6February1996

My dear folks,

I have fallen behind on my duty to you. I have an impressive army of excuses ranged behind me in my defence. But I shall leave them on parade, knowing that you are not much impressed by seried ranks. The truth of the matter is that I have arrived home tired each each night to a good supper & a good bottle of wine & have toppled shortly thereafter into bed. Did I say “toppled”. No, that’s the wrong word. You can’t topple upstairs. But I didn’t sit down at the computer to write to you as I meant to do & ought to have done. So I’m trying to make up for my sins this evening, however briefly.

Many thanks Mother and Sister for your kind & welcome faxes. Before I respond to them, let me tell you that I’ve been working hard. That’s meant writing letters to tenants both in London or Portugal before I set off for real work at the BBC & again on my return. It’s been cold. Indeed, this morning, we woke to a the prettiest of snow showers that had covered the gardens at the back & was endeavouring to cover the pavements & streets in front. The temperature hovered around zero. The snow had stopped falling by the time I set out for work on my bike. I put on an extra layer of clothing & stuffed my hands into my Canadian mitts for the ride. But my reddening ears bore testimony to the sharpness of the air. I cycled with care. The main roads were clear of snow. But the back roads I preferred were either coated in white or floating in slush & to be treated with care.

For several days now, Jones & I have been discussing the possibility of another lightning visit to Europe. Jones has been quite keen to try to Eurostar rail service that sweeps you through the Chunnel to Paris or Brussels in three hours. But she has been hesitant to embark on another European venture after my slight reservations about our last one. I have dismissed her doubts, pointing out that there are no guarantees of happiness in this world however hard one seeks it. And it would be a duller world if there were. She has also been hesitant to splash out. But she has found a super 3-day deal & we are to take off again next Wednesday shortly after my next series of overnight shifts. As things stand, I work a ten-hour day the rest of this week, have Saturday off, & then work Sun, Mon & Tues nights before we depart. As least the crossing should not be rough this time.

We get back on Saturday 17. I work the following 3 nights & then we’re off to Portugal on the 21st. Jones stays down there. I return on March 2nd, work for a few days & then leave for a week in Canada on the 9th, returning again to London on the 16th. Cathy, I shall endeavour to take up your offer of a spring time visit to German asap. I mean it. The benefit of working crazy hours & crazy days is crazy time off & - as you can see - I’m doing my damndest to exploit it.

My dear mother, thank you for your fax. I do look forward to seeing you & the Calgarians again soon & getting to know their new home & environment. I would also like to catch up a little on their lives with which I have fallen behind. It would be nice to know more about Alan’s new computer before I arrive over there but I do not depend upon it.