10May1997

10 May 1997
My dear folks,

The safest way of starting a letter or a conversation is often the weather. So let me tell you that it’s a showery Saturday afternoon. The window panes are spattered with evidence of the last shower & grey clouds overhead are promising us the next one shortly. As I type, Manuel is busy playing his Music of the Mountains through the sound system that has come with my new computer. Jones asked if I expected to buy any more computers & all I could tell her was not for a while. Certainly, this one ought to see the millennium in. It’s a very beautiful computer the finer points of which you probably don’t want to know about. So let me tell you only that it comes with a 17” screen (that’s big), 3 glorious Yamaha speakers, (& for the nerds, 200MMX CPU, a 5.2 gig hard disk & 32mb of Ram). It’s not quite up to challenging Garry Kasparov but we’re getting there.

It was due for delivery on Monday but as it was ready yest. I drove out to Dan (15 mins away) to pick it up. It took me 12 hours to transfer data off my old one before its buyer arrived to fetch it mid-morning. And I needed them all. The flat was a tip of cardboard boxes & wires (eight plugs requiring sockets), to say nothing of files & clothes & everything else that needed moving for the occasion. Mavis promptly jumped up on to a box & adopted his “don’t look at me” pose. There was much crawling around under the desk while I removed the old model to the dining room (for the purchaser to inspect) & set up the new. I had to appeal to the Dan telephone helpline to set up the speakers. There were simply more wires & sockets than I could make sense of. The accompanying diagrams & pigeon English instructions were classic. There was also a missing link, as it turned out, which Dan promised to post. I got one from a specialist shop for a couple of quid this a.m. It was worth the effort. The sound system is a joy.

The early hours were upon me before I had installed & configured all the software required to connect with my Internet Service Provider & managed to download my email. I left the machine backing up all the files overnight. I was hard at it again this a.m. as I remembered I’d forgotten to transfer fax, email & Internet files. The buyer arrived late with a “computer expert” friend & both were much impressed with what they were getting. It’s nice when buyer & seller both feel they’ve got a square deal. I barely managed to get the flat into passable order by the time they turned up. It was one of those situations with so many things scattered about that every time I started to clear something up, I saw something else that needed doing more urgently.

So that’s the good news, especially as I don’t have to face the bill for another month. The bad news is that I didn’t get the attachment I wanted to Online. The news arrived by way of a telephone message while I slept after a night shift. It did not please me at all & I accepted the invitation to phone the personnel lady concerned to enquire further. I was told that my experience was too “international” for the small team that is to begin with British news. I wasn’t much impressed & asked what qualities the successful candidates had shown which I’d lacked. The personnel lady spent 5 mins saying it had been a hard decision & talking about the balance of the team before admitting that she was waffling hopelessly & suggesting that I try again when the section is expanded to take in world news. We’ll see.

Having got that out of the way, I set about trying to get down to Portugal at the end of the month. But the weekend concerned turned out to be a Bank Holiday weekend with only Club Class tickets left & those only to Lisbon or Seville. I declined, as much on principle as financial grounds, as I cannot bear the thought of forking out an additional £150 merely for the privilege of going on board first & being offered an extra drink.

And that’s all you get for your money, unless you value having a curtain between you & the plebs. Jones was disappointed too & confessed that she had to go outside & attack a patch of weeds quite mercilessly to get over the news. I’m now into the negotiations which may make a June trip possible. I’ve already got one booked for July. Oh for a little lottery win tonight. It would be so timely.

That’s more or less the story of my week. It omits 5 twelve-hour night shifts that took up the rest of my time, those & trying to sleep during the day. They were okay shifts during which I managed to get a number of packages done (I now get feedback from both Canada & Portugal); also, our unfavourite presenter has mercifully gone down with some illness which we all fervently hope will persist for the rest of her life. She has developed the knack of making herself loathed into a fine art. The weather turned cold which helped the sleeping. In fact, there was sleet across much of London & yesterday brought a light hail shower rattling the study window. I was alarmed for the new flowers I’d put in, to say nothing of the old ones. The shower was brief & the damage slight.

I had one of my occasional alcohol free hangovers at work two nights ago. Had to sluk a couple of killer pills & go & line down for a while to let it pass. They seem to be a product of insane sleeping patterns. I thought how long it had been since I’d had a real hangover….months & months ago. There are real benefits to being on the wagon, even if one does get down from it to stretch ones legs once in a while. Exactly 85 kgs the scale said this a.m. I’m still aiming at 80 but I confess that I’m starting to relax a little.

I’ve spoken to Cathy (who’s miffed because unexpected work commitments have upset Rolf’s plans for July in Canada) & to Jones who’s been busy with the thousand things that always need doing. (A call there Jones from Lynn & Bill to saying they’re flying down to the Quinta on June 17 [usual TAP flight] for a week, as arranged.) Thank you Mum for your fax earlier in the week. (Mother, “prandial” derives from “prandium”, Latin for a meal & commonly refers to dinner or lunch – says my OED – promptly installed on the new computer. Hence, post prandial = after lunch, typically a nap or walk.) Once I’ve sorted out the piles of paper work littering the bed, I shall read it again & the rest of the recent correspondence over a leisurely cup of coffee.

The rain is with us again. I’m not displeased. We need it badly. It forced me to jump on to a bus as I walking down to Edgware Road this a.m. for the speaker lead. Cost me 60p for 3 stops, which I resented. I can see that Jones values are starting to impinge, not before time. I did walk home again though, with a stop at the health shop for a loaf of their excellent 3-seeds bread. Now I have a further two days to sort out the flat & my files & for that I’m very grateful. I was reflecting on life’s little ups & downs this a.m. when I saw a guy travelling down the pavement on a skateboard. He’d lost both legs above the knee. He grasped the skateboard with two hands, rested one stump on the board & used his other stump to propel himself. It worked quite well although he found the pavements a bit of a bugger. I guess it’s all relative.

Thinking of you.
Lots of love
T