studio N1 where I shall be producing the midnight bulletin. That’s okay by me as long as the team is not two down as it was last night when we sweated blood! When I return home at dawn, the ear-splitting parties of the night will be over & I shall be able to sleep as sweetly as the rest of the population. I shall also probably feel a lot better when I awake.

My thoughts have been much with you all, the Hambachers seeing off Micaela, now safely back home I assume after a much delayed flight. With the Witbankers as they welcome her back. (Thanks for the faxes Bren! Youch!!!) And no less with the Calgarians as they store their Whitefish Christmas & prepare for the New Year

I’m in the study as usual, with multi-phonic accompaniment, Riverdance on CD, the 4 p.m. weather miseries on the news, & the sonorous snores of Mavis rising from the floor where he’s glued himself to the radiator. Tis cold indeed, several degrees below freezing here in London, where a wicked wind sweeping in from the east cuts through all but the thickest coats. I know that this is simple fare compared to the icy temps & snow dumps you’ve been having in mainland Europe & Canada. But you have to bear in mind that snow always comes as a surprise to the English whose houses are not designed for real winters. We’ve had several delightful snow showers in the capital but they’ve been too brief to lay down the carpet that’s blanketed much of the countryside.

I’ve been spending money, on a scanner which I’ve linked up to my computers & an uprated modem for my desktop. Both set themselves up with an absolute minimum of fuss, though it took me an hour to sit through the CD tutorial that came with the scanner (which turns text/pictures/photos into computer images). The scanner is a honey. The only bad news is the amount of disk space that’s needed to store fancy images. I had thought about putting our old Quinta photos on to disk but I’ve gone off that one. I do plan to use it though to create a Web Site to advertise the Quinta. Cathy, the old modem is somewhat slow for Internet use (14,400 bps) but perfectly adequate & fine for faxing documents. You are very welcome to it. Rolf will know all about hitching it up to the desktop computer. Please let me know if you’re interested!

Jones has been out & about, wrapped up like an Eskimo squaw, to the shops & supermarkets. She is not happy unless she gets in at least two walks a day. She’s cooked a great platter of healthy veges for an early supper. We have planned a small celebration tomorrow which Fregs may attend if his cold allows. We’re also hoping to meet up with old friends later in the week. Jones’s lengthy absences in Portugal & my crazy schedule impose severe limits on our social availability. Richard & Penny entertained us to a wonderful dinner last Saturday evening after which we tubed, bussed & walked home to the blessings of a warm bed.

Happy New Year
T