It’s hot today - 120deg.F in the conservatory. I’ve been out and about doing things for Herself and teeny-tiny gardens and enjoying social intercourse hither and yon.

Took parcels to Keef at the Sorting Office and had a chat. He takes my parcels / mail into the place and hands it to sorting-person saying ’sort now’. That’s why my 1st. cl. mail arrives the next day. It’s never what you know, it’s who.

Sold cumbersome exhibition display equipment for £50 more than we paid for it and got a 60% discount off (collect it - pay cash - no credit - no invoice required) for new, lightweight, easy-carry stuff for forthcoming show. Graphics and lights included. Magic.

Left amused / confused electrical wholesaler Boss with problem of sourcing obscure connector fitting which when added to a certain green wire makes a perfect ‘hosepipe’ for teeny-tiny gardens. Helpfully, I suggested it was made in China. He feels China is a b-i-g place. His prob. After all, I said I’d buy 20 (same terms as above but 33% discount). He said it made a nice change from chasing portable air-con units for desperate customers. So I’ve been very helpful, reely! A proper little ray of sunshine.

You remember my friend Lamorak? Well apparently my visit did him the world of good but tempers are a tad frayed because he keeps saying ‘But Uncle Joe said - - ‘ as in ‘the last word’. As I mentioned, he has an oddly direct way of speaking exactly what’s in his mind without regard to the general conversation. Idea pops in - speech pops out. That’s just how he’s wired, bless him. It’s the thing that unerves people who don’t know him well. Since I’m pretty up-front too, I have no problem with that - so we get on fine. I’m so glad I’ve been able to bring a spark into what is a very lonely life. Mum and Dad are very good with him - but he’s just cut off, really, poor b.

So LordH - no, he hasn’t a sister called Anorak - but you were close. It’s Anna, actually!! And no, I haven’t told them.

And JG - YOU know it was a skean dhu; I know it was a skean dhu - but most people can’t pronounce it and have no idea what it is. So I called it a dirk. Hope I’m forgiven but it’s nice to meet a purist. Oh and I didn’t mention the ‘ancient’ colour garter tabs to match the ‘ancient’ tartan. NOTE: ‘Ancient’ refers to the colours. In olden times vegetable dyes were used and they are very ’soft’ colours. ‘Modern’ dyes are chemical and quite harsh and bright by comparison. The thing I didn’t wear (too hot) was my black Argyll jacket with the square silver buttons and the braided epaulettes. Oh just think how many hoots / whistles / w.h.y I’d have got if I’d done that!!!

What else? Oh, yes Sarah, thanks for ‘I await your response’. What I set out to do is create a file demonstrating restraint on my part and total stupidity / inefficiency on theirs. Once you’ve got the file, you can really make people SUFFER! So I have an escalation process: 1.Letter. Quiet, tranquil, objective. 2. Fax (This is super because poeple don’t use them much now because of e mail) sending copy with ‘I feel sure this letter was either never delivered or has gone astray at your end’ message. 3. E mail with attachments. Concerned, not angry, but includes date / time for reply. Requests copies sent to x,y and z. 4. Special Delivery Letter warning that whilst I have attempted to keep this matter private so far if no reply is forthcoming I have no alternative but to - - -. 5. Fax advising dam will burst. Several copies sent to every fax number I can find referring to the copies they must have received as a result of (3). So far, I’ve never needed number 6. Good one, Sarah. Like it!

And ScottJ - why the surprise? I used to play drums in a good jazz band in London. I’ve got 8 Don Williams CD’s and funnily enough the one I played yesterday has ‘Good old boys like me’ as the lead number. What else should I enjoy, friend? All good ideas stolen freely!!

Well I’ve said my thanks to you all. I have Henry and all of you to thank for allowing me into this special private place. Thank you for that. One idea you might like - IF you didn’t read the Review section of the Sunday Telegraph then you need to know about ‘the fastest growing internet phenomenon since e bay’. WOW!! Yazza Yazza!!Two years ago Deron Beal in Arizona (keep up - it’s a small part of one of our colonies) got cross about people dumping stuff and set up www.freecycle.org as a ‘meeting place’ for people who had stuff they wanted to give away and for people to ask for things they wanted. No cash - just a swap-meet. It’s taken off like a rocket. I’m not surprised. But when you join you have to offer something to give away before you can ask for soemething you want. There’s more - but why not find out?

Late for lunch. Love to you all and a bit worried about Julianna - but I was away for a while. Today’s message? Why not try to heal a disagreement you have had with someone? Hey, we can all be wrong but we needn’t be thick about it. Supposing they don’t think like that? You win more with sugar than with vinegar. Just a thought. Cheers - Dad

Yep, de sun shinin’ here in de Souf. More Don Williams - I need the tranquility of his songs.

Herself is working hard to finish a specially commissioned teeny-tiny vegetable garden. We’ve worked together on the design and the structural engineering - but she’s the one that puts it together and she’s brilliant. How great to both love and admire one’s wife. I’m so lucky. Well, actually I deserve it - but, hey - who’s counting?

I’m clearly out of tune with much of modern society. At the risk of boring you all again I’m (pause - deep breath) a Solution Focused Brief Therapist. It makes me tired just typing it. If you want to know more - just ask. But why are people so rude nowadays? Why don’t people answer letters? ‘No’ is an answer. Voicemail is an open sewer into which one’s message is delivered, never to be heard of again. E mail vanishes into the cosmos. Realmail probably never gets delivered anyway and is never answered. As just one example out of many, a letter to the German Embassy dated 9th.May has not yet been acknowledged, let alone replied to, by the 26th.June. 7 weeks. There must be a European Standard for Behaviour - but not for the Embassy. Or anyone else. Sad, that.

Lunch now.

BUT - J, my treasure - are you OK?

As for the rest of us. Break off. Look outside. Birds, bees, small people. We’re so lucky, really.
Cheers and my love - Dad

Thunder and lightning with a spatter of rain o’ernight. Hot and muggy today. Don Williams on the m/c. Core C & W.

Well, my round trip went very well. Met up with sundry old (yes - quite old!) friends; chattered a lot; shared memories of old times and old friends. Ate and drank. Gill in Kenilworth wouldn’t let me wear my kilt but I dressed in the whole lot for Carole in St.Albans and her son Lamorak. She knew me when I used to wear my kilt quite often and implored me to wear it again for her and her son. So - Kilt / Glengarry hat (OK, infidels, the pointy one with the red bobble on top and twin ribbons down the back with my Clan Badge on the black silk rosette. BUT no red / white chequered band because it’s not a military tartan - goddit? Questions on a used bank note.) Also smart belt with celtic design Big Buckle (3″ x 4″ for the anoraks amongst you); new sporran; dirk in stocking; thistle carved deer antler handled walking stick. Quite low key, really. Oh - I was a VISION. Well I know I was because in the confident expectation of malt whisky I walked to their place from my hotel rather than drive and I was waved at, hooted at, whistled at. No wonder my three children are so lovely to behold since their Father is clearly (still) very handsome. Oh, and they might have been supporting independence for Scotland, I suppose? Well, it all went down a storm (and the malt).

Before you ask ‘And what does Herself think of you fading off to stay with old (yes, again) girlfriends?’ She’s been nagging me to bxxxxr off for months so she can have some peace and quiet. And would I mind making this a regular feature so she can put it in her diary and has something to which to look forward? Funny thing, marriage. I have long felt that ‘Private time’ is a vital requirement for a happy marriage. I used to travel on business all the time so it was no prob. But now? Well, find more (old) girl friends and b’ off, I suppose. Oh well.

Carole, her husband John and I met up as teenagers and have been close ever since. Then I married my first wife and we lived close to each other so the families were friends. Lamorak is their eldest son and was born about the same time as Henry. Very sadly, he is both epileptic and otherwise mentally disadvantaged. However I am a ‘friend’ because I can cope with his abruptness and spend time with him. Most people are either frightened of him or treat him as a blank space and talk past him - something that I gather happens to many people with disabilities. Sad, that. L and I had a good time. He loves to ask questions - you can see this one coming - ‘What do you keep in your sporran?’ So I showed him. He’s a nice bloke who doesn’t deserve his problems.

Back home to learn that I’ve been voted on to the Central Committee of the UK Assoc’n of Solution Focused Practitioners. Phew. So as one of them I have to help organise them. Watch this space. They inhabit a different world from mine so there WILL BE fireworks.

Enuff.

Julianna - treasure - sorry I’ve been away. Are you well? I’ve been thinking about you. With so many people rooting for you, J, you are much blessed. However the dice falls we’re here for you and we all look forward to your future - whatever that may be. Chin up, chuckles!!

To my other friends - I’ve learned again from my travels that in life it’s so easy to let events overtake the reality of life. True friends offer us so much strength and support - as we offer to our friends. Without each other we’d be lost. So treasure friendship. Support your friends. Don’t let the pressures of today wipe out the enduring strength of friendship. Cheers, all - Dad

At last! Sun and that. Had a good morning and am playing Chet Atkins ‘Street Dreams’.

Eleven people on a rope

Eleven people were hanging on a rope under a helicopter, ten men and one woman.
The rope was not strong enough to carry them all, so they decided that
one had to leave, because otherwise they were all going to fall.

They weren’t able to choose that person, until the woman gave a very touching speech.
She said that she would voluntarily let go of the rope, because, as a woman,
she was used to giving up everything for her husband and kids, or for men in general,
and was used to always making sacrifices with little in return.
As soon as she finished her speech, all the men started clapping their hands……

SEND THIS TO A WOMAN SO THAT SHE HAS SOMETHING TO SMILE ABOUT TODAY.

Well the new super-duper kilt and sundry other stuff arrived yesterday. It’s amazing what verbal telephonic manipulation can inspire others to do. Like getting the valve for the boiler when there weren’t any valves in Britain. You just need to know which bit to twist that brings tears to their eyes. Heh, heh.

It being good weather, got togged up in kilt & etc to go to the Village as one does every Saturday. Didn’t pick up on Herself’s comment that she had things to do and didn’t have time to go - could I visit Bldg. Soc. and pay in cheque for her, pls? It was only later that I wondered why.

Swep’ down The Broadway (High Street to the peasantry) with a swing and a swish. Find people go cross-eyed and mumble a bit when they see me. Their problem. BUT. Then. Change Library books on Saturday. Do other chores first. Take books out of car & set off. Only THEN do I realise that L.Books are kept in a nice French shoppping basket. So what is a man in a skirt doing walking down the road with a wicker shopping basket over his arm? Aaarrgh!! But I was still laughing when I went in and I know the ladies / girls w.h.y. there very well - so they kept straight faces and said I looked v. smart. Must buy a ‘book bag’ before I confuse someone.

Since then saw bits of Trooping the Colour (why do idiot ’sniling’ [yes, ‘n’] blair + unreconstructed stupid socialist brown want to destroy our armed forces and our history? Answers on a used bank note please - kilts are v. expensive) and worked on final details for Herself’s new web site. It’ll be great!! When it’s live I’ll tell you how to find it and you’ll all buy a bit from her, won’t you, folks? Feedback from USA customers often use the word ‘awesome’. Well, that’s before they’ve seen me in my kilt.

That’s it for now. BUT - hey, Julianna, babe, got your posts and will respond in due course. Want to think. For now, choose the piece of clothing you like most and wear it. It could be under or outer wear. It could be NEW or old and crumpled. If you like it, find a way to wear it. Hey, clothes are for us. If I can walk around a piece of Dorset in a kilt, you can wear a pair of knickers you like - which no-one can see - but which gives you a g-o-o-d feeling. Or whatever. Go for it, treasure.

The rest of us? We all hate ourselves about something. Just for today - cross it out. Not today. Don’t beat yourself up. Today you’re OK. That up-beat mood will communicate itself to others - and make their day, too. That way both you and they win. Love to all - Dad

Fitness

Q: I’ve heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true?

A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that’s it…don’t waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that’s like saying you can
extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap.

Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?

A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism for delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain?
Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.

Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?

A: Well, if you have a body and you have body fat, your ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc.

Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program?

A: Can’t think of a single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No Pain…Good

Q: Aren’t fried foods bad for you?

A: You’re not listening. Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they’re permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you?

Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?

A: Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.

Q: Is chocolate bad for me?

A: Are you crazy? HELLO ….. Cocoa beans … another vegetable!!! It’s the best feel-good food around!

Q: Is swimming good for your figure?

A: If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales to me. (I love
that one!)

Q: Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle?

A: Hey! ‘Round’ is a shape!

Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had
about food and diets. Now go have a biscuit…flour is a veggie!

Sunny today but windy and cold-ish. More Eva Cassidy playing. So with a chilly life dictated by the unfunctioning boiler I’m wrapped up warm following ‘refreshing’ but rather limited cold-water ablutions.

THE GOOD NEWS is that a HUGE truck maneovered up my residential road and squeeled its air brakes to a halt before turning round ponderously whilst beep-beeping when reversing. Disbelieving trucker in smart kit arrives with box and clip-board. ‘Was I me?’ He normally delivers to places with room for big trucks an’ offices an’ dat. Offer him tea. Got places to go, things to do but ta. Many years ago I used to drive vans / trucks for my Dad’s business. Sheer, undiluted fun. ‘Biggish’ trucks (tiny by today’s standards) were ‘plated’ at 20 mph limit (ie had a 20 sign on the back). Imagine driving London / Manchester (a regular run) before motorways in a truck at 20 mph often in a pea-soup fog. Yes, they happened AFTER the War not just in Sherlock Holmes’s time. Oh, and the engine power was so poor that they couldn’t maintain 20 up a slope with a load on. Well, you could watch the coutryside, admire the clouds and have plenty of time to think.

One truck I drove was ex-army (they mostly were then). Because it was rigged for use in the desert, the FRONT opening door had a metal stay to hold the door open just wide enough to put your legs out and rest your feet on the front mudguard. It also had a hand throttle you could set to save using the throttle pedal. So in the summer I’d drive along, door propped open, ankles crossed and feet on mudguard, steering gently. You can’t even imagine it, today!!

SO my friends in Derbyshire have shifted themselves and sent me a valve that no-one I tried across Britain could get. They’d all sold the last one they had, the factory told them there was no stock and they had no idea when there would be any. Proud, I am. Oh, and it would have cost me £291 and it came for nowt. That’s two results I reckon. So I phoned Maureen, Ann, Sue and Nick (the Director of Something) to say ‘thanks, folks’. Apparently not a lot of people do that. Now if you get out of your pram to complain, then you really should clamber out to say ‘thanks’. Life’s a bxxxxr anyway and the occasional ‘thanks’ eases the pain, dunnit. But then you all do that, don’t you?

Oh, oh, Eva’s singing ‘I wish I was a single girl again’. Does that beat ever rattle your under-parts. Wow - if only I had a drum kit here I’d be in Heaven. Cor! Play it again, Dad.

Got to say I envy Henry an’ de boat. If wishes were wings I’d be on it. I just love water - in it’s proper place. Herself reckons that my round-the-houses trip next week will do me the world of good. She’s normally right.

My first stop is to spend a few days in Wales staying in Rhayader (it’s not as hard to pronounce as you might imagine) and spend time with my (equally old) mate - we chatter a lot to each other and share our expertise over problems. He’s helping an illiterate Welsh farmer with a messy case about a right of way, and I’m helping him with the legal bit and drafting letters and ‘motions’ for him. Well, it beats staring into space.

He bought a farm and is doing-up the farm house - meanwhile he, his wife and their grown-up very high-powered daughter live in a mobile home in the yard. Should I be frightened? He phoned to say that because I was coming they were up-rating (he can use the language, right) their lavatorial facilities. The interior of the house has been ripped out awaiting re-fitting. Got the ground floor lovely wood floor and fireplace so we can do ‘drink-ins’ in front of the fire (can’t wait). However. They have an outside ‘facility’ (Sensitive shyness over use of blunt language on blog site). Because I’m visiting they’re putting this ‘on the mains’. Aaargh!! Mind boggles. It seems that heretofore in the above mentioned ‘facility’ there was a big water butt and a bucket alonside a modern ceramic-and-stuff ’suite’. Enter. Do whatever. Dip bucket in butt and empty down ceramic modernity. Whoever takes the last bucket out of the butt fills it again. Should I subject myslef to this? The answer came in an e-mail from the two girls. ‘Go for it, Joe, you will have achieved the most progressive step forward for woman-kind for some time’ Well, you can’t turn that down can you? Will I get the hem of my kilt wet? Oh, whichever way you turn, it’s worrying.

That’s about it for today. Hey Julianna - thanks for feedback. We aim to please. So let me set you a task. Think five years ahead. Identify one thing you want to achieve for yourself. Paint a picture? Make a pottery mug? Encourage birds around you and see what they do? Write a 3 page idea of how you see life? Re-decorate your living space? Think. Tell me. You want it private? joe@power-base.co.uk - go on, you owe it to yourself because you’re a valued person.

Today’s thought? You win more with honey than with vinegar. But never let them face you down. Love to all - Dad

Funny that. Spoke to Director at boiler business and he’s sending me a widget for nothing because I made him sad.

Funny that.

Please contact me if you need to wind someone up. Send request on a used banknote.

Heh, heh, heh.

Dad

Well it’s sunny(ish) and I’m letting Eva Cassidy soothe me (The one singing on the CD!! Wash your mind out!!) Herself is fit to be tied. She sought a part-time job to allow her time for other things especially teeny-tiny gardening. So it’s a job-share and a.n.o. person is supposed to do the afternoons but they are supposed to cover for each other for holidays. Well, that’s OK. The first two sharers couldn’t manage ‘dependable’. The current one? She has a curious affliction called F & M - can’t make it to work Friday or Monday. Or Tuesday today. Now Herself is a really nice person and also a born-again Christian. So far, so good. Until she gets MAD!!!!! Then I wriggle behind the settee and put fingers in ears. She can’t come home until late today and is spitting mad. I’m with her. Something extremely painful is going to happen to someone if this keeps up. Not physical - a touch of the acid verbals. I’m glad I don’t work there. (Big wince)

So the boiler still doesn’t work. A gas valve (for the anoraks part no. 05720000) has failed. OK, fine, it happens. BUT - no-one has one. Check with the manufacturer? No stock, no idea of when stock will be available. And the price of the non-available widget is stupid (been director of hi-tech engineering company - believe me). So I’ve spent a cheerful morning talking to people the length and breadth of our fair land (well it was before a bundle of xxx idiots put El Presidente blair over us all) saying ‘Have you got a widget ON THE SHELF? Nope. Plan B (I knew you’d want to know if I had one) Rip the thing off the wall and install a new boiler.

Please put £1,500 in used banknotes in post to enable me to achieve this objective. Oh come on, you wouldn’t want the creator of teeny-tiny gardens to go un-showered and put up with husband (hunched behind settee, see above) also unwashed, would you? Pleeze!!

BUT there is good news. S-m-o-o-t-h black Highland Jacket wif de bright square metal buttons and the smart turned up cuffs & etc arrived today in time for my round-the-block trip next week. I look superb. Well, the jacket does. An’ that. etc. um.

I’ve been studying the use of the internet for counselling / therapy kind of stuff. I do this and want to create an ‘internet model’ because then I could do it from my chair and need not rent de offis an’ dat. It has the great advantage of annonymity. Well, several people are flaunting themselves over the i-waves and it seems to be working. Hmm. I could go for this. Opinions on a used UK bank note please. Waddayu fink?

Oh, Eva’s singing ‘I know you by heart’. Tears run down my face - now and every time. The power that music and song have over our emotions. I truly feel that if I meet someone unmoved by music - I should pass them by. Sheer, deep, raw emotion such as music calls up is an essential element in the human soul.

So, what does Dad think today? Firstly Julianna - Hey, much loved person, today’s a GOOD DAY. What will be, will be. Relax back into it. You are valued by who you are not what you may - or may not - achieve. Since the future is outside your control - just go for it, however it turns out. Our world needs good people. Lift your heart, love.

For the rest of us? Have we done one good, unselfish deed today? Not yet? There’s still time. Put a ‘good deed’ coin into the collecting box of life. You may need to draw on that bank one day. Love to you all - Dad.

‘ello, then. (Pause for gloom) This weather is NOT RIGHT for Dorset. It’s got to be someone’s fault and I want COMPENSATION! Well, yesterday it was mild with showers - so I couldn’t wear THE KILT. We looked at each other and decided we needn’t go to the Village (SOP for Saturday) so stayed indoors. Went to bed (As one does) O’ernight a small Gremlin knocked out the boiler. Up this am at 6 (don’t fret - we always get up about then) and herself went for the papers. Drank tea. Read stuff. ‘Are you cold?’ ‘Yes, you prat, that’s why I’m wearing all this’ Note: this is a non-gender-biased exchange either comment could come from either gender. ‘Did you turn the heating off?’ ‘No’ Boiler dead. Sunday. Stuff it. No heat, no (indoor) shower - it’s pxxxxxg down outside and cold with it - no washing-up. Much cold gloom.

Well that’s done SOME of the M & W. The Panic? Herself’s new Web Site is on the cusp of introduction to a wider world. Can she cope? What will happen? Aarrgh. Her teeny-tiny gardens sell at a blink. Most go to the US of A. She works flat out creating her lovely things. I’m so proud of her. What will happen when the Web site goes live?

I blame the cold for the iron entering my soul. blair? (No cap b req’d) and his grasping wife in the US of A? ‘The First Lady of Downing Street’. Euch! Put £20,000 in my pocket whilst - surprise, surprise, my key to riches a.k.a. husband is talking to The President. Tell me that’s merely a nighmare. But it opens a new possibility I had never envisaged over the last 70 odd years. There is clearly no level to which the blair family and this entire accursed plague of a govt will not sink. Even Euan (I get drunk in the middle of London) blair plays his part by getting Dad to agree to a film shoot around Downing Street denied to another film company not paying him. Euch!! When will the natural reasonable standards of our citizenry rise against the debauchment of our country, our lives, our standards? Please don’t leave it too late, folks.

Reverting to Dorset, as a way of lowering my blood pressure, did you know I was a published poet? Not easy for poets, that. The following is ‘A Dorset Idyll’

Clear blue sky, unwinking sun
Warm air, soft and clear
Deep green hedges, drifts of trees
Grassy heaves of gentle hills
Such a life gift

The hum and thrum of people’s passage
Visitors quest here for their fun
Locals hold their places dear
All turn their faces to a kindly breeze
And settle to a slower pace

Some people face the workday run
Some travel far and others near
Others cherish the peace that Dorset frees
Gorging on the country and the water’s rills
Enjoying the heart’s lift

For us all, Dorset has a message
Life has a distance for us to run
A gentle life, lacking fear
Not a world driving us to our knees
A kinder, nicer place

If only. But why not?
Dorset’s warm and gentle form
Surely seduces the senses
With a sense of what could be.
Feel wrapped and calm. Why not?

If you can’t see the scan / rhyme - alternate verses 2 by 2 then a closer. There’s a name for it.

Hey, Julianna - pay attention here. You are much loved and cared for by a whole group of people you’ve never seen. Be uplifted on the thoughts of so many. Each day we wonder how you are and offer up a small hope that, just for today, you’ll be fine. What a gift to be so much loved by so many. Chin up, treasure.

As for the rest of us - the most cruel response to unkindness is true laughter. They can’t handle that. Love to you all - Dad

Sorry to have missing for so long - much daily e mail traffic with / about therapists and discussing arcane therapy theory with bloke who’s in charge of Doctorate programme at a regional Uni. and wanted some input from me about things I knew. Good for the brain but leaves no mental strength / time for blog site.

Cold, drizzly day here. Playing Jazz a la Carte to cheer me up!

Car in for service, they have no idea whether ready today or tomorrow. Hmm. Loan car has buttons in funny places and so that was fun. Hate looking stupid in a car I’ve only driven for 5 mins!

Herself madly busy teeny-tiny gardening and off to darkest Kent tomorrow to see her Mum & Dad. Hope the weather improves for her. I’m getting myself organised for trip to Wales, Midlands, St.Albans. (Sorry about lunch, Sarah!). Plans changing on a daily basis. Never mind.

Took the kilt for an airing last Friday. Many nice compliments from women re ’smartness’. Kilt seen as great improvement on grungy male trousis. Went to printing company where everyone knows me and was whistled at by large over-round bloke. Feel worried about this.

Hope new kilt ordered will arrive in time for round-robin trip. Old mate in deepest Wales most keen I should stun locals. More hmm.

Not much else to say for myslelf, really. Feeling rather flat and uninspired.

Firstly thoughts for Julianna - hope you’re swinging along, taking one day at a time, treasure. Tell me you’re hanging in there.

Dad’s thoughts today?
Always do right. This will please some people and astonish the rest.
They thought that because they had power, they had wisdom. Oh how wrong they were.
Take care, all - Dad