9May1996

My dear folks,

Two letters in one day may seem excessive but the day has a two-letter feel about it. And if I didn’t sit down to write to you I wouldn’t know what had happened to it. It has been a very busy day like most days. I know that all your days are very busy too & I guess it doesn’t add a lot to say the obvious. Does it help to define the day if I say that it was a Jim Reeves flavoured morning & now, against a superb London sunset, it’s a Don Williams evening? Do you know his song, Gypsy Woman? I love it.

Bernie & Flea took themselves off to Cambridge & were joining a friend in Croydon for supper. They can still hardly believe they are here & are as pleased as 2 children at a party. Bernie says it’s 16 years since her last visit! I can hardly credit it. She had just come down this morning when a nice BT man called to install my second phone line. On which subject, an apology, I gave you the wrong number this morning.

The correct number is 2664211. In short, the usual phone/fax remains on 2864592. I have connected my old fax machine plus the computer - but at the moment, NOT a phone - to the 2664211 line. Both lines will take incoming faxes, but the 2664211 line is set on FAX only & will respond more quickly to a fax call. Hope it will solve your communications problems Jones! Once or twice a week, after 1800 at night & before 0800 in the morning (cheap phone time), I may occupy the line on the Internet. For 99% of the time, it will be free for incoming faxes.

I spent 2 hours writing letters - to tenants who are behind on their rent (a pain) - to occupants of half a dozen flats to which a surveyor needs access (a chore) - to agents, Quinta guests, yourselves, Freglet, - lots of people in fact. Then I toured the local banks depositing cheques, mainly on other people’s behalf. Jones I got your prescription from the doctor & I fetched the Michelin Map from Waterstones (where I found a super computer book to boot). I surrendered to my waistline & walked up to the local charity shop with a rucksack full of trousers that have hung uselessly in the cupboard for years. Now I have a generous tot of the exquisite KWV brandy that Bernie brought over for me, warming the cockles!

I know that all this will seem trivial to folks in SA following the withdrawal today of the NP from the govt. of national unity & all the question-marks that raises about the future. My feeling - a secure 5,000 miles away - is that little changes except the timetable, as the inevitable is brought forward. The NP would have left at latest by 1999 when the next elections are due & the national unity govt would have ended. I’ve been watching the movement of the Rand, which has fallen by 20% since Feb but it seems, if anything, to have gained a little strength after sharp falls yest.

Jones, I also made contact with Heather of Simply Travel whom I’m to see tomorrow. Had a word with Jim & Maya Fish. They are due down mid afternoon on the 15th. I didn’t discuss any social arrangements with them. Will leave you to raise those in due course. I’m awaiting confirmation from a colleague at work of a booking in August to replace that cancelled in Casa 4 for last week of Aug and first week of Sept. I’ve had a brief word with Rob who confirms the dates he gave us. He also says he’ll stick with his car hire plans, partially because he has to leave at sparrows on the Saturday & does not want to get us up. My feeling is that if that’s the way he likes it, fine by me. I’ve tried to call Eileen Slade to bring our booking forward by a day - so far without success - but I’ll persist. There, that’s all my news.
Much love
T