3December1997

3 December 1997
My dear folks,

My thoughts have been much with you all these past few days. I saw Mum boarding her aircraft & setting off on the long eastwards haul to Christmas in Germany. I saw Cath driving up the motorway to fetch her - & the pair of them in animated conversation as they returned. I saw Alan screaming around the course in his racing car as he learns the advanced tricks of the trade, & Kevin watching him with envious eyes. I saw Conal in his cafe & Micaela with her dogs & Brendan cussing some intractable problem in his office. And a long letter from Robbie brought us right up to date on his complicated life. I have to thank you for your letters & emails, all much appreciated & enjoyed.

I’ve been working the past two nights & have a breather now before I return to the fray over the weekend. Cousin Jud Cornell is coming to a curry supper. Her time her is rapidly drawing to a close following the completion of her PhD thesis & the nerve-wracking subsequent oral session with the examiners. All seems to have gone well. She’s back to RSA on Sunday. Can’t believe it. Indeed, the year is now rushing past with unseemly haste. Christmas looms - I’ve been trying to write a Christmas letter but it’s proving a difficult delivery - & New Year in its wake.

On the work front, I await the outcome of the boards held last week. So, for that matter, does half the dept. The results were to have been announced on Monday but it seems that several people were unable to make the boards & will be interviewed only next week. So there is no recourse except to patience in the meanwhile. Que sera sera! To complicate things, I have been offered a 3-month attachment with OnLine from January to fill in for a pregnant colleague. Since I’ve applied for leave to go both to Germany for New Year & to France to ski in mid-Jan, it gets very turgid indeed. But it will not doubt sort itself out in due course. It always does, even if it’s not always to our satisfaction.

My back started complaining about the excessive amount of sitting I’ve been doing as a result of extra shifts. So I’ve been standing in the gallery during bulletin production & spending much of the time at my desk kneeling instead. It works perfectly well although it provokes irreverent comments from colleagues who are well acquainted with my monkish history. The weather turned really wintry earlier in the week & I had to cycle home in a pitch-dark sleet storm on Tuesday, the crystals bouncing painfully off my eyes as I headed directly into the wind. Yest. I got lazy & took the car instead. It sounds much better for a new exhaust, although it was badly fitted & clatters on the underside. Will go back for adjustment in due course.

Other than that, it’s been more of the usual; writing letters to lots of prospective Quinta guests & telling them to send us deposits if they want the bookings they have provisionally made for next year. And fixing problems in flats. I had an agonised call from the people in a basement flat up the road to say that water was leaking down (for the umpteenth time) from one of “my” flats above them. I managed to get the problem seen to immediately, but the plumber was unable to get the parts to repair it on a Sunday. So he had to leave the sinning bathroom inoperable overnight. The tenants in the flat concerned returned filthy from a hard day’s work to find themselves bathless – and phoned me in some irritation. Come round & have a bath here, I invited them. So they did. I even poured them plastic glasses of red wine to have with it. They were most grateful – as indeed they should have been.

Jones has been doing her thing, including some research on another flat for her nephew, Bevan, who supped & spent last Saturday night with us. He’s been shooting off to hastily arranged meetings in Italy and the US as he pursues his elusive sales & has had very little time to test the market himself. A change of job has meant that he now has to make an expensive & time-consuming commute. Hence the need for a new address.

That’s about the size of it.
Blessings
T