Dear Dave, Anne, William and Hannah
"Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness..."
Aye, summer's over in this part of the world. There was a mist this morning with visibility down to about 100 yards and it lingered until late morning. The afternoon was fine and warmer than it has been but there is a front coming in from the Atlantic tonight and it will be wet by morning. The central heating has been switched on. We'll really know it's winter in a couple of weeks when the clocks go back.
Apart from that, it's no bad.
How are youse all? Was I surprised to see and email from you Dave; no half. I was wondering why I was getting messages from Julie Dunn (I occasionally get mail from ladies without surnames, often called Svetlana, inviting me to visit websites to inspect the details of charming young Russian ladies looking for western husbands) then I saw the .nz and remembered. Was this the response to the email I sent a couple of months ago? I take it you got the message I sent back?
Anyway, how are you all getting on? Has William's room made much progress in the last couple of weeks? The bach was very comfortable in summer but I should think it might get a bit raw in a wet, windy Wellington winter. And how has the rugby/hockey season gone?
What else should I ask? Did Pat and Kathy enjoy their canal boating in England? How was their weather? A friend of mine was cruising the canals in Lancashire/Cheshire at about the same time. He wasn't too bothered by the weather but some of his party were wearing two jumpers most of the time.
I mentioned that Moira has taken Louise and small Paul to join Paul in Kuwait. Karen is in a flat in Edinburgh, working for the "Young Scot" magazine, doing I'm not sure what. Fiona has her flat near the University so their house is empty and their mail is redirected to me. I send the details to them by email. In return, they send digital photos like small Paul in a Celtic shirt, small Paul playing football etc. It fairly reduces the distance between us.
Mary got out of hospital after 8 days and is now recuperating at home. She gets out for a walk when the weather is not too bad and spends much of the rest of the time dozing. Apparently this is fairly normal at this stage. Gordon is working as a "promotions manager" in a night club in Cambridge. He denies that this means standing on street corners handing out free tickets to pretty girls but I have my suspicions. Michelle is a "millennium bug buster" with an insurance company in Lytham St Annes and has recently bought a car which is more sporty than her father's.
This is a bit of a rush, I must print it this evening as tomorrow I am going to dismantle the machine to fit a bigger hard drive and then install Windows 98. I have no idea when (or whether) the machine will work again.
Hope you are all well.
Orrabest,