31January1997

Fri 31 Jan. 97
My dear folks,

How are you all, I wonder? I can see you as I type, with a view that easily embraces Hambach, Witbank & Calgary. In fact, with just a little effort, the sweep takes in Cape Town, Pietersburg & whatever other places & people flash into mind. Here in London, it’s a darkening Friday afternoon. The Seekers are crooning away on CD. Jones is in the kitchen preparing pizzas & other good things for friends who are coming around for supper & computers. She is taking special care, not only to delight the guests with her creation but also to ensure that I get nothing other than ultra slimming foods.

People’s diets don’t make for entertaining letters. So let me confide only that following the BUPA doctor’s injunctions to me to hit the straight & narrow, I have joined Jones on the wagon in a strict regime of steamed & baked proteins & veges. It hasn’t proved hard to maintain as I’ve every incentive & Jones does all the work, to the extent of making me sandwiches from special breads that she garners from distant corners of London. As a reward, my pants are already starting to wonder what’s happening to my tummy. At the same time, Jones has also put a reluctant Mave on diet. As a result he comes ankle-rubbing ever earlier in the mornings & afternoons, indicating that a snack would not go amiss. But to see the fat feline wrestling his way through his flap is to leave one in no doubt that his diet is at least as timely as mine.

As to my blood pressure, I’ve taken the doc’s advice to stop measuring it for the moment & felt none the worse. I have also made contact with a private doctor recommended to me whom I shall consult at the end of next week (once I get the BUPA medical report). I have mercifully (so far) escaped the outbreak of truly vicious flu that has been ravaging the newsroom & much of England beyond it. Tricia’s Mark was coughing painfully in the background as we exchanged thoughts on the phone the other night. The pair of them are planning a jaunt to Morocco shortly. Jones, who insists that she never gets sick, feared earlier in the week that she might be going down with the dreaded lurgy but she threw it off the following day. Meanwhile, my thoughts have been with Jonathan & the Cornells as he gets over his heart attack.

This business of mortality is a proper pain in the elbow. Speaking of which, I had a note from the family in Killorglin yesterday saying that Sheila Foley had passed away after a brief illness. I wrote back to express the family’s condolences.

My month on Asia is behind me. I finished up yesterday by compiling a report on the US State Dept’s annual review of human rights – the record as bleak as always. Now I have a glorious three days off before going back on bulletin night shifts on Monday. It’s just my fortune that Monday’s the occasion of Pakistan’s elections. We’ve half a dozen live broadcasts to cover the outcome, at least two of which will fall to me to produce. It could be an interesting night. We had a briefing from one of our correspondents last week on the state of affairs in Pakistan, the kind of occasion when one can tell the unpalatable truths that are simply unacceptable over the air. Quite an eye-opener. The extent of intrigue & corruption almost defies description, with every government to date cut short either by military intervention or presidential decree.

On the way up to the office the other day, I bumped into one of the instructors from BBC OnLine who cursed the BBC brass for endless procrastination & muddle over the future of the OnLine news service. Posts which we due to be advertised in December may now appear in May – if we are lucky. The instructor said she had wondered aloud to the brass why the BBC was paying her a thousand pounds a week to sit on her hands. But that was apparently the least of their considerations. I tell you, BASF has got nothing on the lot who are meant to be running us. What a bunch of wankers!

No letter would be complete without a paragraph of computer talk! We stopped over in a bookshop in Picadilly this p.m. (after attending a lunchtime recital at a church) for me to buy a book on my latest acquisition, Office 97. The programme itself continues to fascinate me as the animated assistant who lurks in the corner of the word processor, leaps up every few seconds to query my spelling or grammar or make a suggestion on how to use the programme. Most of the suggestions are useful ones so I don’t mind his antics. (He can be sent away to mind his own business should one so choose.)

I spent an hour this a.m. installing Microsoft (MSN) as an Internet Access Provider (in addition to Pipex whom I already use). MSN quietly offers a free service to journalists, too good an offer to refuse. Depending on how things go, I may well cancel the Pipex connection. I was thrilled earlier in the week first to hear from Alan Benson that he and Kevin were back on email and then to get an email from Rolf who has had a connection installed at work & hopes to have the same at home shortly. Without labouring the point, this means that Calgary (2 connections), Witbank (2 connections) and Hambach are all within email reach, to say nothing of Tricia, Louise, most of the Cornells and several of Jones’s family. Rolf & I not only exchanged emails but successfully tried attaching files to the emails. He sent me a lovely recipe & I sent him a bad drawing. The important part was that we were easily able to open & decipher the files. So, all in all, it’s been a very satisfying computer week.
The front door bell has rung and our guests are here. So let me get this off, as much as is writ. Thank you for your own thoughts and letters. Thinking of you lots!

Blessings ever
T