21August1997

21 August 1997
My dear folks,

It’s a little cooler, I think. We had a light shower this p.m. with more promised tonight. The rain was ill timed. I’d spent two hours cleaning the Rocket & rubbing down numerous rust bubbles with wet-or-dry paper & was busy applying primer to the resulting “wounds” when the rain drops began spattering off the paint work. I bowed to the inevitable. I’ll wipe the car down again tomorrow & cover the grey primer with enamel. Seventeen years on London’s streets are taking their toll of my baby.

The scene was the forecourt of a local garage where there are facilities for hand-washing vehicles. At one point a car pulled up in front of me & a young Asian woman climbed out & began to pump air into the tyres. As she was doing it very badly, squirting most of the air straight back into the atmosphere, I offered my services. She accepted them gratefully, admitting that she’d just acquired the car. She wasn’t sure how much air was needed, so she was simply pumping up the tyres until they looked about right. Hoo boy!

I’ve just had a word with Jones. We are downing simultaneous sympathetic “Aldeia Velhas” & Cokes. She’s had a heavy day coping with a big change over & a blocked sewage pipe that had been straining the atmosphere. The blockage was sorted out late in the day much to Jones’s relief by a couple of British specialists who advertise in the local press. Indeed, she confessed adding a substantial tip to their bill in sheer gratitude for the relief. The drama wasn’t over until they’d left the property as they’d lost the reverse gear in their Landrover & had some difficulty getting out with their specialist gear in tow. I gather from Jones that she zealously guarded her plants during the exit manoeuvres while Andre guarded his car, his pride & joy.

Thank you Bea & Jane for emails, which I’ll pass on to Jones in due course. Also had a call tonight, Jonesy, from Richard who’s just back from Dublin & has a few days to run before he returns to work. He planned to give you a call as well.

My scanner has been playing silly buggers, fortunately during its guarantee period, & I cycled into town this a.m. to return it to the retailers for repairs. It’s been a useful tool & intermittently hard-working. For the past few weeks, I’ve been scanning Jones’s Quintassential faxes into the computer. One day I may try to compile a “his & hers”. They take up a lot of space as they’re hand-written & have to be recorded as graphic files. But I’ve got a hard disk big enough to park buses in & a compression programme that squeezes them down until the pips squeak.

I have also paid my first electronic bill, quite satisfying. I “connect” with my bank account most evenings for an update but until tonight hadn’t tried paying any bills on line. A quick glance at Barclays online handbook revealed that virtually all utilities & tax bills can be settled with electronic cheques. So I tried paying my monthly credit card bill & got all the right electronic responses. The downside is that the banks continue to make staff redundant as they go ever higher tech – unless they’re I.T. staff, that is, for whom the demand is huge. But there’s no queuing on your computer, no traffic jams & no parking problems.

A long, hot, noisy weekend lies ahead. Some local residents have been warming up for the carnival, rock music thundering from their car speaker systems as they reverberate down the road. I’m glad to be working the next few nights. The days at least should be bearable as the revellers join me in sleeping things off.

Blessings
T