29May1997

My dear folks

There’s a hot sun in the evening sky, still too hot for the likes of me. The evening news has played itself out. Bill & Tony have done their thing, so have Cherie & Hillary. Troops of reporters have followed them around & remarked on everything that’s conceivably remarkable. Mr Blair continues to notch up Brownie points that he’s going to need in the months ahead.

Mave & I woke late. He’s taken a fancy to Jones’s ex bear-skin coat, now her bear-skin rug in the nook. He seemed to be feeling the after-effects of the triple booster he got from the vet yesterday. Makes me think of the disintegrating Gulf War veterans that the British Defence Dept doesn’t want to know about; they also got vaccinated with a cocktail that some think was to prove their undoing.

I started straight away on painting the doorframes with a final coat of gloss, before the sun hit the patio. Took me a couple of hours. I also had another crack at some of the flower troughs, which are looking much happier for my efforts. Still looks like a tornado hit the place but I’ll go out & clear up later. Then I grabbed the bike & set out for the BBC Recruitment Centre at Ealing Broadway – about an hour away – to drop off my latest Online application. It took me two days to complete the application. I hope the bastards who look over it are impressed. Ealing Broadway proved to be further away than I thought, especially in the midday heat.

I was pooped by the time I got there &, after finding the building & handing in the application, had to seek sustenance in a nearby pub. I was even more pooped when I emerged & I joined the herd of humans sunbathing on the Common for what turned out to be a 30 minute kip. Most refreshing! Unlike most of them, I kept all of my clothes on. There are frequent warnings in the media about the dangers of sunburn but the youths grouped around me were evidently as little impressed with these as with warnings about the dangers of smoking. Youth is immortal & will have its way!

Not sure where the rest of the afternoon has gone – excepting another 30 minute kip, this time in the TV chair, when I got home again. The clothes washer has done a load of washing & the dish washer is doing a load of dishes. I did get off three letters to Quinta guests of which I’ll send you separate details Jones. That’s my day. It’s been a lovely day too. I am quite coming around to Jones’s philosophy of “just living” except that it costs me more money than it seems to cost Jones.

Speaking of which, I sat down the other day & worked my outgoings on a spreadsheet. I’ve been doing it for the Quinta for years but have never really looked closely at my spending in London. So down it all went, the figures, the estimates & the guesstimates. I can’t say that I found it a very useful exercise. All that became clear was that I spent all the money that I didn’t save. And I knew that before I started. I guess that’s how it goes sometimes.

God and the Beeb willing, I have another day off tomorrow. How lovely! I might go for a long walk – another sunny day is forecast. Or I might just put in the day’s tidy up that the flat has long been calling for.

Blessings
T