7February1996

My dear folks,

Just a shortie. Thank you Mum for your family fax & your London page. It’s wonderful to hear you sounding so chirpy. Truly, it’s hard to recognise the old lady I hauled halfway across the world a few weeks ago. I do look forward to being with you soon. I’m pleased to hear that the fig jam supplies have finally arrived. I’ve had some bad reports from SA of late of missing mail & I was keeping fingers crossed for the jam.

I hope Kevin & Ann have had the break they were anticipating. At least, they’ll have been warm down in Florida. You were several degrees warmer than we were today. The temps sat around zero all day, with more of the same tomorrow. Possibly, more snow as well. It’s due to clear on Friday when rain & storms will sweep the country instead. I’m doing an extra day on Friday as part of the swap I’ve organised to be able to fit in the Canada trip.

Our Belgium trip tickets arrived in the post this morning. Jones trekked off to the Belgian tourist bureau & came back with maps & brochures. We’ve been headscratching over a hotel to stay in next week, trying to suss out the best value for money. We took a fancy to one and sent off a fax this evening asking for more info. Back came a scribbled note with the prices and booking conditions but absolutely nothing about the facilities offered in return. We might phone them tomorrow to glean more.

I sat down for an hour this evening to learn more about Sir Richard Scott and his report into the dubious workings of the British government, prompted by the “Arms to Iraq affair” (the sale of British arms to Iraq with the knowledge of the govt, against its own official policy, for which businessmen it had encouraged were later prosecuted). I don’t know how much of an impact the affair made on you. Here it was like a thunderous fart in a church service. Three years after the event the smell lingers. The final draft of the report has been handed over to the government which has a week to prepare its response before the rest of the country hears the details. The government, which is expected to emerge covered in smelly stuff, has launched a co-ordinated campaign to rubbish the judge, his report & the inquiry - even though it commissioned it itself. The vile stuff of politics. Michiavelli would have felt entirely at home in this company.

That’s the size of it. The boss liked last night’s programme. I hope she also likes tonight’s. It’s a hit & miss affair. Much news today of the plane that went down on its trip back from the Caribbean & pix of distressed relatives at Frankfurt airport. There, but for the grace of God.
Blessings ever
T