9April1996

My dear folks,

It’s going to be an early bed night. I finished my fourth & final night shift at 8 a.m. & I’ve instructed body to hold out till 8 p.m. when it can crash. It was a good night, as they go. I spent the early part doing a report on the eyeballing that’s going on in Korea. Then I had 3 hours of production in the gallery - a round-about of world news, financial reports, Asian news & reviews. Finally a two-hour sprint through the breakfast show. By the time bike & I emerged into the foggy morning, the unwelcome traffic of a new week was back. Easter’s gone to where ever old Easters are stored.

The bad news is that the plug has been pulled on our sister operation, BBC Arabic TV. It was one of these deals in which the Beeb supplied the news to a wealthy partner who distributed it. The money behind it was Saudi & the moneybags a Saudi prince. There have long been strains over the content. Little is being said but it seems that a critical documentary on Saudi Arabia was the final straw. The price of free speech is 250 jobs & the end of the service. Much gloom in the building! The piper had agreed to let the Beeb call the tune but it seems the tune didn’t appeal. The irony is that it was the Arabic TV Service that gave me the job that never materialised. I guess I have reason to be grateful.

I have the glow of virtue about me. You know how satisfying it is to cross off a whole list of tasks. I’ve made a long postponed appointment for the dentist in the morning - he had a cancellation & I’ve a dubious filling or two. Ditto the GP from whom I need a letter for my next visit to the Health Service dermatologist who zaps the occasional nasties on my hands - the inheritance of a sunburned youth. I’ve arranged to meet the electrician around at midday to fix a troublesome light outside one of “my” flats. And I’ve made several useful phone calls & written various handy letters. I’ve even had a couple of hours of modest experimentation on the computer. Speaking of virtue, I heard a neat definition of hypocrisy the other day, as: “the tribute that vice pays to virtue!” I rather like it.

This afternoon I took myself off to the bank - crowded with post weekend visitors - & carried on around Maida Vale on a loop that brought me out at the greengrocer. My grub stocks were low. Among other things I bought a hefty annual bag of peanuts to feed the birds that come to the kitchen window - much to Mavis’s irritation. By the time I’d finished my purchases, I had a bulging plastic bag of goodies to bring back & found it easiest to sling them over my shoulder at the knobbly end of a walking stick. On my previous visit I’d bought a haul of oranges, the remains of which I chopped into quarters last night & consumed in the bath - they always dribble down one’s chin.

The sun has come out for a final bow. I’m going to top up my coke with a hint of Allied Velha and go out on to the patio to admire the evening. I must also change Mavis’s pooh sand. It’s clean but it obviously pongs & he doesn’t fancy it and - to my fury - has resumed his visits to the newly planted trough in spite of the anti-cat devices with which I’ve littered it. I damn near sent him flying between the goal posts when I discovered the little Easter eggs he’d left me as I was watering.....the furry bastard.

Love you lots.
T